Pentax K-01 Performance

Generally slow performance for a compact system camera, though good JPEG burst speed.

Startup was slow at 2.4 seconds, though shutdown was fast. With a 45MB/s UHS-I SDHC card, the Pentax K-01's buffer clearing times were quite fast.

Play to Record mode switching was a bit slow, while Record to Play mode was quite slow, though displaying a captured image was fast.

Not surprisingly, the Pentax K-01's full autofocus lag times were quite slow for a current compact system camera, at about 0.8 second with the 40mm kit lens. That's also slower than the vast majority of point & shoot cameras these days. Manual focus shutter lag was good though, at only 0.105 second. Oddly, prefocused shutter lag was slower than manual focus, at 0.120 second.

We thought perhaps a Pentax 17-70mm f/4 SDM (Supersonic Drive Motor) lens would focus faster, but found it was even slower on average than the 40mm kit lens. Full AF lag with the SDM lens averaged almost one second, and it varied a lot, between 0.57 and 1.74 seconds. (AF lag with the kit lens was very consistent, varying only 3% over multiple trials.)

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Single-shot cycle times were very sluggish, ranging from 1.91 seconds for large/fine JPEGs to 2.34 seconds for RAW + large/fine JPEG frames. Continuous High mode was however pretty good at 5.93 frames per second, though it's only available when shooting JPEGs. When RAW files were captured, continuous mode speed was only about one frame per second. Buffer depth was mediocre in Continuous High mode, at 9 large/fine JPEGs, though our test target was designed to be difficult to compress, so JPEG burst lengths should be longer with typical subjects. The Pentax K-01 does manage about 4 fps with the buffer full, though, which is not bad. Buffer depths when shooting with RAW files were quite good at over 20 frames, but keep in mind the slow 1 fps burst speed. Flash recycle time was about average, at 4 seconds after a full power discharge.

Downloads speeds via USB 2.0 were slower than average these days. (Tested with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 45MB/sec UHS-I SDHC card.)

Bottom line, the Pentax K-01's performance is generally pretty slow when compared to most other cameras including CSCs and digicams, though Continuous High burst speed is good. Unfortunately, only JPEGs are supported in that mode.

Battery Life
Very good battery life for a CSC.

The Pentax K-01 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with both a single battery and charger. The rated 500 shots per charge is well above average for a compact system camera. Still, we recommend getting a second battery for extended outings or shooting a lot of video.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))