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Marc Newson on the Design of the Pentax K-01

By Rain Noe - February 6, 2012

in Object Culture | Photography

In an effort to distinguish their micro 4/3rds or "mirrorless" camera from the competition, Pentax turned to Marc Newson. The aesthetic look of his design for the K-01 has been drawing some fire in photography circles; for unobtrusive street shooting, for instance, the white or yellow body colors are probably not a wise choice, though we should point out that those are two of three options (with basic black rounding out the choices).

In the video below, Newson himself explains what he was going for:

After seeing the camera and hearing his thought process, what do you think? Did the ID/photography overlap make for a good design foundation for the K-01?

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fil

11 years ago

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I was considering Pentax as my first DSLR (film SLR user and digital point-and-shoot).
And Pentax was one of the first names I remember in world of serious photography so I throw out of mind too much popular Canikons and others and start too study how Pentax looks in modern digital world. I was almost satisfied with camera/lens reviews and image quality in general but my huge disappointment begins to rise quickly when I read about such legendary brand as Pentax is hire some modern noname designer (who is mark newson - have no idea without googling) to design camera and some of the lenses... What a shame! Present day lenses designed not by talented optics engineer but by some idiotic man (talking empty words about nothing - he looks like stupid dude)?! WTF with Pentax...
I can not think about Pentax as serious brand anymore.
A pity.
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Jaineel

12 years ago

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For me, Marc Newson and Pentax Design language dont meet each other. Seems like a big gap in the DNA. Some how it does not feel Marc Newson has designed it. Maybe its for the general target and not aimed at designers. Even he does not seem to be really happy in the interview if noticed.
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Ken J

12 years ago

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I think most comments are responding to the yellow optional finish. The camera looks pretty nice in the other two traditional trims. The yellow is just trying to hard. Notice the silver doesn't have the textured finish.
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marco polo

12 years ago

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I have to say also that his interview is quite disappointing and empty. The usual cliches you hear from a designer's interview, I guess it's aimed at a non designer type of audience.
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Mash ado

12 years ago

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A comment regarding only the ID of this camera, the execution is rookie, which Marc is in terms of camera design. It's graphic design extruded, oversized plastic parts, he ( or somebody at Pentax) used texture that is too unrefined, and the whole thing is finished with industrial fillet going around the entire thing with cheap metallic silver paint on top. This is why this thing looks like a cheap toy.

Interesting that cool hunting called it a cool breaking the mold camera while Engadget called it a Fischer price-esque toy. Designe
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Erik

12 years ago

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I guess what really sets it apart from other micro 4/3rds is the fact that it isn't a micro 4/3rds camera ;) It doesn't have a micro 4/3rds sensur, but an APS-C size sensor (1,5x crop, not 2x crop and different aspect ratio than micro 4/3rds). Personally I think this camera is a future collectable, it's hideous and I don't think it will sell well, but it's quirky enough to be remembered and collected.
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