Pentax K-01 + 40mm xs lens $299 shipped groupon

Darn. I placed an order for it just a couple of days ago for $100 more! I haven't even received it yet.

P.S.: Looks like they sold out of black already. I placed an order for the white one.

I got the yellow Amazon deal - it reminds me of taking pictures with a giant yellow LEGO, so it's kinda awesome.

Only yellow left.

SOLD OUT Only had 240 to sell.

Thanks OP. Was able to grab a yellow one. Being a Steelers fan, this works out well.

Not so fast. Just because they emailed you a tracking number doesn't mean that anything was shipped. It's a common practice to generate and email a tracking number ASAP and then pack and ship the item at a later date. Merchants use this trick to convey the impression that they ship things out quickly and delays are due to the carrier. It also gives them a reason to refuse cancellations. As a bonus, the impression that the carrier takes a long time to deliver the package makes it easy to sell expedited shipping (and plans like Amazon Prime, Shop Your Way Max, etc.).

Received mine today and I am not happy at all. It is unable to autofocus: just makes a whirring, grinding sound but the lens does not move/adjust. Seems like the lens (or camera) is defective.

peas said:   FutureDilemma said:   Received mine today and I am not happy at all. It is unable to autofocus: just makes a whirring, grinding sound but the lens does not move/adjust. Seems like the lens (or camera) is defective.Remove the lens and remount it. It sounds silly but it happens to a lot more people than you might expect.
It's good advice. I searched and found that it requires a fair amount of torque to firmly seat the lens. There is a white line on the lens that should rotate all the way to the top but the real indicator is a slight click at the end of the rotation. I was afraid of causing damage but when I twisted hard enough, I heard a click. Now the autofocus seems to be working correctly. It still makes quite a sound but apparently the motor in this lens is supposed to be noisy and that is normal.

I am still not able to take pictures however. The camera reports a "Memory card error" on my Wintec SDHC. I checked that the contacts are clean, then tried removing and reinstalling the card but no go. That card works fine in my Olympus cameras and my computer, so there's probably nothing wrong with it. On the other hand, it is rejected by another Pentax camera as well, and other forums indicate that Pentax cameras can be picky about which cards they accept. I am now waiting for a new SDHC card.

man you went through alot. I've been using an old 1GB SD card with no problems. Maybe it's fast enough to satisfy the K-01 *shrug*

The only tip I have for flashes is to make sure it supports Pentax TTL ( though the lens) metering.
Edit: Before you invest in an external flash, read up on whether you really need it. Although the K-01 looks like a big P&S, it's really a DSLR in a different package. Its low-light capability is impressive but you need to at least learn about basic photography to get the most out of it. For example, indoor shooting with limited light, set it to Aperture Priority, the lens [near] wide open, and use manual focus with focus peaking on. Focus peaking really is the bomb, making manual focus much more usable IMHO compared to peering through a tiny viewfinder. Using manual focus eliminates focus hunting in lower light, something that affects all cameras to some extent.
An external flash is really only needed on this camera if you're trying to fill an entire room that has almost no light (e.g. a nightclub), or maybe if you want to reach out 50-100 ft in an unlit room. Short of that, learning how to best use the camera in indoor lighting will give you better results.