If such a full-frame DSLR sells for $6,000 - $8,000, are you ready to buy it ?
What is so special about a full frame DSLR, other than spiritual significance and make people feel good psychologically ? Who has the cash ready ? (No offense but if you do, you should have switched to Canon. Pentax is not for you.) It is more natural to build DSLR's around an APS-sized sensor. The big five sat at a round table to hammer out the APS format, and digital was definitely at the top of their minds. They probably looked at the largest (die-wise) Intel processors and said, that's the largest we could make, maybe stretch a little but not much. For 36mm x 24mm = 864mm^2, no way that's twice as big as chip fabrication technologies would allow while keeping costs to a manageable level. Digital is a whole brave new world. Why stick with the old film formats ? Looking at how the Contax N Digital supports ISO 25 - 400 (ISO 25 !? Top speed of only 400 !?) and how the EOS and Kodak full frame cameras have light fall off issues at the edge which require software-based correction, I have no confidence at all in full frame DSLRs. On the other hand, the wide angle issue is largely solved by the upcoming DA series from Pentax, the EF-S series from Canon and DX lenses from Nikon. In my humble opinion both full frame and APS sized sensor will continue to improve in resolution and other aspects of performance but their price gap will never narrow, based on trends in chip fabrication. If my prediction is true, guess which format will win in the long run ? Back to the first question, if the full frame DSLR from Pentax materializes are you willing to pay $6,000-$8,000 for it ?
