Prices on the K-5 II are plummeting. I think that we are getting pretty close to the next big announcment. I'm going to take some guesses.
1) When you look at cameras that Ricoh and Pentax have produced lately: GXR, Q, K-01, and even the K-5,50,500 you have a collection of cameras where the company is not afraid to take a chance on something different. I would be very surprised if the next camera is a "me too" DSLR. 2) Each of the recent Pentax bodies has interesting mirrorless features. DSLR, or mirrorless, it will have a strong mirrorless mode, with focus peaking. 3) Mirror or mirroless, it will keep the K-mount. They just updated the DA limiteds. They *could* be for just the current line up, but a radical departure in camera mount seems out of character. If you look at the percentage of Pentax sales to return customers (the only ones who know who Pentax is), a radical change in lens mount would be shooting themselves in the foot, because that would negate the biggest reason for many of their customers to not change to Nikon or Canon. Remember that wide angle lens that they showed, but didn't talk about at the show where they released the K-01? The one where the rear element extended into the mirrorbox? Either the camera will be a high end, K-mount mirrorless, or it will have a mode where you can lock the mirror up, and use lenses that extend into the mirrorbox. If I could lock the mirror up on my 1968 SRT-101, they should be able to do the same on a modern DSLR. 4) I'd say it's an 80% chance that it will be APS, not 24x36 sensor. Note that they released new versions of DA limiteds, not FA limiteds. I'll guess that the sensor will be 24-30 MP, and the per-pixel performance will be at least a stop better than the K-5 (at 1.5 - 2 times the resolution). I suspect that there will be non-retrofocus wide angle lenses, and the system will have overall performance that will rival the D800 and 5DmkIII, at a significantly lower price. I think that the flagship, if APS will list for $2,000. If 24x36 will list for $2,400. 5) It will be weather sealed, with in body shake reduction. 6) I think that if it has a mirror, they will add focus points, but not enough of them. 7) I think that they will drop the K-5, but keep the K50 and 500. If they do keep the K-5II, the list price would need to drop to at, or below the cost of the K-50. 8) I'd say 80% chance that it will not have an anti-aliasing filter over the sensor. 9) There will be much gnashing of teeth, rending of shirts and pulling of hair because it will not be just a 24x36 version of the K-5 with 40 autofocus points. A lot of those people will at that point sell off their pentax gear and buy a full frame canikon. Very few of them will get photos that are technically superior to what they would have gotten if they had stayed with Pentax. Why not full frame? Look at the new u4/3 cameras. Their sensors are half the area of APS, and the sensor performance of the top end u 4/3 cameras are getting close to that of the K-5. I think that the camera will likely be announced close to the beginning of November (unless there is a big camera show before then), just in time for the holiday wishlists. -- Larry Colen [email protected] http://red4est.com/lrc -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
