New Pentax K-70 Rumored

New DSLR body on the horizon

By PF Staff in Pentax Rumors on May 20, 2016

Rumors have it that Ricoh Imaging has recently registered the name "Pentax K-70" with the Korean RRA— an organization that regulates telecommunications that is essentially the Korean equivalent of the FCC.  See the original source over at Digicame Info, translated from Japanese.

This means that it's highly likely that the K-70 will be the next Pentax DSLR model.  Given the RRA registration, we suspect that this model will feature in-camera Wi-Fi.

Further details about the K-70 are currently unknown.  Since the Pentax K-50 is now out of production, though, we suspect that this might be its replacement.  Another possibility is that the K-70 would be positioned between the mid-range Pentax K-S2 and APS-C flagship Pentax K-3 II.

What features do you think the K-70 will have?  What features would you like to see?  Post in the comments or  follow more buzz on the forum.

Pentax K-1 Will Feature a 36.4-megapixel Sensor

Key specifications leaked

By PF Rumors in Pentax Rumors on Feb 12, 2016

Japanese news site digicame-info posted today the following rumored specifications for the upcoming Pentax full frame DSLR:

• Resolution: 36.4 megapixels
• Sensor size: 35.9 x 24.0 mm
• Continuous shooting: 6.5 frames / sec.
• ISO range: 100-204,800
• GPS built-in
• Media: SD, SDHC, SDXC
• Size: 136.5 x 110 x 85.5 mm
• Weight: 925 g

The site claims that the camera will be released "very soon" and that rumors indicate that the official product name will indeed be "Pentax K-1".

Furthermore, the effective pixel count, framerate, and ISO range suggests that the sensor in the K-1 differs from the 36-megapixel sensors found in existing full-frame bodies such as the Nikon D800 series.  This would be consistent with Pentax's historical commitment to delivering highly-competitive still image quality.  We expect to be impressed by the K-1 once we can put it through its paces!

The Pentax Full Frame is Just Around the Corner

February launch highly likely

By PF Rumors in Pentax Rumors on Feb 1, 2016

The long-awaited Pentax Full Frame DSLR is finally just around the corner.  After all, it's not April, so we must put all jokes aside.  For the Pentax enthusiast community, it has been a long wait full of emotions ranging from excitement to frustration to denial.  Yet those who endured it will soon be rewarded with what will arguably be one of the biggest Pentax product launches of the digital era.

We expect the official full frame announcement to land shortly before the 2016 CP+ camera trade show, which starts in Tokyo on February 25th.  If this turns out to be the case, count on us to bring you an exclusive hands-on look at the body, its image quality, and its features!  In addition, we will be covering all the news from the Pentax booth at the show as we've done in previous years.

On January 28th, the official Pentax full frame teaser site was updated with a description of the D FA 24-70mm standard zoom lens.  This was accompanied by a new photo of the camera itself, this time depicting the top LCD and settings dial in detail (shown above).

Pentax Full Frame to Excel with FA Limiteds

Official Teaser Update

By PF Staff in Pentax Rumors on Jan 13, 2016

The official Pentax full frame DSLR teaser site was updated today with a new photo of the upcoming camera (shown above), three new sample photos, as well as a promotional paragraph relating to FA and legacy lens functionality. 

The post is written to appeal to current owners of Pentax full-frame lenses.  When mounted on the Pentax full frame camera, these lenses will offer a wider field of view than when mounted on an APS-C camera, since their entire image circle will be used.  These lenses include the D FA, FA, F, A, M, and K series as well as a host of third-party offerings and screwmount lenses.

Pentax Full Frame Crop Mode Revealed

Option to select FF or Crop for any lens

By PF Staff in Pentax Rumors on Dec 24, 2015

The official Pentax full frame teaser site was updated today to reveal that the upcoming full frame DSLR (due for release in Spring of 2016) will feature a crop mode with three user-selectable settings: automatic, APS-C, and full frame.  In automatic mode, the camera will automatically crop away any pixels beyond the APS-C image circle when a DA-series lens is mounted.  The user can also force this behavior for other lenses by selecting the APS-C mode.  In full frame mode, on the other hand, the camera will record the entire image area, even with lenses that do not fully cover it.  This would allow for manual cropping and thus an image with higher resolution with lenses that cover more than just the APS-C image circle, but less than full frame.  It would also come in handy for DA lenses with mild to moderate vignetting on full frame, such as the DA 560mm F5.6 or DA 50mm F1.8.

While detailed specifications of Pentax's long-awaited new DSLR have not yet been published, see our other news posts tagged with #full frame to learn more about what we know so far!  For example, we are fairly certain that the camera will feature both built-in Wi-Fi and GPS based on photos of a protoype body that was on display in Paris.