Pentax K-3 Announced (April Fools 2012)

Damn you! I want one & I want it now!!!

Has everyone set their alarm clocks for tomorrow's annual announcement?

lol nice oly e-3 '3'you have there :)

I think because of the 645D sensor size, they would be better off going to an APS-H sensor camera. and they would probably make it mirror-less with EVF so ETC could be better used for some lenses.

Bring it on PENTAX.

If a FF Pentax is not announced at Photokina, I'll keep my K-5, but will be taking a serious look at the Nikon D800 to be my primary camera.

it's not even april!!

You had me for a moment! I thought this was a real announcement! Damn you!

But was there a reason to describe the K mount as crippled? IMHO, it is the best camera to lens interface ever made... that is why (unlike the others) Pentax was able to maintain compatibility since day 1.

What I really want is a Pentax MX that shoots on a sensor instead of on film ...

This must be the ultimate digital full frame camera. With 24 Mp it is far better that film.
Negativefilm is carrying some about 180 lines per mm., colour reversal about 125 lines per mm., random "pixels" (condition well exposed, well developed). The latter goes till 13 Mp, 24 Mp is (quadrupel pixel) better.
This camera should carry the name of..., not K3, not K1, but K Zero. From now on we all start all over again.
Much work to do, much to wonder about after work is done.

It's April, 1's joke...Yes...BUT...The specs are nothing special and could be real.

I think this is quite a nice post. I liked the picture a lot, especially with the photoshoped K-3 in the front. Keep the hopes up folks!

Are you keeping this post up so corporate can see the interest there is in a FF? Hey, maybe it will work.

i just got excited for nothing...

yeah—I think this should be removed. It was funny the first 4 times I got tricked by it, but I'm tired of being tricked by it! Not to mention—if a real K-3 comes out with the K30, this will confuse the heck outta people...

isn't it time to take this prank down?

Maybe this one is the real spec of the new Pentax K3! (Hopping).

After Pentax K 30, maybe the K 3 it's on the way.

That was funny.....................I was reall thinkg WOW!

Why Pentax K-3 and not Pentax K-1.
At first we had the entry level Pentax K100D, then we had welcomed the Pentax K10D and the Pentax K1D would be nice! Nikon D700 uses less MPs. This would be nice for less spent memory.
So, my recommendation would be a Pentax K-1 with a special hand grip (as Pentax Z1(p)), with the technology of the Pentax K-5 and a price up to 1.500$ (not more because of the famous economical crisis)
Just imagine what is going to do if Pentax produces an approachable FF body.
Christ is risen!

Almost fell out of my chair. You got me! Ha ha

Gotta have a sense of humor

Agree with those who say that it was a bad joke to begin with and should be removed or labeled as a "Joke".

I agree. This is a cruel joke and should be pulled now.

K3? not very funny on the 28th. Most web based April fools jokes get pulled the day after

OK all of you, just wait and see the next ...final.. info and stop complaining.
I just want this as much as all of you so just standby!

what is Pentax re-release FA* 28-70 f/2.8 and FA* 80-200 f/2.8 ?

I will order 10! With all the money I just inherited by faking my own death, now I just need to get out of this coffin before I really do die:)

I really bought into that... however I think it might be a little much advertising this as your "Featured Article" on the home page... it is passed April 1st... It would be nice to have real news for the featured articles.

Oops- didn't see the Update at the end, sorry. Still, should be taken down since it has no relevance to what is currently going on in the Pentax space (which isn't anything good at all right now). From disappointing new products to (relative) price increases to a $5,000 lens for a $10,000 body, not sure why I check and see what's going on in the Pentax space at this point.

I think an update to this news item to clearly state it was an April Fools Day joke for a few days is required, then take the dang thing down!

Quote:
"This is cruel joke. This is like joking to a handicap person that we found a cure for you."

Hehe, yep so true. But are Pentax users really handicapped?

Now Pentax, let's make it the Real Thing now just to be otherwise! We challenge you :-)

Ha ha good one!

OMG...I took it seriously!!

As webmaster you have some power. Pure and simple, you felt the power surging through your veins when you put this out...unfortunate that it was an abuse of your power.

This was not a good joke. It had no humorous or wildly unrealistic elements. In the original version without the bolded weasel words at the bottom, it did not signal itself as a joke in any way. It was just a set of lies about something too many people actually want.

Very, very poorly done. In extremely bad taste.

For those who believe that a trusted news site such as this should lose credibility over such a joke, get over it. All the trusted news outlets do this every year. From OTA networks such as ABC, NBC, BBC, etc., cable news stations such as CNN, MSNBC, FNN, etc., public radio such as NPR, PRI, etc., ...the lists go on.

This story had just the right amount of details to be believable and was on such a topic to make many of the astute *WANT* to believe it.

Congratulations on a job well done.

I'm not sure what's funnier, the joke or the comments thread!

Wow... just when I thought I lost faith on this brand... good job!

Pentax Fool Frame !! :)

@rolis10, my comment wasn't meant as angry. It was meant in an endearing way. It was a pretty darn good joke.

April Fool's Day

agree with dcshooter. should make a comment or take this off now thats its april 2nd (or later depending on when you read this

Now that it is the 2nd, can you PLEASE take this off the front page, or at least move the update stating this is a joke to above the bump? There are lots of users here who have English as a second language and/or come from cultures where April Fools' jokes are not common. Based on the comments, it seems that several users have cancelled purchases, sold off equipment, or otherwise wasted time and money over this prank.

Kinda pisses me off. I really would like a Full frame Pentax. However, I love my K5 so much! Hopefully later this year. If not, D800E it will eventually be. That means I'd have to sell everything Pentax. :(

Really sucks how angry so many folks are.

First thing I thought was Yay! Everyone will foolishly sell their DA limiteds and I'll snap one up cheaply...

eff you Adam!

I was so excited about the upcoming FF, then depressed when realized it was April Fool. But hey it's April 2nd and it's still here! It must be true! My hope is alive again! To all those skeptic out there: Maybe Adam know something you don't :)

@Mojtala

Maybe you now have learned a lesson, to be more critical, and not always believe everything you read on the internet.... ( I assume your posting here is a joke though... )

Hooray!!! I will buy 3 if there is a FF Pentax!!

I don't think 299 statements that this was a cruel, cruel joke are quite enough. I am the 300th! (or so I was when I started typing, we'll see)

Moderators, if a picture of you in your undershorts and a Kodak X15 in your hand shows up on the internet, you'll know where it came from.
Cruel? Unusual? Yes. And it has been duly noted.

Nicely done! I saw the email on my phone yesterday and just came back today on my computer to get the details. I am very disappointed it isn't real (yet?), but this article is exactly what April Fool is all about. If you read something dated April 1 and you fall for it (like I did), then the author did a good job and you're a sucker. I fell for it so hard (before reading the whole article), I told other people about it. I also hope that the excitement/disappointment from this April Fools joke gets back to headquarters to inspire them to actually produce such a camera. I for one, still have a full range of full sized lenses from my PZ-1 ready to go!

The thing I dont get is if they're willing to make 560mm ££££ ($$$$) lenses, then why not a full frame? I guess the development costs but the sensor they just source from sony and the body wouldn't need to be anything radically different, just k5 solidity and WR but with slightly larger size. One things for sure though, for entry-levels, they need to make sure the next generation has video options matching the 550ds. Video may not matter to us, but it does to inexperienced consumers who buy and then learn rather than the other way round. I know dozens of people my age (15) who went for the 550d purely because of 18mp and 1080p video, despite me explaining that it was not really that important. Having said that, if they made the same decision based on the system and so availability of lenses and UPGRADE OPTIONS (E.G FULL FRAME), then I would respect their reasoning. Just my two pennies (cents). On another note, is it just me or did Sony start being taken a whole lot more seriously after they went FF..even without a massive lens lineup?!

You should compensate mye loose! I got this as Email and got much exited. I just wanted to check my email and see if there was anything important before living the house for vacation. When I got the news I just got enough time to annonce my dear K5 and two DA lenses for immediate sale. I thought not every body get this email and I can sell my equipments before the news get the world. I sold my items off price and now I have to pack the camera and lenses for shipping to the lucky guy. I belive you are responsible for my loose and should compensate the amount of money I have to pay to get simila equipments. I will contact you later with full details. Hope you have a good attorny!

You really got me - a great April fools post.

Not sure how this is an April Fool's "joke." Jokes have punchlines, they build up to something funny or rediculous. (Think of the classic "spaghetti crop failure," or last year when Google "admitted" that their Autocomplete was just a guy who typed real fast.

This is just a list of mostly believable specs, as could be found on any rumor site. Where's the joke?

I will admit, I almost got suckered into cancelling my DA lens orders, which I made just hours before the price increases and this "announcment", in favor of more FAs. I agree with atlnq9, we shoud think of this as really being targetted at Ricoh. I hope this serves as a wakeup call, as there's not much that is conceptually infeasible here.

This isn't april 1st, it's april 2nd. And this is a poor choice for an "april fools" joke.

I don't mind saying that I got suckered in. Well done and very detailed.

Really not that big a deal!!! They were trying to be funny but it was in bad taste that's all. Who ever it was i'm okay with it considering how professional this site is run 99% of the time. Besides, look how entertaining this has been. come on people lighten up!

I think it proved a very valid point. There are more people now than ever that wet the bed when they saw this. This is a very plausible body option for Pentax. I guaranty that news of this made it all the way into the Pentax Japan office's. They are probably all rolling on the floor laughing because they know if it is really coming or not. All the whiners need to go cry in the corner together and suck on their thumbs. Get over it.

What the FLYING F%^& is it with all the haterade? I did get my hopes up for a minute... still, I'd love more than anything in the world to get a Pentax FF DSLR in my hands. Really, I would. It was kind of funny for a minute. :P

I'd actually be hoping for a more than 29 point autofocus..lol

A buddy in high school broke up with his girlfriend as an April fools joke. She never got back with him. Some things you just don't say. We all say things we wish we shouldn't have. The site moderators have done an amazing job and this single post should not discredit them. We are all human and it wasn't a sin, just poor judgment. And we've all done it. Just don't do it again and all will be well. Cheers

"Update: If you're gotten this far, we hope you also realize that today is April 1st. With that said, we hope to have the pleasure of making this announcement for real at some point in the near future!"

me too!

It's not April Fools anymore. The story should be removed, or the April Fools comment made extremely prominent so that anyone looking at it now knows immediately that it's not true. In this day of search engines and cross-quoting it causes too much confusion.

How about stop being b*tches and clean the sand out of your v*g*n*s long enough to realize a new camera -- real or fake -- isn't going to save any lives.

April fools?

If this isn't true--and it sure seems to be a cruel joke, then I hope the administrators of this site will remove it quickly. For crying out loud, I almost went to the bank to get a home equity loan...

Wow, got me! Good one, but it stung in the end. Based on the comments, no one is looking forward to a Pentax FF.

Not very cool as an april fool joke. more like crude and insensitive.

Do you think there's a there a long waiting list?

three things that looked weird to me before checking the date:
the camera looks exactly like the k-5(common senses would say it has to be bigger),
there was no previous announcement that "pentax forums will have an interview/will be present at a press conference from pentax..."
and last but not least:
this would never work without announcing a few full-frame lenses with the camera or revealing which da lenses are ff capable

Really sad that you would trade your credibility for a few laughs on your constituents. I am sure that Pentax is impressed. Good luck in asking for support.

I just did a search from Pentax K-3, it's amazing how many sites are quoting PentaxForums! Awesome April Fools joke!!!

This April fool's update needs to be more visible that this!!
It's like you're ashamed of your joke. You should be, but man up a little and take responsability.

As it is no longer the 1st of April is there any chance that you might be taking this off the site?

great news to we PENTAXIAN. Now the Brand is up to a higher level with more compact, lighter weight, more user friendly full frame dlsr. (as i believe the Pentax used to be)

I strongly suggest to remove this absolutely not funny announcement from the front page. Credibility of the site was degraded. It is a topic that doesn't accept this kind of jokes. It is my 2 cents.

a lot of people will be selling their gear because of this joke :))

Agreed. This needs to go off the front page. It's taunting us all :P

that was a really cruel joke
im still waiting to see an apology and removal of this from the front page!

I believe it will be made in left and right hand versions

Good Luck to all, 1st April.

It's sad to read this :))

"Update: If you're gotten this far, we hope you also realize that today is April 1st. With that said, we hope to have the pleasure of making this announcement for real at some point in the near future!"

In 90 minuets we will see if it true or not.
I wish I am wrong... as I want as many others a FULL FRAME and not a FOOL FRAME ;-)

Great joke Ha ha ha ha ha I just wish it were true

Trapezoid645,
I can see the differences... but those probably done by photoshop.
It is in the small things like light reflections...

vga recording?? and besides, it won't be a "K" designation, it'll be something like "FFP 1" (fullframepentax)and at an iso of 102,400 expanded I'll be looking to sell a couple metz flash units...

worse than cruel: evil!

I said in an earlier poll....4/1/12. My crystal ball told me.

It IS April 1st isn't it?

is this April fools?

@Leon, you might want to double check the shape and size of mirror box. Hardly the same...

Edgar_in_Indy you are absolutely right. the same picture!

Dearie me - I would have fallen for this but I was (for once) conscious of the date, 'cos of the story about an underground railway in Swansea dug by unemployed Welsh coal miners.

It's a good joke, but a sore point for a longterm Pentax fan - I switched to Nikon for digital when the *ist D was just too expensive compared with the D70, and I switched back to Pentax for the K10D (when I say "switched", you have to understand that parting with lenses isn't something I do if they're any good - "switching" to Nikon just meant buying Nikon lenses *as well*.). The K10D is flawed, though, with dodgy manual focus (imprecisely shimmed and fairly unimpressive focusing screen, albeit with a decent magnification compared with everyone else's amateur DX format bodies at the time).

Nowadays, I'm still stuck with a meagre 12Mpixels, but my, what big pixels they are, and gosh, how crisp and accurate is my manual focus with the first DSLR I've ever bought which felt, and still feels, like a proper SLR. I won't be chopping in my D700 anytime soon. I might add a D800, or a D4. I might even add a diminutive K5 for travel, but full frame is where it's at for me right now. I would *love* to see a K3 Pentax as described, it would be a serious contender, and if priced below or around £2000, it would be seriously hard to resist - something in essentially the K5 body, tiny and weatherproof with a full frame 24Mpix sensor and taking any old Pentax glass - hell yes. Do a "Nikon" and equip it with a retro aperture-sense ring like the Nikon D200, D300, D700, D800, D4, D3, etc etc, so it was FULLY compatible with old lenses, I would mortgage something and buy one tomorrow.

It's just cruel!!!! lol

this was the best but worest joke ever but that is the way this day goes so like it or not thats the joke

If that were true, wow... that would be a killer cam, APS-C sized body, FF sensor... just like the old days !

Yes, the picture of the K-5 at longlenses.de/2011/02/pentax-k-5-silver-edition-vorgestellt is the same one. Look at the reflections on the round metal strap post on the right side of the camera. The reflections and the lighting (three white spots) are visible and identical in the two pics.

I don't know about anybody else, but for a minute there I was doing the math in my head, and making a mental inventory of things I could sell to buy this big-daddy Pentax. And I've never even been a big FF proponent. If you build it, they will come.

Get a sense of humour you guys. I thought it as funny. And ... it had me for a couple of minute s:)

cheap shot

Not funny here, if posted on a Canikon forum, it would be.

@leok If you sold all your Pentax gear in 2011 to "go pro" then why are you haunting PF?

Nice one, guys :-) Had me going for about four minutes -- well worth it over morning coffee!

Shame on you for the April Fool's fast one. Everyone knows the K-3 is gonna have the 36MP sensor.

Nice April joke. But I like the German one for the NEX-7x better. E.g. under Technical data, it contained plenty of hints like: White Balance: .../Curve adaptive Xenon headlamps/... etc. (systemkamera-forum.de)

Don't pay any attention to these people the Pentax Forum has been taken over by communists there really is a Pentax K-3 sell all your equipment NOW!

Having recently spent about $3K on Zeiss lenses in hopes of a future Pentax FF DSLR I am not amused.

Really a good joke, ...
I think I found tho original picture. longlenses.de/2011/02/pentax-k-5-silver-edition-vorgestellt
It is nearly impossible to make the same light setting.

The jokes on Pentax - I sold all my gear in early 2011 and went Nikon Full Frame. So many pros shooting Pentax have been forced to do the same.

Have fun waiting...

Here is an image with the two superimposed from photoshop showing the only thing different really is the mirror.

imgur,com/ISnlb

Look there goes a megapixel! Ha Ha made you look.
No but seriously there's a big booger hanging out of your nose.
Oh no I hope nobody get's mad cause this stuff isn't true.

Lol wow I fell for it........

Oh wait...I did a comparison...the mirror is bigger and AF area is expanded. This could be a clever photoshop.....but there are some differences here....is the pentaprism box slightly wider too? Its possible.

SR on the original Silver Limited is white in black frame. Hate to say it, but the mirror box looks larger in this "K-3" than in K-5. Look it up...

Great joke coulda bin better though - how bout the K9

Haha, happy April fools! wouldn't suprise me if they released something on April 1st

It isn't even April Fools day...

Love the reactions due to this! ;) My god, some people are so depressing.

Too many cameras.

Looking closer, the number "3" and "SR" tells it all. K5 silver special edition. Nice try :D

K-01 should be launched this day!

First I declare "great Pentax you are the best", then I realise my self hardly I could afford a K-5, on discount. So joke or true, this ain't change my life, at all.

hee hee hee... good one! :D

We've all made bad jokes before at least I know I have so I wouldn't go crucifying any body over this one and I'm the guy that sold the $10,000 worth of Nikon gear to make the switch. I probably would have gone with "Pentax Found In Titanic Works Perfectly" but it's history and as history has it I was glad I made the original switch to Pentax "A" gear and later to Pentax APS-C gear.
History: Back in the day Canon and Nikon made some pretty great lenses (even though most of the zooms were variable F stop and colors would shift from lens to lens) and then they forced people to buy a whole new set of pretty great lenses but now they will focus all by them self and some of them will only work on APS-C cameras. Now with Pentax, history was a little different they made totally awesomely fantastic lenses, they were sharper, none of their zooms were variable F stop, they didn't have a problem with color shifts from one lens to another, and they were much more affordable (totally baffling) and then they came out with a whole new line of lenses. like the other company's they were pretty great lenses. They were "variable F stopy" and "autofocusy" like the others now but still no color shift from lens to lens and they didn't switch mounts allowing you to use your old lenses (if you could deal with the now weird focal lengths). So like everybody, I always want more than I got but I'm still ahead with Pentax.
It's like your wife, she might not be as hot as she used to be but you've got some great memories and she's still the best thing going, trust me.
Just kidding, I don't know your wife. And there's your bad joke.

Very stupidly yours,
MrStupid

Hmm what's with the manual white balance logo on the left-hand grip?

pendulum: yeah because professionals have no use for the higher resolution and low light capabilities that full frame offers. Portrait shooters have no need for reduced depth of field. Some people can't afford MF (like most people really). These tools exist because there is a demand and a need for them. The larger you can print, the more marketable your work is for landscape shooting. I'm happy with aps-c personally, but I can see a need and desire to want to go into full frame eventually. If I can get a 22 or 36mp FF camera, why wouldn't I choose that over a 16mp crop sensor? The new sony 24mp sensor for aps-c has lower dr and higher noise than the existing k-5 sensor. Clearly they traded resolution for IQ. I'm hoping that the new K body uses something better than the nex7 sensor........

It's now April 2nd in Australia, so can this thread now be deleted. Very cruel for the FF fanatics LOL

The BEST part about this April Fool's joke is the violently negative reaction from some of the people who fell for it. BAHAHAHAHAAAA!

Nikonians shoot 36mp D800 already... and laugh at this joke probably....

This is the reason why I hate April Fool's Day. I picked up on the joke right away, but what a cruel joke to somebody perhaps from another culture on this forum who doesn't understand this retarded North American concept every April 1st.

Just sold me Pentax gear and switch back to Nikon. Hope this full frame K-3 will make photography easy. K-7 made me do lots of post processing. I do wish Penatx can work on smart metering. Not just through everything in the histograh to me without deeper thinking. I have great trouble with the color tone directly out of the camera many the times.

My bad two cents!
^_^

I like to feel I have a fairly well rounded sense of humor and I can take the piss pretty well. This just hurt man. It was cruel and not terribly funny either.

goremanx: "Seriously, some people just can't take a joke. As far as April 1st pranks go, this is one of the better ones, and I enjoyed it (and yes, I initially fell for it completely until I did the above)."

This is supposed to be a news site. Also it touches on a sore spot for a lot of people here. A lot of pentaxians are fed up and dumping their gear. That's not really a good thing and not something that stupid jokes like this will help with. Ever hear of rubbing salt in a wound? With the k-r discontinued and the k-5 looming towards being discontinued as well (I've heard rumors of production halting from japan fwiw), I think that Pentax needs to make some big announcements soon. This isn't really a time for jokes I don't think. I think that if the people behind this website felt the need to joke, they could have come up with something other than a full frame k-3. If this is true, then lord almighty, a lot of people will be very, very happy, but I really sincerely doubt it given how the mockup is basically a k-5 limited silver with some bad photoshopping. The pentaprism box would have to be larger to be full frame and offer 100% coverage, giveaway number 1. Also only the mirror is in the picture, not the sensor. Giveaway number 2. Why is there a white balance icon on the front? Why would they use the same k-5/k-7 body for a full frame? Really doubtful. wccchamp18 is right. This is about as bad as saying "honey i'm pregnant......but it's not your baby!"

Why not let sleeping dogs lie and look at the good that is going on? Why remind people that their hearts have been broken over and over again? Pentax is number 3 in japan. The next competitor down the line, sony has a full frame, with not a huge lens catalog. This makes pentax the only major dslr manufacturer that does not have a full frame model. There is no real reason pentax couldn't test the waters. They have the financial backing. I guess time will tell what direction they are going to steer this ship.

I fell for it hook, line and sinker. As badly as I wanted it to be true, I'm laughing my head off now. Mostly at some of the outraged reactions to a pretty damn good April Fool's day joke.

This is about as bad as saying "Honey, I'm pregnant....but it's not your baby!"

Wouldn't it be funny if the real April Fool's joke here is that people are being tricked into thinking it is an April Fool's joke?

I'm not saying this is so, but wouldn't it be funny (in a good way) if it is?

It's not funny at all for Pentax. I'm thinking to sell off all my Pentax gears to jump boat. I'm losing faith in Pentax after seeing that they spent their limited resources in weird products like Q and K-01.

If Pentax want to be taken serious again by keen photographers, show us you have commitment to develop products that can compete with Nikon/ Canon FF or Fuji X Pro.

I really want to be angry at you for this joke, but instead I just sit here, shake my head, and grin.

Possibly the best April Fool's joke of all time...

canoetripper said:
"had been considering selling all of my Pentax gear"

...yeah, so was I. My Limited Edition silver K-5 and even some of my silver Limited lenses that aren't FF-compatible. The difference is, I didn't get "angry" when I realized this was a joke. I laughed it off as a good prank. Get over yourself and stop being so angry.

1 april. :)))))

I agree with chse--have a little sense of humor! But also, I have it on good authority (all April Foolery aside) from my contact at PPS that they are expecting an announcement to THEM from Japan any day about the Pentax FF camera--they are very excited. It IS coming folks!

Oh common! What happened to your sense of humor here? This one is very well done- whats the use of an April fools joke if you notice it the first second.

It's easy to tell this was a PentaxForums joke rather than an official Pentax product. The specs and features are reasonable, the styling is interesting, and it's not offered in a wide array of eye-hurting colors.

I had been considering selling all of my Pentax gear (including my K-5) so I can get into a format with a full-frame body, so this "announcement" had me really, really excited! I hope you'll understand why I'm struggling to move beyond my anger and find this joke to be funny.

To all you whiners complaining about the "poor joke" being "in bad taste" and potentially ruining your eBay auctions... all you had to do was:

a) click the links in the announcement to see that there was no mention of this camera anywhere

b) look for other announcements anywhere else on the web

c) look at your calendar

Seriously, some people just can't take a joke. As far as April 1st pranks go, this is one of the better ones, and I enjoyed it (and yes, I initially fell for it completely until I did the above).

this is interesting...
just being curios... I made comparison between k5 ltd:
1. on k5 SR logo is not red.
2. there is nothing on a small grip on k-5

I'm not amused.

Does nothing but a lie from April 1.
Or a future project for the brand?!
I hope it's true, because Petaxiam have a camera well deserved.
Best wishes to all, and we will push for it to be true.

If pigs could fly, so could I. Thanks for the smile ;-)

Thinking about it- if they would have announced the K-01 today - I would have immediately said "yeah, right! nice try" - this one took me until I read the whole post.

Blimey. Have never been so close to needing fresh laundry as when reading that email. Good one to the Jokers

Adam laugh or serious???? I believe its April Fool Day!!!

I don't even want FF, but this "announcement" had me salivating.

Rob

Too, too, cruel!

Given the extreme disappointment displayed here on this website at the lack of a full frame option, if this is a joke, it is in the poorest taste possible. I don't really care at this point about FF, but I would like to see pentax do it because it would make them a real alternative to the professional. APS-C isn't enough for everyone. People have been screaming for full frame for a long time for a reason. It looks too fishy (and fake) to be real, so I'm just going to shake my head. Note to pentaxforums: if you want to remain a credible news site, you should really refrain from douchebaggery such as this. This like like telling a kid that has terminal cancer that there is a new cure and then going "whoops april's fools"

Dear PentaxForums ... This is a cruel joke. I so wanted to believe ....

Wait, I already robbed the liquor store downstairs and now the comments say this isn't real?

April 1 announcement? Shame on you!

I think I'm leaving this forum, bad information !!

Well! I have full frame Pentax lenses on Ebay, with auctions ending tonight (Sun 1 April) I panicked when I saw this and started agonising over whether to pull the auction. OK it's funny, BUT I might have messed up hundreds of pounds worth of bids....

FF! Yipee! Congrats, pf on the scoop. It's been quoted on other forums with the url blocked.

Wow!

"Professional photographers using the K-3 will be eligible for the PENTAX Professional Services program (PPS)."

I'd believe the full frame camera's existence far before I would believe this final sentence.

The ultimate joke will be tomorrow -- when Ned announces that he, in collusion with the world's largest Pentax online discussion Forum, pulled a fast one on you yesterday. The funny thing about yesterday was -- wait for it -- there IS indeed a FF camera coming, the LXD. Responses from the testers who have had the body for weeks under an NDA, is that it beats the D800 in ergonomics, design elegance, fps, flash sync, AF speed, accuracy and hit rate, video (full h.264 HDMI out monitor, etc) and ultimately IQ - all for $2,899.

No colors, though. That was just a bad LXD trip.

Dammit, I peed my pants, then cried.

I have just enough time to return my K-5 to B and H!

well done! Either way WE are gotten! If the post is real, so many think it to be a prank, it is! If not real, the specs are done very well and the post seems quite plausible!

let's see what tomorrow brings!

regard,

It really a good prank, as so many people is craving for it :)

That is just down-right mean!

One of the best April Fool's Day pranks ever. Even more brilliant if it is real, to have posted it on April Fools Day. Either way, well done sir. Very Well Done.

Now that is just cruel... everybody knows that the real Pentax FF model will be announced at Photokina... 2028! :-)

As "gags" go, this one is a definite "sky is falling" type. So, to whomever allowed this senseless post to go forward:

I am removing my financial support from this forum.




....just kidding.........???

I think I'll wait for the full "Pro" model, the K-1!

It even has the crippled mount! Yes! ;-)

we'll see tomorrow if it's really a joke... maybe it's true, who knows?

This is cruel joke. This is like joking to a handicap person that we found a cure for you.

Good one! You totally had me there for a minute. I love how perfectly you captured the community's desire for this camera.

Very funny!

Marcus

If this is a truthful announcement, then, thank you, and, of course, "I'm in." If this is an April Fools joke, then the Pentax Forum Webmaster has lost my trust. As a joke, it's not funny whatsoever...particularly to loyal Pentaxians.

obviously fake, the real k-3 has the 36mp sensor with binning that give 18mp image with +200% DR and details xP

So NOT funny. I was fooled as well.

Hmmm... An "announcemt" of a full frame Pentax camera on April Fools Day is really a mind blasting!
I just saw saw an image of a "new" Pentax, but I don't know if it's a teaser image of a new Pentax camera or a hoax image...
Saw that image from a Korean site (which the words I only understand are "Pentax K-z? Pentax K-3?").
mujinism(dot)com/2186

Very cruel...

Now let me see today's calendar says April 1st. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

HA!!!!

It is sad that this good aspiration is deemed silly enough to be an AFJ.
I'm sure lots of us want a backward-compatible digital K body.
Here's a tiny hope that Pentax would read this and realize that it has what it takes to take on Nikon full-frames. Just need to do it.

Until I read down I was thinking "Well seacapt is gonna really be happy he bought those A lenses from me and now Pentax finally has not only a usable camera for shooting films in the K-01 (the best one out there and it even shoots stills) but also a real 35mm camera that can really use the fantastic older A/M/K or even screw mount glass the way God intended with out screwing up the focal length plus I now have a comon sense practical reason to upgrade from my awesome ass magazine snapin billboard shootin *ist DL....... I mean it's defiantly respect-worthy or at least nice in gesture to not do the creepy planed obsolesce totally unnecessary lens mount change thing, like all the other company's but still the focal lengths now just get weird (for me unusable) especially the zooms and especially for me the "35-105 3.5 A". I mean I dumped $10,000 worth of Nikon gear and switched to Pentax after shooting with that lens, I bought 3 of them and the "50 f4 macro" was icing on the cake. I maintain Pentax should have come out with a full frame "real" camera and left it alone. An APS-CQGJZ sensor..... why? Look there are $2000 APS-C cameras and there are $500 APS-C cameras, there are $2000 full frame cameras and there are....... something wrong with this picture is what there are and If your thinking "well full frame sensors are just that much more expensive" wait a little while and maybe Tinkerbell will stop by and you two can discuss production sense.
Well that's it for my rant for this April fools day, I hope you enjoyed.

Very stupidly yours,
MrStupid

I'M IN !@!

You had me on this one! I got up this morning determined not to fall for anything my wife might try to pull. Then I fell for this, hook line and sinker.

I even said out loud to myself "I want this one".

good one but at least there is still some faith left :D

Ya burned me good. I almost cancelled my D800 order.

You son's of ****** ... I got up and looked at my messages and got all excited at your email ... then remembered is the 1st.
Hope all your camera gear will get broken :).

Good April Fool's Day joke Adam. I was very excited about my next new Pentax camera. I guess I will just continue wait and hope.
You people who are put off by this "joke" need to get a life. It is really sad that you have no room in your life for a little humor

I fell for NPR's Beethoven's 10th Symphony discovery, too. I better be careful today!

Cruel joke.
But...
When both the K-r and K-5 are discontinued soon, what are we or you going to do?

Very well done, but not very funny. It's sad that it's not true (if it's not...) *crosses fingers behind

nice...

selling all my DA gears, who's with me!!!

bahaha! What a great April fool's joke!

thank you for nice APRIL FOOL'S news. greatly appreciate :-))

ooooh nooooo! bad one.

These responses are hilarious. The sad part of this all is how many people apparently consider a camera more important than life itself.

FINALLY!!! Should the K-3 actually have the specs listed above, THIS is the Pentax for which I've been waiting!!!!!! Full Frame, 20+Mp,improved AF, and DOUBLE the LifeCycle actuations!....The price is about $500 more than it should be, but hey, that may change!

Kudos to Pentax for finally kicking the mule in the butt and getting it going!

If it was not April 1 I might get excited. I will if the post is still here on April 2.

Is this real? Ran through the web and all articles mirror this one. Just purchased a K-5 and now this. Would have loved to save my $$ to later this Fall if this is for real!?? April fools?? Can't tell. Truely not funny ;o)

Like most I got my hopes up and started to think how to manage to buy one. However being April Fools day and after the realism of the joke I took it in stride. It did make me realize though that if Pentax ever monitors this sight that they should appreciate the strong following of Pentax users. Maybe they should build up are faith and bring out a system like this at a very good price. Personally I would love to go to the photo club were no one shoots Pentax and show them this system and say “”Told You So”. Some times the best hype is from the user and not the magazines. This camera and lens at say 2500usd would rock the camera world and bring Pentax to the forefront. Just my look at this April Fools joke and the emotions it stirred.

Should have added max sync speed of 1/500th :P

Got me...
And for those who thought this wasn't very funny, well it is ha ha

April Fools Joke!!!!

Sharp looking. It would be nice if the real k-3 looked like this

You got me!

Was it last year I fell for the one about the device that would turn my Program Plus into a full frame digital camera?

April Fools......just kidding!

Notice this was released on April 1st.

Damn you april's fools!!!

I am not in the market for a FF camera, but I think this was in bad taste given the sensitivity of this subject to many Pentax customers. I love a good joke, but playing people's hopes is a bit cruel. If anything this will send a clear message to Pentax the FF is needed on their line up.

I did Google this after I read it, mosty Pentax Forums links. But, now DRP has the link on their site. If this is not true, I'm sure the mother ship will say something about it...

The only factor that's "off" a little bit is the price -- initial price should be more like the mid- or low-$3000 range.

When did photographers become too dumb to use The Google?

The forum moderators, I'm afraid have severely undermined their credibility. I for one, read this forum for its timely as well as honest presentation of the facts. This trust is something that one does not acquire immediately but rather is earned over time.

To betray that trust by false reporting is inexcusable. You may snigger and clam that I the reader should have a sence of humour, but unfortunately it is your credibility that you have seriously jeapordized. what a shame!

Trusted advisors do not play pranks on their readers it is

OMG!! How exciting--and sounds like a great price, as compared to its competitors, as always! Way to go Pentax!!!!!

Gosh, I was starting to plan how to save the money. I am not without a funny bone and a sense of humor, but I really believed this. And although I respect this forum and it's moderators and organizers, I think it was a bit cruel. I have been waiting for years for a full frame that was quality and affordable. Nikon teased me for years with saying they were going to update their D700 and then didn't I discovered Pentax thru my husband and love my K-5. With this announcement, I really thought my wish had FINALLY come true.

An April Fool's joke is supposed to be a 'joke on you' that makes you laugh and a little uncomfortable. Not sad and disappointed.

I love this forum when I get a chance to visit, but this wasn't really that funny. At all. But, my Pentax is still awesome so I will keep my faith and hope that someday this announcement won't be a 'gotcha'.

Uhmmmm, as i read I was thinking how glad I was I hadn't sold my FF lenses last month and thinking which I could sell to raise the cash . . . .

Ahhh! You're not supposed to joke about things so close to people's hearts! Anyway, it's after midday here in Australia, so the joke's on you!

I've been making donations for this?
Not impressed.

Of course it's a joke — a 24MP 135mm sensor delivers only 10MP in APS-C mode, not 12 MP. Bad maths for April fools day. :)

OF course it's wishful thinking but it would be nice if they made a version that was comaptible with the Super-Multi-Coated TAKUMARS (screw mount, open aperture lenses that have the ability to work with open aperture metering...) That compatibility would be "super" retro, but of course probably not a viable commercial effort for Pentax...
ppro

what if its real? lol

I throw myself out of the window when I realized. Well, no loss for the world. I was an asshole.

Good joke! Really good! :D

Pentax "professional services program"?
I can take a joke, but if you want it to be believable, you gotta know when to quit....
Happy April fools.

Cruel - I don't care what day this is, this is just cruel....

PS...Adam, I have that new DA*15-75 f1.8 lens waiting for you. I picked up two when I was in Tokyo last week. Shall I mail it to your home address?

I already ordered 2 for myself...I don't know what you are talking about...I know for a fact that this is the REAL Deal... Have you ordered your yet Adam?

Everyone has a problem when the April Fool's joke is on them. Lighten up everbody! This was a great April Fool's effort. Nice job, Adam! What's really going to be funny is watching the Internet echo chamber pick ths up. Rice High already has, except he's covering himself by reminding his readers that today is April 1.

REALLY?
AFTER I START SELLING THE LENSES!!!!

Thank you guys. Amused. But the first few seconds, I believed in new a full frame K-3.

Aaa come on people! I bought it too and was happy to hear it and then sad when I got the joke. That's the way this day is supposed to feel. :)) Stop whining !!!

But, my dear forum, be prepared for payback !! :))

This would be a very tasteless, cruel & unprofessional announcement for those of us professional photographers who have been waiting for this. I was hoping that all the petitions, begging and threats did not fall on deaf ears.

The problem I have with this April Fool's joke is not that it plays on many of our members' great hope and wish for Pentax, thus disappointing many people once they realise (though that's part of the problem) - but it's that it's such a low ball. A GOOD April Fool's joke takes creativity and dedication, not just using a position of authority to deceive people. The other thing is - there should have been a subtle give away, like when clicking a link it said "April Fools" or something, or just at the end if it had said, "But before you get too excited, check the date."
Instead, the announcement here was everything like a real announcement would be - which is just an abuse of power really. I hope that if Pentax ever DO announce a full frame, the forum mods/owners are napping and miss it - it'd serve them right.

You had me for a second there, and even then I still sortof wanted to believe...

The kit lens will be a 20-200mm f2.8 USM, constant aperture, with three aspheric and two fluorite lenses, rumored to be the sharpest lens ever offered in K mount. It focusses to 1:2 reproduction at all focal lengths!

The world economy would implode if this were to actually happen. Thing is, it looks so doable, and professionals would start warming up to the brand again.....

Got me there . . .

lol nice one there =))

Had me sucked right in, but hey great April fools joke, well done!

I would like to have it. At an affordable price. And possibility for standard batteries/rechargeables. IF Pentax would ever bring this camera, I expect an unaffordable ridiculous pricing (like for SDM-fail lenses etc.).

When I started Pentax DSLR 3 years ago, I choosed the brand because of backward compatibility, good price-performance ratio, and very good in-house service in Germany. Guess what's left now... but hey, another story.

I am rather happy with K-x and the cheaper non-SDM DA lens lineup as well as F and FA.

Cruel, humorless, thoughtless, no imagination......and I bought right into it!

nice news...would be great if announced tomorrow or any other day...

I can use this covering the just announced Led Zeppelin/Pink Floyd reunited double bill tour, from the stage no less.

Nearly dropped my phone when I saw this, then read the first comment. This one got me BIG TIME.

Apirl fool's :( very bad.............

April fools joke or not, let's hope Pentax/Ricoh takes notice of this one, and picks up the ball and runs with it.

Grow up please. There must be better things you can do with your time.

fooled me too.. and the sad part is its easily a camera pentax could make and one that would sell loads.

I just woke up my wife to tell her about the camera... now not only am I disappointing, but also afraid to go back into the bedroom for fear of my K7 being thrown at me. It's too early for April Fools... there should be time restrictions!

Predictable not funny post. Look at comments.

I think it was a very-very bad joke. Seriously.

This is a sick joke :( sad and cruel :( April Fools !!!!!

Love the graphite finish though

You fooled me. And now I am very annoyed.

Sad, sad, sad and cruel too. You know we have been waiting for this with baited breath. You have ruined my day.

You got me good. I finally broke down Friday and bought a K5 and my first thought when I saw this post was "it figures - just as soon as I've bought a K5, Pentax goes and releases a full-frame".

This is a sick joke :) I was taken by surprised and then realized it is a hoax. Pls don't do that again :)

April Fools!

I wonder whether pentaxforums would risk its reputation by doing an april fools joke on its subscribers?

whether this is an april fools joke or not fact remains a full frame dslr is long due from the pentax stable.

I fell for it

Nice try at fooling us all. Just wrong date to announce. LOL A more believable name might have been K35D (in line with 645D) Cropped sensor mode would be a joke in itself. Don't need video features but a live view adjustable angle screen would be more use and also to be able to use old M lenses too.

Nice catch :-) Enjoy Fool's Day!!!

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

This was EVIL!

Sick joke! But not as sick as the notion behind it that you have to goad the laggards over at Pentax / Ricoh into making a decision and informing the market. I'm having a close look at D800

yet another April Fools day joke, I would have loved it if this was real.

Lame joke? :|

It is the first of april, so I'm allowed to be happy with this news all day :)

This is an april fools joke. Pentax is not releasing a full frame dslr

I see what you did there >:)

No no no!!! My first impression (about 2 seconds untill i seen the number 3 deawn on the body)was really nice - its actually first time since k10 when pentax was reason of joy for me..... Oh moment, let it last forever please!!! thank you for the sofisticatedly cruel aprill fulll

Happy April fools! B&H and Adorama both raised K-5's price to $1499 don't seem like a joke...

I havn't been fooled in many years but this one really got me. (^_^)

This is NOT funny.......!!!

NOT FUNNY!

SHUTUP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

What fun! It could be a real winner.

That is super cruel! Maybe it is a hint though from insiders?

I cheered out loud... then thought about the date... good one, you have to laugh!

my feelings are hurt. I was so happy. I even started convincing my wife why we need a full frame camera.

That's i may say a very good april joke!

Got me in too.

This one hurts! Ouch. Had me all worked up there for a second.

Is this an April Fool's joke? It would totally suck ...

it would be perfect ... not to crazy, just perfect

Lol, you bastards. Probably the only time I've been fooled so hard on April 1st....

Hello.
I hope not lie, because it is April 1st today ...! :)
But I hope that Pentax Releasing soon in the market this Full Frame camera as the Pentax users have lost by not having a full frame.

Greetings.

You've got me! I'm ready to call Abe's of Maine and cancel my recent K5 order tomorrow morning! :)

Pentax should go with dual SDXC card and good video support for their next model! Hopefully they also need to figure out the way to disipate the heat generated by the sensor for long movie recording.

Made me laugh! Cruel, yes, but hey, it had to be done :D

I would like to say fuck off

oh no ,i dont like to be fool

This is a very crude joke and I don't like it a bit!

Haha, April Fools

it is an interesting message,
but many interesting would be message about a special photographic tablet (Android, W8, iOS) with simillar features and with bigger display and with a special handle holders with camera controls for taking picture and video .... with shared memory for tablet OS and for camera.... this solution is for me The innovation and one of possible directions to future ...

april first, you've never been so harsh :(

now that's just plain cruel to joke like that...

April Fools are supposed to be funny not heart breaking! You're a cruel team, thought you were on our side.

Surely its going to be the first in the FK series the FK-u

You got me!
Nice guys :-D
But it feels little-bit sad...

Oh, and also the cropped sensor mode should be probably be about 10 megapixels, just as the Nikon D800 goes from 36MP to 15MP in cropped mode.

A news item that's an April Fool's joke needs to have some clues that it couldn't be real. The only thing odd I notice is the manual white balance icon on the body. Does anyone get the hint or pun here? I don't see it.

Oh, and of course, Pentax doesn't announce products until about a month (or two) before they actually ship it. But only a Pentaxian would notice this, and of course Ricoh could change this policy.

I hate you guys.

I get the joke, but I also get Adam's message. There is nothing outrageous about this concept. Realistic pixel count, burst rate, and video capability, and most of all, a cropped mode for DA lenses. Let's make it so. Why not, Ricoh?

You can't fool me. Sorry. (The "3" didn't look right, and the body is just that of a K-5, with a larger sensor photoshopped in!)

Really, not funny. Diminishes the credibility of pentaxforums

Breaking news! in a very pleasant way:)

It is 1st April evening here in NZ when the email arrived.

First thought - Yeah, Right!!!

What the D800 should have been 24MP. Nice AFJ guys, my heart skipped beat when I saw the email blast, then realization hit that it was 04/01....

almost, almost got me :( this is right on the fringe of being a cruel joke to pentax customers lol

LOL

I was so excited until I realised the date.... was ready to pull out the CC too

Well done and appropriate for the date. Very funny.

april fool

Awesome! This is pretty much the best that we'll see of a Pentax FF.. My D800 won't be jealous by any means.

it'd be a nice april fools if they told us they had no new products and actually did pop out a fullframer :)

wahoo!

lol, not on dpreview so april fool joke

I must say though, that's a very nice 3 on the mock-up K-3 logo. Well done Photoshopper!

this is some messed up joke right here lol

Cruel cruel cruel.... I said no way!!!! Then oh man... no

Cruel.

Did they also announce a full frame 645D2?

I almost forgot it was April 1st until I read the comments....Back to looking at the Mark III.

Not funny.

I posted this on all my Pentax groups and buddies but quickly deleted it when I read that t'was 2013.

:)

Cruel joke

Either april fools joke or dreams come true. If its real then WOW

This reminded me it's the 1-st of April. :)
It's sad for the company that they are "launching" new products only on this day.

Oh god you a**holes! I pretty much spammed all my Pentax shooting friends' facebook walls and was absolutely going batshit crazy on chat before...

I'm going to go cry now.

April fool？

Got me good! I don't care about full frame because I'll never be able to afford it, haha, but even I was starting to get excited reading this...

Ha ha. :-( I was all ready to start a savings account too.

This sure pisses me off real good.

LOL - I was totally expecting this. :p

Seriously? Not funny :/

For just a few minutes, I really was excited.

Now I'm just sad.

Your timing is a bit off, either this is great news or a nasty April Fool's joke... :

Oh well, we Pentaxians will keep hoping for that full frame unit....

Ed

Really not funny.

That was mean. Very. Very. Mean.

Also, well done.

ARGH! This is a meaaaaannnn trick...
Almost like the one EGM did for the Legend of Zelda Trailer.

Too good to be true...

checked how much money was in my back account, then saw the date. damn you pentaxforums!

Haha! April Fool!

Not believable, sorry. :D

Nice try. You almost got me. LOL.