[RonHendriks1966]

It's july and now with Ricoh taking over Pentax coming october and time running so it will soon be march 2012 when we all would expect a new K-5 successor.

Would it be acceptable when our K-5 would be turned into a K-5 super?

• Same body and ergonimics.
• Same sensor.
• New AF-module with tracking function.
• New electronics design with PRIME-III processor that is at least twice the speed of our current K-5 and supports UHS-i writespeed.
• That's it, and good to go to Photokina 2012 where anything new would come.

So with this limited change the lifetime of K-5 would be over two years and the body would be running since june 2009.

[causey]

I think the future Pentax flagship dslr will have the new 24mp Sony sensor.

[stormtech]

Do you expect Ricoh to be able to develop, test, and manufacture a redesigned camera in 6 months?

[Kunzite]

Do you truly believe Pentax R&D is just sitting idle, waiting for Ricoh to take over?

[7samurai]

I too would like ot have the new 24mp Sony sensor. I don't think it's impossible to have it in the next 6 months since I'm assuming they were working on it for the last year.

The same body would be fine since it would spur more 3rd party add-on products.

Focusing improvements are always welcome.

New/Updated lens with the body is a must for me.

[stormtech]

I don't know, but in my mind I think of the phrase "it isn't over 'till it's over" in the sense that everything will idle until the buyout actually takes place.

Just my thinking.....

[cbaytan]

Would it be acceptable when our K-5 would be turned into a K-5 super?

That's what I was expecting, perfectly fine with me.

[philbaum]

I think the future Pentax flagship dslr will have the new 24mp Sony sensor.

You are probably right but i hate to see Pentax join the megapixel rate. I'd rather see them:

a. expand the buffer and card writing speed
b. also there are these unnecessary pauses in camera function. previous thread talked about the need to optimize K5 performance
c. I'm not having a problem with flash overexposure, but they need to work on that issue according to some posters
d. I'd like to see smaller phase detect sensors for AF. Unless there is a compromise here that i don't understand.

By all means, give the K5 another year, K5 super is not a bad idea. Its a great camera, the Pentax community does not need another buggy new camera.

Folks don't realize that another new Sony sensor wtih 24 mega whatever will just be more costly. Better to introduce some more zoom lenses i think or some updated ones. I had to go to Tamron to get the 28-75 f2.8. Work on the system rather than the camera.

[RonHendriks1966]

By all means, give the K5 another year, K5 super is not a bad idea. Its a great camera, the Pentax community does not need another buggy new camera.

Better to introduce some more zoom lenses i think or some updated ones. Work on the system rather than the camera.

Well that was my general idea. Give little updates to K-5 so it can be our camera untill spring 2013. Put energy and resources in the lens line-up.

[Rondec]

It's funny, but a K5 seems to me to be a K7 super.

[ihasa]

What I think they might do is add a few tweaks to the body. Make that grip a bit better like the Ltd editition. Maybe add a tad more bulk and perhaps even a swivel screen? (You don't have to use it if you don't like it!) The normal pattern of things is that they'd skip changing the sensor on this iteration, and concentrate on the body, but things are moving quickly with the new sensors Sony is producing... So the sensor can go to 18mp or 24mp, as long as they can keep the high ISO crown and keep costs reasonable.

I am hoping they'll let the Kr prices go down a bit more and introduce an intermediate model, plastic like the Kr but WR, and with the K5 16mp sensor. Whatever happens, I'm sure their next entry-to-mid level model will have that sensor. Nice to be a Pentaxian at the moment!

[Kunzite]

I don't know, but in my mind I think of the phrase "it isn't over 'till it's over" in the sense that everything will idle until the buyout actually takes place.

Why on Earth would they do that? Why would Pentax pay all those capable engineers just to see them sit idle & play Solitaire all the day long? Why would Pentax think in the lines of "being over" - what's over? Are they planning to die (for boredom first, as we know the Japanese are hard working people), by not doing anything, by delaying any product launch by more than a year in a very competitive market? Maybe they'll even burn all the prototypes, destroy all the data on the current projects then commit ritual suicide instead of just doing their jobs?

Come on, people, think! What happened when Hoya were to merge with Pentax? Did Pentax stop any activity? How do you explain the K10D, then? And aren't many of the recent products partly developed by the old Pentax Corporation?
Some "idling" may occur - when Ricoh would evaluate the undergoing projects, deciding what adjustments they should make product launches would be delayed or cancelled altogether. But engineers would always have something to work on.

[Eagle_Friends]

It's funny, but a K5 seems to me to be a K7 super.

Yea, it seems like Pentax usually stick with the same body for two renditions (K-m and K-x, K10d and K20d) and comes out with a completely new body design.

Gonna be hard to improve the already stellar K7 ergo design though.

[stanic]

Would it be acceptable when our K-5 would be turned into a K-5 super?[LIST][*]Same body and ergonimics.[*]Same sensor.[*]New AF-module with tracking function.[*]New electronics design with PRIME-III processor that is at least twice the speed of our current K-5 and supports UHS-i writespeed.[*]That's it, and good to go to Photokina 2012 where anything new would come.

agreed Ron, plus the 1,4 SDM TC

[snostorm]

I think that a K-5 Super would be a logical update. They could address the perceived shortcomings of the current model, save some tooling expense, bolster confidence in the existing customer base, and show a commitment to quality as opposed to compromising quality in an attempt to keep up with the constantly moving cutting edge of technology.

They could make the suggested tweaks to the body as ihasa mentioned, further tweak the already stunning (to me) IQ of the current sensor, Add full SDXC compatibility, upgrade video to 1080 HD 30FPS w/H264 compression, AF with SDM lenses and manual exposure control for those that want it.

Further improvements to AF would be welcomed, though I don't think it would be practical to just make the AF sensor areas smaller -- I'd think that you'd have to increase the number of AF sensors to prevent significant blind spots in the overall coverage. Perhaps a user selected option to make the center point sensor coverage smaller for center point focusing only would be an alternative. Also the option to optimize the center point for faster than f2.8 lenses might be a possibility without changing the sensor dramatically.

I think that perfecting an already outstanding body would be acceptable at this point, especially considering the sale of the division. It would make the statement that the "New" Pentax has a commitment to quality. Their new acquisition would free them to point to numerous points of improvement made (that Hoya/Pentax would not even acknowledge) without the stigma of having to admit to design, overall quality, or QC mistakes of the past, since they weren't responsible for any of the decisions that might have caused them.

I'm pretty positive about the sale to Ricoh, but I'd like to be assured that the "New" Pentax has a commitment to quality. Showing me that they can take an existing model, and make it as perfect as possible would go a long way to doing this for me.

Scott