[brofessor]

What are the chances of Pentax announcing an enthusiast level mirrorless this year? Something that can compete with the likes of Sony A6xxx or Fuji XT series. Something that can rival a K70 in IQ. I would buy something like that. Wouldn't you?

[clackers]

What are the chances of Pentax announcing an enthusiast level mirrorless this year? Something that can compete with the likes of Sony A6xxx or Fuji XT series. Something that can rival a K70 in IQ. I would buy something like that. Wouldn't you?

If you read the interviews with Ricoh executives, Brofessor (listed in a thread somewhere here), it is not regarded as a priority. And at what level it will eventually be introduced - 645, APS-C, FF - is not known.

I have three mirrorless cameras already (one full frame), and my feeling is … 'meh'.

[pinholecam]

I think their current take on this is the KP.

Sometimes, we want our cake and eat it.....
As in we want the camera to take the current lenses, but then we want it to be smaller than what a camera like the KP provides.

APSC MILC, that is 'smaller', but still K-mount, will only be KP sized without the height of the prism.

Something smaller will need a new mount.


Personally, I can live with KP (minus prism bulk/weight) and use the DA limiteds almost exclusively.
But I'm not sure the market is big enough for Pentax to consider making one.

[LaurenOE]

Again...here in Pentax land...less folks really care about video, and for now, Pentax Ricoh agrees. Mirror less cameras took off because the video capability. Unless Pentax embraces video, there is little reason to introduce mirrorless cameras into the Pentax line. I totally agree with this too. My K1 is my perfect photography camera, and for video, a ton of Sony cameras do the trick for me. If the replacement K3 comes, and it has good video, then, maybe, Pentax Ricoh will give us a mirrorless camera.

[Paul the Sunman]

The rush to mirrorless by all the other manufacturers may leave a temporary DSLR vacuum in which Pentax can thrive, but I doubt it would last if mirrorless completely takes over elsewhere.

Personally, I'm very happy with the DSLR platform, and have no interest in moving to mirrorless. However, I'm worried the ground is going to disappear from beneath my feet.

[clackers]

You're better off coming to the market later if you're small because failure can wipe you out.

FWIW, there seems to be disappointment on the web about the Panasonic FF MILC, the Canon FF MILC and the Nikon FF MILC, despite the massive hype. Those companies may be big enough to survive the negativity and build better products in future, but similar reaction to a Pentax where the Ricoh board had made a special money grant to bring it to market would be disastrous.

In most of those cases, the crime is that the MILC is inferior to the DSLR that it's based on, and for more money.

We already had that with the K-01, which for all its charms, was inferior to the K-30.

[EFats]

What are the chances of Pentax announcing an enthusiast level mirrorless this year? Something that can compete with the likes of Sony A6xxx or Fuji XT series. Something that can rival a K70 in IQ. I would buy something like that. Wouldn't you?

I'm not trying to start any flame wars here, serious question.
What's the benefit of mirror-less for most photographers? I've Google'd around and I still haven't seen any compelling answers. I even have a couple of 'em and I'm not sold.

• Smaller? Not if you have a big sensor and have to pair it up with decent lenses
• Battery life is generally much worse.
• It's not any less expensive for me to purchase.
• There's no difference in image quality when comparing apples-to-apples
• Focus is not any faster or better
• You can have a completely silent electronic shutter?

So what am I missing here? Why should I really, really want one?
I do believe one day we may be at the point where mirror-less will replace the standard DSLR but right now it seems quite a way off aside from some very specific needs (e.g. maybe people who shoot a lot of video & photo with just one camera or you really need a super-high burst rate)

[pinholecam]

I'm not trying to start any flame wars here, serious question.
What's the benefit of mirror-less for most photographers? I've Google'd around and I still haven't seen any compelling answers. I even have a couple of 'em and I'm not sold.

• Smaller? Not if you have a big sensor and have to pair it up with decent lenses
• Battery life is generally much worse.
• It's not any less expensive for me to purchase.
• There's no difference in image quality when comparing apples-to-apples
• Focus is not any faster or better
• You can have a completely silent electronic shutter?

So what am I missing here? Why should I really, really want one?
I do believe one day we may be at the point where mirror-less will replace the standard DSLR but right now it seems quite a way off aside from some very specific needs (e.g. maybe people who shoot a lot of video & photo with just one camera or you really need a super-high burst rate)

At least for me, I'd like a Pentax MILC for the following reasons:
1. Real time exposure information via histogram and blinkies
2. Much better and faster manual focus accuracy with focus peaking and magnification
3. Smaller size (esp with Pentax DA primes, M series primes, in fact most of the Pentax older lenses are smallish)
4. Lighter (w/o the prism and mirror weight)



Why not just buy another brand MILC?
1. Well, I am (a modded A7 suffices for the moment; for the past 5yrs)
2. I'd rather Pentax gets my money (when they come up with one anyway)
3. I like the Pentax system (smallish size, build quality, interface, features, philosophy to cameras/lenses)
4. Prefer the Pentax o/p



All said though, the apsc MILC market is very competitive with the likes of the Sony NEX and Canon M being really very small compared to just a KP like camera w/o prism.
Even though we may argue that the lenses are not that good for the case of many of the smaller NEX/Canon-M lenses, a large portion of the layman market won't know/care.

[garywakeling]

Well as the proud owner of DSLR's from pentax, I also have the K-01 and the set of Q cameras, mirrorless seems so yesterday to me. The market spoke and they haven't sold as well as the DSLR's, why revisit an area already explored with less than stellar response from the market ( outside of Japan)
Love my Q's

[Paul the Sunman]

Well as the proud owner of DSLR's from pentax, I also have the K-01 and the set of Q cameras, mirrorless seems so yesterday to me. The market spoke and they haven't sold as well as the DSLR's, why revisit an area already explored with less than stellar response from the market ( outside of Japan)
Love my Q's

Put an EVF on a Pentax mirrorless, and then let's see what the market says. I give no credence to a verdict delivered on a crippled mirrorless offering.

[garywakeling]

Put an EVF on a Pentax mirrorless, and then let's see what the market says. I give no credence to a verdict delivered on a crippled mirrorless offering.

Fair enough, but if I use an EVF why not just stay with the mirror?

[cport]

The only significant difference between DSLR and MLC is the viewfinder, unless you really want something tiny like X-E3. Advanced MLCs with good ergonomics are slightly smaller than KP, some of them are of the same size and are growing generation by generation (Fuji X-T series). So size does not matter so much. Pentax should keep his advantage in smallish limited lenses, they are amazing.


Maybe camera like KP with EVF would show that there is a demand for this.

[CDW]

I'm not trying to start any flame wars here, serious question.
What's the benefit of mirror-less for most photographers? I've Google'd around and I still haven't seen any compelling answers. I even have a couple of 'em and I'm not sold.

• Smaller? Not if you have a big sensor and have to pair it up with decent lenses
• Battery life is generally much worse.
• It's not any less expensive for me to purchase.
• There's no difference in image quality when comparing apples-to-apples
• Focus is not any faster or better
• You can have a completely silent electronic shutter?

So what am I missing here? Why should I really, really want one?
I do believe one day we may be at the point where mirror-less will replace the standard DSLR but right now it seems quite a way off aside from some very specific needs (e.g. maybe people who shoot a lot of video & photo with just one camera or you really need a super-high burst rate)

I own a K1 and a SONY a7III. The SONY focus is much faster and accurate than the K1, not to mention the SONY's tracking ability. I'm happy with both cameras, they each serve purposes specific for my needs.

[RonHendriks1966]

"This year" ....... I would say the chance is 0,000000 %

Who knows what the future brings, but not in 2019.

[biz-engineer]

An Enthusiast Mirrorless

Yes, Pentax are going to release the Ricoh GRIII, an enthusiast mirrorless camera with lots of features and dedicated to street photography (Ricoh is brand of cameras designed by Pentax engineers).

Am I the only one who read the post before responding to it?