Originally posted by dnas Unlike DSLRs, if you look at the Panasonic µFT cameras, the shutter is located closer to the lens mount, and not just in front of the sensor/AA. (just as I have shown it in the diagrams) Probably 7-8mm in front of the Sensor/AA filter.... the shutter housing is 9mm from the flange.
Removal of the shutter would gain more like 70% of the space.
I love your idea and I think it's doable. Let's think about it further.
Say, shaving off 5-7mm off the GF2 is a fantastic treat and slims it down to the LX5 size.
When Apple designs phones, or the new notebooks, they manage to shave off 2mm or so and they're all over the moon about it.
Not just that; say camera uses APS-C sensor from the K-r. Now the best part: the new lenses for Pentax mirrorless
need not cover the entire APS-C sensor area like their competitors do.
Let them work sorta like DX mode on a Nikon FF camera; only part of the sensor gets the image (say 70%); so instead of 12MP we get some 8.4MP (similar thing we get on a LX5 when shooting in 3:2 mode.) If it's to use K-5's sensor, we get some 11MP or so.
But the image of the Pentax mirrorless camera, which is now almost the same size as the LX5, blows the LX5 and similar cameras totally because it uses an APS-C sensor from a DSLR. Because of the economy of scale, using a sensor from the DSLR, it means a better price too for the final product.
If we reduce the active image area on an APS-C sensor, we practically can resurrect the Auto110 format lens, and the Kodak 110 format film size image (11 x 17 mm) inside the APS-C (16 x 24mm). No need for designing the all new sensors. Lenses should be tiny compared even to m4/3 (especially with modern optical designs), but image quality should be nothing short of outstanding. We can even have a tiny 2x zoom (like 20-40 mm f/2.8 for Auto110). Etc.
What others think about this?