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01-08-2011, 09:12 PM   #1
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Photo Rumors: Digital Auto 110 in 2011

Apart from a mirrorless camera, Photo Rumors says Pentax will also release a digital version of the Auto 110 this year. Also, a waterproof P&S with built-in GPS is in the pipeline.

The old Auto 110:


More at: Two interchangeable lens cameras are expected from Pentax in 2011

01-08-2011, 11:03 PM   #2
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If this one proves to be true, I predict whatever full frame boosters we still have around here will be up in arms and beside themselves. I, personally, hope it is true, both cameras would be interesting to me. If they use the old auto 110 lenses, they'll have to go with a 4/3 sensor, meaning most likely a deal with Panasonic. Hope that wouldn't sour the relationship with Sony. Sony is known to be an anticompetitive brat when it comes to selling their sensors. Hence, Foveon getting crushed, and never becoming anything.
01-09-2011, 03:14 AM   #3
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I don't understand the difference between the digital 110 and a "pure" EVIL described in the link above.
If the 110 has a mirror as a traditional dslr it's dead already imo. It would be a reinvention of Olympus 400-series which has been done before. And been put to sleep.
01-09-2011, 03:30 AM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by 1shot Quote
If this one proves to be true, I predict whatever full frame boosters we still have around here will be up in arms and beside themselves. I, personally, hope it is true, both cameras would be interesting to me. If they use the old auto 110 lenses, they'll have to go with a 4/3 sensor, meaning most likely a deal with Panasonic. Hope that wouldn't sour the relationship with Sony. Sony is known to be an anticompetitive brat when it comes to selling their sensors. Hence, Foveon getting crushed, and never becoming anything.

There isn't a huge amount of 110 lenses in circulation (compared to K-mount) so who cares about backwards compatibility. I think it's more pragmatic for Pentax to stick with the sensors they're getting from Sony now rather than negotiate with yet another company for another series of sensors that so far are shown to be inferior to the Sony.

01-09-2011, 03:58 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Supernaut Quote
I don't understand the difference between the digital 110 and a "pure" EVIL described in the link above.
If the 110 has a mirror as a traditional dslr it's dead already imo. It would be a reinvention of Olympus 400-series which has been done before. And been put to sleep.
I think the point is that the Auto 110 is the smallest SLR ever made in the world, and a true pocketable camera.

This thing is insanely tiny, far smaller than any mirrorless on the market. It's slightly smaller than the Optio i-10, a compact P&S! Its lenses look like toys even compared to the smallest m4/3 lenses. But despite this, it is in fact a true SLR, with optical viewfinder and mirror, and it uses film that is roughly the same size as a 4/3 sensor (some people have adapted 110 lenses to m4/3 cameras and their image circles cover the sensors just fine).

Edit: Here's a post with a picture of the size comparison with a K100D and the 18-55 kit lens: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/503564-post7.html

Last edited by Cannikin; 01-09-2011 at 04:37 AM.
01-09-2011, 04:11 AM   #6
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I don't think the rumour to be true but it is an interesting thought.

Auto 110 demonstrates how a digital FourThird DSLR should always have looked like.

However, with mirrorless, there is no reason for such a design anymore. OTOH, like Olympus who referred to PEN when introducing their E-P1, Pentax may do the same, i.e. referring to Auto 110 when introducing their own EVIL.

This would mean we're going to see an EVIL from Pentax with a small mount specification. Pure speculation of course and not necessarily the best thing to do if EVILs would ever become full frame which I think the NEX series will. But a unique market proposition indeed.

As for the sensor... Sony can produce half format any time if a customer likes and even putting the K-5 sensor and only using a crop would be ok as the chip is still small and cheap enough.
01-09-2011, 04:29 AM   #7
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I think a "digital auto 110" would use much smaller sensor format than 110 film. My guess is that Pentax want to compete with high end P&S camera like Canon G11, Panasonic LX5, Olympus XZ-1..., but with an interchangeable lens camera.

The idea behind "digital auto 110" is probably to make the first TPSDILC (truly pocket sizable digital interchangeable lens camera). Which all current EVIL system fails to be.

01-09-2011, 04:36 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by Fogel70 Quote
I think a "digital auto 110" would use much smaller sensor format than 110 film. My guess is that Pentax want to compete with high end P&S camera like Canon G11, Panasonic LX5, Olympus XZ-1..., but with an interchangeable lens camera.

The idea behind "digital auto 110" is probably to make the first TPSDILC (truly pocket sizable digital interchangeable lens camera). Which all current EVIL system fails to be.
Now, that would be interesting. It could open up for a larger sensor mirrorless mount also, i.e. two digital mounts for the future. One smaller and one FF.
01-09-2011, 04:39 AM   #9
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I agree with Falk, I think it will be mirrorless in order to keep the same form factor. I think it is silly to stick APS-C sized sensors (or larger) in EVIL type cameras. The lenses end up dwarfing the body, in many situations. Pentax needs a real pocketable camera, with better image quality than the point and shoots out there.
01-09-2011, 04:53 AM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by Fogel70 Quote
I think a "digital auto 110" would use much smaller sensor format than 110 film. My guess is that Pentax want to compete with high end P&S camera like Canon G11, Panasonic LX5, Olympus XZ-1..., but with an interchangeable lens camera.

The idea behind "digital auto 110" is probably to make the first TPSDILC (truly pocket sizable digital interchangeable lens camera). Which all current EVIL system fails to be.
Agree with you!
I doubt that Pentax could pack a M43 sensor into auto-110 size body. If the new camera is at the same size with the super tiny auto-110, it should have a smaller sensor inside.
01-09-2011, 07:06 AM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by wjjstu Quote
There isn't a huge amount of 110 lenses in circulation (compared to K-mount) ...
Compared to K mount (or m42) most other lens categories would be rare. But they supposedly sold 2 million coppies of the Auto 110, so there should be more than 2 million lenses around. Assuming that peoble buying an interchangeable lens camera buy at least 2 lenses, >4 million lenses is a reasonable guess. Risk is that people have been throwing them away, thinking them useless as the film format is basically dead, or that people simply lost them because the lenses are so small

Edit: If the Pentax designers have worked on a auto 110 compatible digital camera it may be economically madness in itself...but if the effect is that it forces them to make a truly pocketable camera, it may be the right design constrain to result in something that really would sell...they have to be different to stick out from the micro 4/3rd etc.
01-09-2011, 12:36 PM   #12
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If Pentax were to offer an APS-C mirrorless camera and create a new lens mount with a shorter registration distance, they could create a huge buzz by offering a new dslr that used the same lenses. I don't believe that Pentax will offer an APS-C milc with K-mount lenses. If/when they offer a MILC, it will be a new lens mount, with adapters to use K-mount lenses.

I don't think that any dslr could be as small as the Auto 110. The battery alone would be a third the size of the A110. Add in all the electronics, a back LCD of at least 2 inches and it would be considerably larger than the A110, but it could still be smaller than the M-series cameras.

I don't think for a moment, that they would use the A110 lenses. First of all, they have no aperture control. They are all fixed at f/2.8. Aperture control was in the camera, although, even though I own an A110, I have no idea how it worked. Secondly, they're not autofocus and I doubt that AF could be grafted on to the mounting system.

Backwards compatibility would be a waste of time. Even if the figure of 2M sold is accurate, how many of those still exist? How many are sitting in someone's closet, forgotten? Pentax claims to have made 24M 35mm SLR lenses, so there are quite a few around. Then, too, there are all the Tamron, Sigma and other third-party lenses out there. That's probably 50-60M. Almost no one made lenses for the A110, except Pentax. The only non-Pentax lens I've seen on eBay is a Soligor 1.7x teleconverter.

Any such camera would not be a direct descendant of the A110, but rather a completely new camera, in the tradition of the A110.
01-09-2011, 12:58 PM   #13
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Minox DCC 5 camera looks small enough. I doubt it that interchangeable lens would be hard to implement.
01-09-2011, 04:27 PM   #14
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I thought the Optio I-10 was the replacement for the 110. It certainly is qua styling.
And while I agree with the idea, TPSDILC is not a catching acronym though... (truly pocket sizable digital interchangeable lens camera).

01-10-2011, 01:29 AM   #15
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Perhaps it's the new Classic Silver design... and it's mirrorless

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