[Uluru]

:
"Male, relatively smallish, disheveled appearance, with an accent, dry sense of humour, untrimmed, cares little about fashion or hairdressing, lover of classical music, likes playing violin in very late hours, can't swim but loves sailing, lacks proper aptitude to deal with people, obsessive smoker, recently divorced and with one illegitimate daughter, looks for a person willing to start a romantic relationship."

Well, who'd apply for such an ad? And possibly missed a chance to meet with Albert Einstein?
Similarly, this is all silly. I mean, what conclusive image about unique properties of a camera can be drawn from a few specs, even if they were true?

It seems many expect some boring DSLR trying to catch up with time, but I'm almost certain that engineers being Pentax minded may have a few surprises hidden deep in their sleeves. That what is not known now, and will be revealed in the official announcement, will make all the difference.

[ElJamoquio]

I agree. I am completely optimistic that Pentax will catch up significantly but it just isn't realistic to expect it to happen the first year (of new ownership).

Exactly, which is why nothing happened in the first year. However... in 8 days we will end the 2nd year and start the 3rd.

[nanok]

If it's not, the wife and I are going to have to get busy and revisit a lot of old arguments. Google is the supreme arbitrator of disputes around here.

aah, i see... you too have the local proxy, complete with a local ..ahem.. copy of the google site, too, eh? for faster browsing and a better web experience, of course. handy to settle those pesky arguments ..ahem..without waiting aaages for the page to load, yeah, that's it. nifty. i get you, i know where you're coming from, i'm right with you, yeah

[monochrome]

Exactly, which is why nothing happened in the first year. However... in 8 days we will end the 2nd year and start the 3rd.

Unless of course they spent all their time and money on production processes, which are invisible to us until they yield previously impossible products, If that's the case, then of course the only products they could release were ones designed by Hoya for Hoya's production processes.

But if Ricoh invested $1,000,000 x however many vacuum evaporators in a lens plant, that none of us will ever see, suddenly they can release HD DA Limited lenses whose coatings are claimed to be new, better and more consistent than SMC. When Sigma does such a thing they are the hero-champion-kings of the optics jungle. Why not Ricoh?

Who knows yet what Ricoh's investment in new production process machinery will mean for the next camera bodies? Whatever it is, I hear on the street it is good things.

[Uluru]

One thing I can't understand: the camera weight (if the leaked specs are correct)

K-3:
Apparently, 800g.

Current K-5:
Without battery: 670 g (1.48 lb)
With battery: 750 g (1.65 lb)

Let's presume 800g is with battery, so it's still about 50g increase overall. Or, 720g without battery and 800g with a battery.
In terms of DSLR economies, that's a lot.

Why has K-3 gained in weight if it's an APS-C camera in the same class as the previous K-5?

[jatrax]

Why has K-3 gained in weight if it's an APS-C camera in the same class as the previous K-5?

Bigger battery?

Same class does not have to mean same body.

Slight body redesign to accommodate (something) could add 50g easily. (something) = beefier SR mechanism, stiffer body structure, more cooling plates, better lens release button, allowance for rumored multi-shot with sensor movement mega-pseudo HDR image, wi-fi, gps, fill-in-blank.

[Vylen]

It's 50 additional grams of awesome.

[jatrax]

It's 50 additional grams of awesome.

50g of pixie dust in the camera itself?? Sort of like IBIS, IBPD

[elpolodiablo]

how about extra 50grams for a second SD slot?

[StevenMatchett]

I wish I didn't just buy a K5 II

[Adam]

I wish I didn't just buy a K5 II

The new launch isn't going to make your K-5 II a worse camera Plus it will cost 2x as much, ish.

[theperception2008]

I wish I didn't just buy a K5 II

Hey I wish I even had a DSLR! The specs seem reasonable as the market has moved beyond the 16mp Exmor sensor. It would be interesting to see if this is the Sony Exmor 24 mp or if it's Toshiba's 24 mp sensor that's in the D5200. It appears that the Toshiba sensor has a bit more dynamic range than the Sony one according to DXO.

[ElJamoquio]

When Sigma does such a thing they are the hero-champion-kings of the optics jungle. Why not Ricoh?

I don't recall that they were the heroes. Besides, Sigma isn't (really) a camera manufacturer. Probably 99% of sigma's revenue is in lenses.

Another (besides), this is a camera thread. Even though I'm not restless, I can't blame any Pentax fans for being restless. Pentax hasn't put out a new sensor since October 2010. That's a pretty long time.

Ricoh needs to have some advantage on cameras and lenses over both Nikon and Canon in order to gain market share. Although they had a big advantage in October 2010, I'm not sure they do now.

[monochrome]

I don't recall that they were the heroes. Besides, Sigma isn't (really) a camera manufacturer. Probably 99% of sigma's revenue is in lenses.

Another (besides), this is a camera thread. Even though I'm not restless, I can't blame any Pentax fans for being restless. Pentax hasn't put out a new sensor since October 2010. That's a pretty long time.

Ricoh needs to have some advantage on cameras and lenses over both Nikon and Canon in order to gain market share. Although they had a big advantage in October 2010, I'm not sure they do now.

1. Pentax is a lens manufacturer. A camera is just a box to stick the lens on and capture the image.
2. Sigma has invested in production process, which is what my comment was about
   1. Ricoh has invested in lens production process - HD DA Limited - so
   2. Ricoh might have invested in camera production process- so
   3. K-3 might be something totally unexpected, not limited by Hoya's old production process

We wouldn't have "seen" any of the investment in production facilities so we think Ricoh is doing nothing. Ricoh is doing the first things first. Then they'll do the next things. It is happening right now, right in front of our eyes, but no one seems to be looking. Ricoh want to be the alternative to Canon and Nikon, not another Canon or Nikon. If you need (one needs) a Canon or Nikon, go get one.

[bxf]

how about extra 50grams for a second SD slot?

Space has weight?