[Trickortreat]

Of course, Pentax could be the first to have a aps-c, mirrorless with a great adapter for legacy glass or keep the existing mount and make it longer. If not, it looks like Fuji is the only innovator left in aps, with the possibility that Canon, Sony and Nikon will update their line up, but probably not their lens selection. However, as many of us forum members agree, mirrorless cameras is not a top priority. I do feel sorry for many of us that have went for large numbers of aps-c Pentax mount lenses thinking that Pentax would always support us with new and better camera models and updated and new lenses. Many have had to put with with subpar autofocus motors/systems that created major, additional operation expenses - though fortunately not for me. Going forward - at least for me- it will be hard to justify the likely high acquisition cost of new Pentax aps glass listed on the timeline without first seeing something besides the KP available for purchase. Of course, if Sony, or someone else, had a revolutionary new and better sensor out or near production in aps size, that would also be most helpful to move things forward for all...

P.S. forgot about the Canon M series and their adapter for EF lenses - my mistake.

The problem for me isnt even the lack of hi end apsc model or lacking AF. Even if Pentax made a manual focus apsc model with a split screen and microprism focusing screen id buy it.
What is more and more obvious after looking at competitions lineup (especially Fuji) is lack of fast crop (DA) primes. Something like da 16mm, da 24 and da 35 with a speed of f1.8 or faster would be greatly appreciated. New lenses would better show a commitment to APS-C than a new body.

[Larrymc]

Maybe the K3 replacement will be a sub 2000 dollar FF camera simlilar to the D750 in specs. Crop mode will be a bit meh but otherwise it could be good follow up. I would buy one.

Why do that when they could just as easily have a high spec APSC camera. What would their crop lens users would do with their lens? Use them in the meh mode and have sub standard photos?

[bladerunner6]

Ricoh has made comments about researching a K3 successor and I looked up that there were seven years between the D300S and the D500.

I don’t expect that long of a wait but some of it may be due to them wanting technology to advance enough that the model is really compelling to buy.

Just adding a flippy screen and a bit more buffer might be something they could do earlier but would people buy it in numbers?

A warmed over 24mp camera might not sell well.

[Winder]

The DA* 11-18mm should have been on display. Does anyone know if they had a display sample? Even if it was just under glass? Originally announced October 27, 2017.

If Ricoh was close to anything being ready for release it would have been under glass at Photokina. If nothing new was on display then nothing new is close to being launched. This is how companies build excitement for their brand. Of course Ricoh doesn't seem to want to build excitement for the Pentax brand so maybe they have it all ready to go, they just don't want to sell it.

[Mike.P®]

Not really kept up with this thread as there has been no announcement of any work to a K-3II successor but having just had a quick skip through I have to say .....

I prefer the thumbstick on my Canon to the wheel on my K-1. I also don't understand why they needed a wheel to assign functions to another wheel when the could have done that via the info/rear screen menu and let us assign functions to both wheels.

Oh and can anyone tell me why I have to be in single spot focus before I can pick my fps using the directional pad? or is there another way?

[Trickortreat]

Ricoh has made comments about researching a K3 successor and I looked up that there were seven years between the D300S and the D500.

I don’t expect that long of a wait but some of it may be due to them wanting technology to advance enough that the model is really compelling to buy.

Just adding a flippy screen and a bit more buffer might be something they could do earlier but would people buy it in numbers?

A warmed over 24mp camera might not sell well.

Thing is Nikon dodnt say there will be a d300 replacement and said numerous times d7xxx is their apsc top of the line. D500 was more of a surprise than something people counted on

[yorik]

Ricoh has made comments about researching a K3 successor and I looked up that there were seven years between the D300S and the D500.

I don’t expect that long of a wait but some of it may be due to them wanting technology to advance enough that the model is really compelling to buy.

Just adding a flippy screen and a bit more buffer might be something they could do earlier but would people buy it in numbers?

A warmed over 24mp camera might not sell well.

Perhaps they can get a hold of (a version of) the new (26mp, backlit) sensor in the Fuji XT3, add an improved processor and more autofocus points and some of the other
things people have suggested (I like flippy screens myself, but to be useful the contrast detect autofocus would have to improve). These are all things that they can do, but
as people have noted, the real question is whether they think it's good business to do so. The move in the industry towards mirrorless seems inexorable at this point, and perhaps
they are considering a serious mirrorless offering (this time with thinner body and fully wired adapter for older lenses please).

Speculating is fun...

[reh321]

Maybe Ricoh are putting all their eggs into a FF DSLR basket and are planning a camera similar to the Nikon D850? Give it a 50Mp sensor and 4K video etc. Maybe this camera in crop mode will be the K3 replacement?

A 3000 $ fullframe camera to replace a crop camera?

You're hung up on the term Flagship.........how about High Spec. APSC model

Perhaps they can get a hold of (a version of) the new (26mp, backlit) sensor in the Fuji XT3, add an improved processor and more autofocus points and some of the other
things people have suggested (I like flippy screens myself, but to be useful the contrast detect autofocus would have to improve). These are all things that they can do, but
as people have noted, the real question is whether they think it's good business to do so. The move in the industry towards mirrorless seems inexorable at this point, and perhaps
they are considering a serious mirrorless offering (this time with thinner body and fully wired adapter for older lenses please).

Speculating is fun...

All this speculation, plus comments by @asahiman "Currently nearly all the development power is going into K fullframe SLR. Body and lens development,very interesting and in 2 classes.But, SLR!!",is why I'm going to stay on sidelines of the market, using my equipment normally but not adding to it, until things become more clear.

[BROO]

is why I'm going to stay on sidelines of the market, using my equipment normally but not adding to it, until things become more clear.

I recon that is a really good idea reh321
I'm doing the same

[yorik]

All this speculation, plus comments by @asahiman "Currently nearly all the development power is going into K fullframe SLR. Body and lens development,very interesting and in 2 classes.But, SLR!!",is why I'm going to stay on sidelines of the market, using my equipment normally but not adding to it, until things become more clear.

``2 classes...'' for lenses or bodies? My ideal Pentax camera (K2?) is a 24 mp full frame... could this be in the works? Could they bring it to market at the ~$1500 price point..? Only the shadow knows...

[reh321]

``2 classes...'' for lenses or bodies? My ideal Pentax camera (K2?) is a 24 mp full frame... could this be in the works? Could they bring it to market at the ~$1500 price point..? Only the shadow knows...

That is my point. Something like that would be very appealing to some, but as long as Ricoh insists on surprising us, it is difficult to justify purchasing current things from them.

[H.Abendsen]

Why do that when they could just as easily have a high spec APSC camera. What would their crop lens users would do with their lens? Use them in the meh mode and have sub standard photos?

I also have a K-x that I still shoot from time to time.
If i dont want to take photos that should be hung on the front of a skyscraper or something like that, the results are pretty sufficient even for print.
Nowhere near meh or sub-standard...
Most of the photos go to the web-directly anyway... 12MP .. For nice prints measuring about like a medium-sized paintin even 8MP are sufficient.
I have a XEON 8-core (means 16-effective cores...) with DDR4 ram ... and the K-1 pictures... put quite a load on my machine...
No chance on running lots of other programs in the background... even a few tabs open in firefox and youtube running for music in BG, pretty soon show what such big RAW-files do to the speed of your workstation...


Not that I would not love to have 42MP... but if that means slow-burst rates below 6fps in FF mode again... PLS,
Ricoh-Imaging then do us a favor !FORGET IT! and order a 36MP FF-sensors that are capable of dropping off the pix a bit faster.

36MP is way more than sufficient... If you do product photography(just objects) ... gosh... 36MP in combination with Pixelshift-Resolution and even if you resize the pix without a special algorithm but a bit of PS-trickery, you can blow those K-1 pix up to sizes you would never need.

[MarkJerling]

That is my point. Something like that would be very appealing to some, but as long as Ricoh insists on surprising us, it is difficult to justify purchasing current things from them.

I'm intrigued. What would they have to announce for you to part with your $$$?

[reh321]

I'm intrigued. What would they have to announce for you to part with your $$$?

My actual level of interest would depend on pricing {and I would have to think about each, so I can't assign a $ amount right now}

* KP level camera using Samsung components

* K-02 {with EVF}

* 24mp FF camera

* KAF4 18-something lens

[BigMackCam]

I have a XEON 8-core (means 16-effective cores...) with DDR4 ram ... and the K-1 pictures... put quite a load on my machine...
No chance on running lots of other programs in the background... even a few tabs open in firefox and youtube running for music in BG, pretty soon show what such big RAW-files do to the speed of your workstation...

I'm going a little off-topic here, but thought this worth digging into just a little...

All my raw development and post-processing work is done on my 2013 HP ENVY 17" laptop with i7-4700MQ processor (4 cores @ 2.4GHz / 8 threads), 16GB RAM and GeForce 940M graphics. For a laptop, it's a pretty quick machine - still decent by today's standards. Previously, I used Windows 10 as my OS, with Lightroom 6 (stand-alone) for raw development and the Google Nik suite for additional processing, with occasional further editing with PhotoShop Elements. Some months ago I finally made the switch (after much side-by-side testing) to Linux Mint 18.3 and Cinnamon desktop, with digiKam, Darktable and GIMP, plus a few plug-ins for the latter. I usually have Firefox browser plus uBlock Origin and HTTPS Everywhere open with between four and eight active tabs, sometimes more... I often have BBC Radio 4 playing (via BBC's iPlayer streaming) while I work. On my old Windows setup, I also had Avast Antivirus running constantly.

I don't own a K-1 or K-1II... the highest resolution cameras I own are my K-3, K-3II, Hasselblad HV and Sony A7 MkII. All have 24MP sensors. But I've processed lots of K-1 and K-1II files to learn about the image quality and test how they respond to noise reduction, shadow and highlight recovery, and other aspects. On my laptop, both using my old Windows / Lightroom or my current (and faster) Linux Mint / digiKam / Darktable setups, I've had no problems whatsoever with system performance when working with the 36MP files. Exports to full size TIFF and JPEG take a little longer than I'm used to, but still quite acceptable. I'm wondering how much difference 42MP files would make?

That aside, I agree with you that 36MP is - for most people - enough. I understand why some people want or need more, and I respect that. But I doubt the majority actually need it. For me personally, 24MP is a great compromise. I get all the detail I need from the 24MP sensors on my full frame Hasselblad HV and Sony A7 MkII, and more than I need from my K-3 and K-3II, with reasonable file sizes. In fact, my most used camera is my 10MP Samsung GX-10 (K10D clone), which gives me roughly the same pixel density as my HV or A7 MkII but in APS-C format. For me, that's enough. But I'm not "everyone", so I can't judge what others might need