[Andrea K]

I have a K-1 and I use the articulated screen

[Martin KP]

the tilt screen on the kp I use alot for still life and portrait during set up. It is really handy. So I would be surprised if the new camera has no tilt screen. It's size would be great in live view.

[Rondec]

You're making a dangerous assumption -- that everyone has a smartphone.


I will say though that is one of the aspects all brands should be chasing -- connectivity to smart devices. Namely in image sharing to social media outlets. I figured the APIs Ricoh launched a couple years ago would have gained more leverage, but I haven't really seen anything from it.

Yet no camera company should be forcing features on smart devices (beyond social media sharing). That is really really really poor design. The camera is a total package of features. If one starts breaking the features out into a smartphone or the like, then now you're relying on other hardware to get a job done. Other hardware you have little to no control over as a company. And once those apps stop being supported and/or functioning on your smartphone of the future, you're now missing camera features -- they're gone. You've increased the risk, not decreased. Keep it in body. But offer extra smartphone features on the side.

The lack of a pop up flash indicates the presence of GPS and astro tracer.

I don't think the release of smart phone apps has changed the level of features that are placed within a Pentax camera. The only example I can think of is the KP where I don't think there is an IR sensor for a remote. But clearly on this camera there are dual IR ports, front and back. I guess I would say that overall I think that improving the Ricoh app would be really beneficial. While not everyone owns a smart phone, many people do. Having the ability to use your smart phone as a remote trigger, alternate screen and to easily download jpegs from your camera for posting are all the sorts of things that can currently be done with the app -- albeit in a buggy, slow sort of way. Andrea K has released a better version that he continues to improve and I don't see any negatives to doing that.

I always have my phone with me, I don't always have a remote with me.

You've repeated several times something about apps stopping functioning on your phone and I think this is neither here nor there. Unless Ricoh suddenly stops making new cameras, I have no idea why they wouldn't continue to support the app and update periodically. Additionally, there is at least one Pentaxian who has created a (better) version of the app. No reason to think that it would stop functioning before your camera will.

[biz-engineer]

So I would be surprised if the new camera has no tilt screen.

The Pentax K1 and Pentax Kp have a tilt screen (main application of the tilt screen is for landscape, macro, architecture, portraits). Customers complained that the K1 and Kp have too less buffer depth for shooting sports and because of that the Kp isn't considered as a replacement for the K3. A replacement for the K3 & K3II means a camera for shooting sports using the viewfinder, so for me if the new Pentax camera is a K3 successor it's got to have a fixed screen like the K3. If the new Pentax model has a tilt screen, Ricoh run the risk that the new model won't be considered as a successor of the K3.

[Class A]

To me, the biggest indicator that the top selector wheel ill have more features is the fact that the far LHS back button is also blank...

Note, however, that if the top selector were to gain more options, the current "Stills", "LV", and "Movie" would have to disappear.

I argued earlier that these three modes are incompatible with any additional ones (as one of them must always be active and one couldn't move out of "LV" in order to select another option without switching into "Stills" or "Movie' mode).

[Kunzite]

And I believe you're right.
The options for the unmarked Smart Function dial will most likely be set by the SFn button. Hopefully highly customizable.

[ffking]

Note, however, that if the top selector were to gain more options, the current "Stills", "LV", and "Movie" would have to disappear.

I argued earlier that these three modes are incompatible with any additional ones (as one of them must always be active and one couldn't move out of "LV" in order to select another option without switching into "Stills" or "Movie' mode).

That's a good point, and one I hadn't thought of, but there are ways round it using a second button (S.Fn?) - I (along with others) just can't see that they would make a hulking great knob lke that for something that could be cotrolled by a selector switch - especially when it results in redundant space on the selector dial, whih looks bad.

[Class A]

I (along with others) just can't see that they would make a hulking great knob lke that for something that could be cotrolled by a selector switch...

Same here.

Offering the choice of fundamental mode could be done through a secondary ring, like on the KP (a three-way version of the two-way version of the K-1).

Seems a waste of a nice dial with plenty of space for many options. While the SF.n button would allow scrolling through options (if the top LCD supported it), it would make more sense for all options to be visible on the top dial so that one can immediately see how many clicks one needs to go through.

If the space on the top dial were to be used in the future, then it would imply that Ricoh is actively misleading people right now, which doesn't seem plausible.

It's a bit of a mystery.

[Spodeworld]

I can’t imagine that in 2019 a flagship camera would be put out with a fixed screen. I think the added flexibility is just expected these days. If you want to really take shots from novel, creative perspectives, a fixed screen is a pita.

[Richard B 13]

What features would you really like to see in the camera? Macro Focal Stacking, K3 II does not let older lenes on the body. Would love more lenes of all types to be made for Pentax and not just Pentax Brand. MP size is needed. A flip screen would be great or as I call it spy mode. Some places have restrictions on having back displays on where I go. Lower ISO ratings

[Sandy Hancock]

I too would be surprised (and a little disappointed) if the final version of this camera ships with a fixed rear LCD. Suggesting it would be suicide seems a little hyperbolic however.

No doubt there will be plenty of excitement under the hood despite what happens at the back of the camera

[Pedrodelta]

You're making a dangerous assumption -- that everyone has a smartphone.

So true. Smart phones and 'unsocial' media - total anathema to me!

[Larrymc]

I won recouped A$1000 in a lottery so I'm halfway there.

Recouped?? So now you're breaking even?

[ffking]

No doubt there will be plenty of excitement under the hood despite what happens at the back of the camera

I think that's the important part, and I'm sure there will be lots to like - I was a little underhelmed when the K-1 specs came out, but I just love using the camera - also, many of the features that I was excied by I hardly use - in the end, it's the images that it produces that matter, and I love them.

I do, however, think that tere will be a fixed screen on the new model. I don't mecessarily agreew with Ricoh on this, but I think that they have decided that this is a sports/wildlife camera and most of that shooting you do by eye to the viewfinder. However, that would undermine the logic of a touchscreen, which it will almost certainly have, so who knows? I think this is the final design, though- maybe a flippy screen just took it over the maximum price they thought users would wear

[fsge]

Ugh. 50+ pages of endless pointless speculation. Time to boriscleto™ this thread.

Then another alike thread will pop up with same questionings and suppositions until this camera is on the shelves for real.