[Kunzite]

Maybe the requirements for such lenses changed, in the mean time?
Like, they have to cover a bigger image circle (not that I expect a FF camera from Pentax ) or a higher image quality?

[ogl]

The most interesting thing for me is
what sensor will Pentax put into K300D and K30D?

[Samsungian]

Here's the first announcement for 60-250mm f4 SDM from September 21 2006.

You know, way back when Pentax officially gave it a March 2007 release date:

Three new Pentax DA star lenses: Digital Photography Review


Why should Pentax bother cancelling ANY roadmapped lenses at March 2009 PMA when they have a history of taking 2&1/2 years or 900+ days to bring 60-250 f4 SDM to market after announcing it?

...well thats assuming it's coming to market by March 2009

Someone from a German DSLR forum works in a big electronic shop in Berlin. If I understand him right, there will be a few good things on PMA and a few bad things for Pentax friends.
The good news: The new camera (K30D?) will be a good step in better AF quality and fps. The lenses DA*55 and DA60-250 will be in the stores in march and they will be very nice.

The bad news: Pentax cancels a few lenses from the last roadmap. I think we will talk about the DA15 and the DA30?

Best,
Rainer

[blende8]

The most interesting thing for me is
what sensor will Pentax put into K300D and K30D?

My information is that the K30 will have the same sensor as the K20.
Not official, just rumor, but well-informed.

[ogl]

New revision? How can they get 4-5 fps?

[Kunzite]

Well, my guess is that we'll see a camera using the Samsung 14.6MP sensor and another camera using a new sensor.

[WheresWaldo]

I've got a buddy whose sister knows a guy who's related by marriage to the third cousin of a salesman who works for a marketing firm who, in 1955, represented the printer in Japan who did the labels for a major, un-named SLR maker and word has it that Pentax, yes Pentax, may have some new stuff @ PMA???

I think it's all hogwash since the guy at Wolf Camera told me that Pentax and Hoya are going out of business!

You must be a NASCAR fan Just to many kinfolk inter-related.

Wolf Camera salespeople everywhere have been telling customers that for several years.

My totally uninformed guess:

1. Km in more colors like the Panasonic, maybe red and blue
2. Something to fill a gap left by poorly placed K200
3. Price drop on Km
4. More Samsung sensors (not necessarily the 14.6mp)

---

Last edited by WheresWaldo; 01-10-2009 at 10:12 AM.

[jeffkrol]

My information is that the K30 will have the same sensor as the K20.
Not official, just rumor, but well-informed.

K20 is looking to be a non-starter in the japanese market. I oddly suspect it is due to the "Korean" sensor in it... I am GUESSING Pentax will stick w/ Sony for it's next gen cameras in order to fall in line with the home market.
My hypotheses and no way to prove it I guess

[Kunzite]

Maybe it's not "new enough" for the japanese market? I.e. it looks too similar with the K10D - even though, if you're using it, you discover a lot of differences not mentioned in the spec sheet.

[thePiRaTE!!]

My information is that the K30 will have the same sensor as the K20.
Not official, just rumor, but well-informed.

This makes sense to me. If the weather sealed angle pans out as per Hoya's Sept release, and if this is their niche, I'd hope to see a full line up in the upgraded body. 'Minor design change versions' to me alludes then to a K30 and Km or K300 with these new bodies and probably uptweaked AF/fps while my hope for a K3 still exists as one of the 3 new types for '09 release.

[Priyantha Bleeker]

Bad.
This probably means new battery grip.

Well this means also that Pentax has a chance to improve their Battery-grip which lacks some buttons.
And create space for one extra battery to give some more battery power.

I was dissapointend that Pentax didn't announced a new grip for the K20D because their is not AF button on the old grip(which I do have).
That is for my a big point, because I am used to use the AF button to autofocus and just use the shutter release button to 'lock' the metering and deploy the shutter.

Now I can't do that anymore

[Fl_Gulfer]

Nothing they make will be worth buying over the K20d till they fix the AF, so it dosen't matter what they come out with till thats fixed.

[Priyantha Bleeker]

Nothing they make will be worth buying over the K20d till they fix the AF, so it dosen't matter what they come out with till thats fixed.

Also nothing more or less than true.
That's also one of my key points when I am going to buy a K20D successor, it has to be a much improved AF system.
It has to be on-par with the AF systems found in the Canon and Nikon models to be successful otherwise Pentax will still losing sales in that respect.
Also a deeper buffer would be welcome with a higer FPS count maybe not as high as the Nikon D300 but minimal like 5 FPS I think ?

It makes sense to me for Pentax to be putting a priority on a Super Tele. It wouldn't make sense to go with the weather sealing and not cater to the photographers who benefit most from the sealing.

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

The sensor and shutter do require greater thickness than a film body, admittedly, but I do think they could be made thinner in that respect than they are today. imo, the current thickness of the main body portion is already in the "coat-pocketable" range. It's that danged grip that snags on everything and gets in the way.

It is true, the grip and the xxxx built-in flash (OK sometimes I have use for it) makes the whole camera more bulky. Still I would like to loose another 10mm in depth (which of course require the grip to go as well), but I suspect it is impossible with digital (with current technology at least).

I've never played with an MX or Super A, but I do know that my modern plastic DSLR has twice the volume of my old Olympus OM-2, but only half the weight. Maybe the MX and Super A are considerably lighter than that, I guess.

I think OM2 corresponds quite well to MX, and it was basically Olympus and Pentax who went the furthest in trying to make compact SLRs. The compact cameras from Pentax of this period was ~500g, while the last film bodies in the late 90's and early 2000's from Pentax was from 300-400g, in comparison to the k200D and K20D that are between 600 and 700g (+bateries), same roughly as the old K-line cameras. So your olympus cameras appears to show roughly the same trend, right? (see thread with figures: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-film-slr-discussion/45970-why-my-d...at-pocket.html).

Lightness is, frankly, overrated. Great till you get somewhere, then when you go to shoot, all of a sudden you need high tech SR and/ or ballast.. and maybe a grip... for a steady shot, anyway, with anything longish. Small and solid works fine. Before cameras needed AAs or big batteries to run, people wondered why you had to put a winder on just to *have* a grip.

I agreed that lightness is overrated. A camera can be too light. But I'm not asking for lightness, I'm asking for smallness.

I don't need a grip for a steady shot. I need a viewfinder that makes me keep the camera and my arms close to my body. And with something longish this is even more true except that left hand can slide below the lens. Why must the grip be large as a small fist? The B grip for the LX is enough, protroud about 10mm, and the Super-A/Program-A came with a small removeable grip that protrouded about 5 mm, enough to improve my grip on the camera body. But yes, I have worn out two winders on my Super-A/Program-A, but they were optional. I could decide when I needed them. But the digital cameras all have built in grips that are much larger than what is always needed (I'm talking the built in grip now, not the DBG's). A more compact Pentax DSLR, yes it would be nice if it had no clumpsy grip by default (a extra battery grip could add a vertical grip in front of the right side of the camera, like on the winders ME and ME II and the motor drive A). But the grip is there to make room for the battery!