Originally posted by eigelb from:
Photo Rumors
Two rumors from the world of Pentax: Pentax is expected to release an EVIL camera this year that will look exactly like the Samsung NX10.
PS Job
Pentax rumor #2: The medium format Pentax 645D will be released in March 2010 and the price is expected to be US$ 6,500.
645D is more than a rumor... it's THE rumor and has been going on for quite some years....
However, I thought Pentax indicated that they would indeed release this camera by the en of the 1rst quarter, at least in some parts of the world so, it's not a rumor anymore AFAIK.
If Pentax was to produce in addition an EVIL camera, one would really have to wonder what ever happened to the argument that was repeatedly served to FF wanters over Pentax being small and not able to produce different lens lines at the same time.
They would have to produce DA, D-FA for FF (since they apparently haven't completely switched that off), D-FA for 645 and µDA (tentative name...) for µAPS-C... that's 4 different lines in my book...
Furthermore, while D-FA (FF and 645) and DA can all be used on Pentax DSLRs, µDA would not and chances are that D-FA would be of very limited (no pun intended) proctical use on µAPS-C because they would be too slow to focus by CD-AF even if Pentax could manage to bring an AF adapter for them which is unlikely, thanks to the coexistence of screw-driven AF and SDM.
All in all, 645D seems like a done deal but will be restricted to pros and very wealthy amateurs and FF would be easier and cheaper to deal with than µAPS-C if Pentax wanted to diversify their offer.