Originally posted by odyseuss A guy from China's major photography forum xitek posted a couple interesting pieces of information
about Pentax's FF DSLR. I'd say people have guessed most of them already, but, anyway, here they are
1) Reason of the recent delay:
It's no news that Pentax has only two sensor options from SONY: either the 36MP or the 42MP FF CMOS
sensor. The guy said that the 36MP FF DSLR was pretty much ready to be rolled out at the end of this summer.
But just about the same time, Pentax sent out an internal memo, saying that SONY finally agreed to supply
the 42MP sensor. For this reason, Pentax made a change to the DSLR design and started testing the new 42MP
sensor. Their primary concern, as everyone probably knows, is the power consumption. Now in the recently
released teaser, the exact release date is not mentioned. Pentax could still release the 36MP version, if the date
is in early spring. If it is in late spring, then the new DSLR is likely to be the 42MP version.
2) In-body shake reduction:
The new FF DSLR will have in-body shake reduction. Because FF sensor has a larger inertia (relative to APS-C
sensor), Pentax is working hard to bump up shake reduction's performance. Their target is K3-II's 4.5 stops.
But could be 3 or 4 stops at the end.
3) New lenses:
Pentax's goal of 5 new FF lenses is still on schedule.
I guess Pentax will always be at the mercy of Sony for what is at the heart of a digital camera.
If the recent news about Samsung closing their camera division is true, Ricoh/Pentax should strike a deal with Samsung and buy their SLR sensor making division. This way they are not at the mercy of Sony. Their 28MP APSc equipped camera got some favorable PR.
Didn't Samsung make sensors for Pentax cameras at some point?
Leica is coming out with autofocus camera and lenses! Sony has teamed up with Zeiss to eat everyone else's lunch. Gloves are off folks. Some noses are going to get bloodied. I hope Pentax is going to put up a fight. There is too much heritage there to let it die.
Just a thought.