The Pentax K-70 has just been announced, and it has already started promising that it's gonna be a much better and practical tool for video. It will be having Hybrid AF with on sensor phase detect sensors which will help the camera get fast focusing in live view and video. plus there is a new 50-300 round the corner to complement it with better auto focus (a little disappointed seeing it is a bit slower than the current 50-300 HD WR).
This K-70 looks almost identical to the K-S2 and in many ways it it. Articulating screen, wifi etc, similar weight and battery life.
but from inside it has a lot of similarities with the K-3 & K-3 II too.
It's gonna get the 24mp sensor (probably even better than the one in K-3 II since it's gonna have a higher max ISO), pixel shift resolution, 4.5 stops of Image stabilisation 3 user modes, customizable info menu.
It's good to see that the wifi button has been made customizable, it really was stupid to waste one full button on wifi and restrict it from doing anything else.
from the pics it seems that the video mode is still with the on off switch, which is disappointing. With such promising video capabilities it needs a dedicated switch & also you can mistakenly switch it in video when don't intend to (should have made into a live view switch with the live view button replaced with video, or moved to a ).
We cannot really ask Pentax to include the GPS for astrotracer since then the K-3 II's existence will start seeming insignificant.
I'd say the K-S2 was 80% complete (due to lack of good video/Live view) budget APS-C DSLR & this K-70 is 90% complete thanks to better Live view & video and more customizability.
It would have been nice if this offering from Pentax had the touch screen built into the screen, now that it is a better performer in live view & video, but it's still fine.
overall I'd say this could be a revolutionary & groundbreaking camera for Pentax & Ricoh thanks to it's promise in the field of video.
I have seen the K-3II and K-1 come by but wasnt interested due to the price or lack of articulating screen & wifi. This is the first time after K-S2 that a Pentax camera has really caught my attention thanks to it's price (because I expect it to drop to near K-S2). Although
The Pentax K-70 is again a product which suggests that brand PENTAX is in good hands of RICOH.