[MJKoski]

Here is a suggestion to Ricoh/Pentax:

As we know, current fullframe sensors are limited in DR and cannot be made better than D800 was already in 2012. I want software sensor mode which works as follows:

1) Take one exposure at selected ISO, preferably 100 of course
2) Measure the brightest area in the image at selected shutter speed for possible overexposure, IF detected THEN shorten shutter speed until it does not blow
3) Now we know the maximum shutter speed which can be used to record the brightest values without overexposing
4) Start buffering n-number of exposures (sum of pixel brightness values to form the final pixels) to form at least 64bit HDR RAW straight out of the camera, stop buffering when the shadows are in 0EV range.

Result: single exposure with over 20+ steps of DR which never blows out and can be exposed for shadows. Tonemapping becomes mandatory step in post processing but that is just fine. Do this with modern sensor which has huge reading speed with electronic shutter.

[travelswsage]

Yup, I'd use something like this. While they are at it they could also add a focus shift feature similar to the one in the Nikon D850. It' been a little disappointing that there has been no firmware updates of significance to the K-1/K-1 ii -- I think a few substantive additions to the firmware would buy Pentax a lot of goodwill and extra time to develop the next generation of products.

[MJKoski]

Ya. This would be called Virtual Sensor. Why settle with ridiculous physical limitations?