Originally posted by Vantage-Point I wonder if Pentax could start making lighter versions of their flag ship models like the K-3ii and eventually their FF camera? I lot a people might be more inclined to buy a camera if it were lighter and easier to carry with advanced features. Pentax already makes compact lenses so why not more compact upscale bodies? If the dslr body were made out of aluminum, (like the K-01) and the chassis chrome alloy, couldn't the camera body still feel solid, and be lighter in weight? The K-s1 and K-01 are Pentax's two lightest APS-C cameras weighting 558 grams and 560 grams respectively with battery. Aluminum also dissipates heat better than steel so less chance of the camera overheating. Those models could be part of Pentax "S" line. What do you think?
so let me get this straight, you want it to do more, but weigh less?
I have seen all the other answers, but unless there is a complete elimination of all metal, replacing it with plastic, (not something for a flagship body) where is the savings going to be. also, pentax made some very small compact SLRS in the film era, which were the smallest and lightest cameras on the market at the time, but were too small for many people to use.
Pentax has always made things very compact, and I see no benefit in trying to make them smaller or lighter, it just becomes unuseable, and at the end, to make things lighter the only way is smaller.
You want a DSLR, for some key performance points which require certain things.
You want a shutter and optical viewfinder, for minimum shutter delay, you want big sensors for low noise, you want a penta prism over penta mirror for brightness, you want a prism over EVF for image quality in the viewfinder, you want a rugged metal frame for durability in a flagship product, You want image stabilization in body so every lens has it. etc.......
what we have, barring discovery of some new magic material as strong as steel per unit volume with 1/1000 the density and within the cost of somebody other than the armed forces or NASA, what we have is about as good as it gets.
the pressure is more on the electroncis and battery systems, to reduce size power and heat than anything else. but even then, unless the basic geometry of a camera changes (i.e. registration distance, mirror etc, the volume really cant change much, and volume = weight at the end of it