I know this is a rangefinder, and it sold for $2,000-3,000, but this is what the "MXd" should be. It has a mechanical shutter (has to be primed with the lever), only has Av and M mode, no AF, and every important function is displayed in analogue. Shutter speed is on the wheel, and the dials set WB, quality, show how many shots remain on the SD card, and how full the batteries are. The LCD can even swivel out and around so it is protected and out of site (there is a handy dial on the back of it that performs crop factor calculations.)
If Pentax could make this (possibly without the analogue dials as they supposedly added $500 to the cost) at a reasonable price, and give it full compatibility with pre-A lenses, they could sell them to schools, clubs, and hundreds of thousands of photographers that still have old k-mount glass sitting in a box in their closets.
If I had the money, I would buy this rangefinder in a heartbeat. I can just imagine it, with a 50mm f/1.0 as a walkaround kit.
~Thursday