Pentax announce new pro level DSLR..

Katier

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With a very nice twist.

PENTAX to Exhibit Reference Products at Photo Imaging Expo 2009 in Japan

Rather than go for a full frame '35mm' DSLR they are taking advantage of their superb 645 medium format range and will be launching, next year, a high megapixel ( over 30mp ) DSLR.

Ought to be very good as the 645 has an excellent reputation for portability and image quality so coupling the existing benefits with a digitial ( prejumably very large in size, so low noise) sensor should produce a superb proffessional level piece of kit.

Would seem therefore that the '35mm' DSLR's will remain crop sensor but that's no real issue as most manufacturers are creating two lines of lenses ( crop and full frame ) just in Pentaxes case the full frame will be an established line. Also means no confusion, K-Series lenses will remain working on all Pentax DSLR's without any problems or considerations such as the FF/CF lines seen on Canon/Nikon and the 645 lenses will work on all 645 bodies ( Film and digital ).

Sounds very promising.
 
I wonder what the price point will be.

Above $5K and it's just an ego stroke.

Price point hasn't been announced but I'd personally expect it to compete on price with top end Full Frame DSLR's.. Pentax usually are very keanly priced so be disapointing if it is priced high.
 
Yes, price will be a big key here. The top end DSLR cameras are already outstanding in terms of image quality, so this will have to either be a lot better or priced low enough to be competitive.

Actually, the top end DSLRs are just about on the verge of pricing themselves out of the market with prices up near $8000. Consider Nikon for example. The D700 is very similar to the D3...but for much less. I can't imagine that they will sell many D3X models. I recently read an article that offered the opinion that the D3X was more of a status symbol for Nikon...they just wanted to have the very best DSLR (35mm format) available...whether they sold a lot of them or not. Just like the F6...which many have called the best film SLR ever made...and it probably didn't sell well at all because it came during the digital revolution.

Wow, that's a lot of Nikon gushing...from a Canon guy too. :er:

I look forward to seeing what Pentax does to shake things up. :)
 
Wow. At first, I thought Pentax was going to impress me in the way they wouldn't when I sold all my Pentax gear two months ago. I can't believe it's this again. Here is an article from when they revealed what was (supposedly) a fully-functional prototype at PMA in 2006. You know, three years ago. This prototype was supposedly production ready, and then they pulled production for reasons no one understood, citing input costs or something like that. Three years later, it's inexplicably back. I wouldn't count on it until the Ritz down the street is trying to sell them to soccer moms because the larger sensor "takes better pictures."

That said, the price point numbers that were tossed around in 2006 were of the $5,000 variety, and at that price, I think this could be a pretty big deal, assuming the image quality is what they're hyping it up to be, especially with all the inexpensive 645 lenses that are already floating around.

Is it a great concept? Yes. Do I trust them? No.
 
It's interesting that they have previously done prototypes of this concept. Reading the link I wonder if Kodak had anything to do with it. Maybe the fact that Pentax didn't go 4/3 etc. might have had a reason behind it or perhaps Kodak decided they didn't want to produce the sensor etc.

We'll never know, certainly sensor wise should be less of an issue as they have the partnership with Samsung now. Previously they used Sony ( I think ) so quite possible they wouldn't do the sensor Pentax needed.

All speculation of course but certainly feasible.
 
It's a shame that at this point it's most likely going to be a CCD sensor.. but, I'd still get one and shoot it at 100 ISO :p
 
It's a shame that at this point it's most likely going to be a CCD sensor.. but, I'd still get one and shoot it at 100 ISO :p

Well there is still debate over which is better. CMOS is less power hungry than a CCD but noise wise I'm not sure there is much to choose. This is especially likely to be true in a 30mp 6x4.5 sensor due to the low density of the pixels.

Just hope the potential turns into fact.
 
Well there is still debate over which is better. CMOS is less power hungry than a CCD but noise wise I'm not sure there is much to choose. This is especially likely to be true in a 30mp 6x4.5 sensor due to the low density of the pixels.

Just hope the potential turns into fact.
I was talking with the Pentax rep and he says it's really coming this time. I look forward to getting my hands on one
 
the camera is really interesting; the point here is price, as medium-format cameras are more expensive as a rule, aren't they?
 
the camera is really interesting; the point here is price, as medium-format cameras are more expensive as a rule, aren't they?

Varies, Mamiya Medium Format (film) cameras are cheaper than Nikon Full Frame DSLR's.

Hassalblads however are much more costly.

I'd hope this camera will sit at Mamiya's price levels.
 
I was excited and then disappointed the first time they announce the 645 digital. I'll hold off this time around until I actually see something delivered.
 
It's going to have to be a totally groundbreaking body in order to survive, I think, because it is going to slot into an odd part of the market, and probably not a ton of working pros are going to be able to integrate it smoothly into their systems (assuming most MF folks are shooting Mamiya/Hasselblad digital systems), meaning that it will have to be awesome enough for people to sell off their old stuff and buy into the Pentax system. For people with old Pentax 645 gear on hand, though, this will be pretty awesome.
 

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