At a recent exhibition, a representative from Pentax Russia made this comment on their two upcoming cameras with interchangeable lenses:
"A company representative Anton Melnikov commented on plans to produce mirrorless Pentax cameras. The first camera based on APS-C sensor will be released until September this year. It is based on the K bayonet and maintains the proper optics Pentax, among whom are many of compact lenses, pancakes. It is worth noting that this is just a guess, and for certain information about plans for new models is not unknown, the exact specifications. Second camera is a compact camera with interchangeable lenses and the matrix 1 / 2, 33 inches."
Previous reports indicated that in addition to the Pentax NC-1, the second new camera will be a digital version of the Pentax Auto 110. It will be an interesting development if the Auto 110 Digital really has an APS-C sensor inside.
The Pentax NC-1 mirrorless camera will have a 14MP 1/2,33″ sensor with a 5.6x crop factor and HD h.264 video recording capabilities. The camera will be initially sold as one lens kit. Some of the rumored lenses are 8.5mm f/1.9 and 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5. The Pentax NC-1 will have also a flash hot shoe.
Few days ago Pentax displayed a new teaser of an upcoming camera at a Chinese trade show
Related posts:
- Pentax will bring two new interchangeable lens cameras this summer, only one will be mirrorless
- Pentax Q interchangeable lens camera will be announced in August
- Two interchangeable lens cameras are expected from Pentax in 2011
- Will there be a second interchangeable lens camera system from Pentax?
- Pentax NC-1 mirrorless camera will come in two colors
6 Comments
Well this news is great… Right?
I mean the aps-c bit not the useless 1/2.33 sensor system.
Those lenses will be small enough to lose. Manual focusing with pinching the lens, anyone?:-P
Anyway… Anybody cares to guess who will be the last to introduce mirrorles aps-c system or any mirorles camera?
Canon, right? In both counts most likely.:-P
Weird thing : if the rumored “digital auto 110″ is still build around K mount, and allow to use FA & DA lenses… then you won’t gain much space removing the mirror, as the distance between K mount and sensor will have to remain the same, no matter what :/
As with any mirrorless system, let’s see what it’s like and what images it delivers before judging.
I suspect Pentax will make their lower end cameras (K-x, K-r lineup) mirrorless. This is where I think the market is going: Low-end will be mirrorless, higher end will be DSLR. The question is which brands will make their mirrorless cameras in a different (shorter registration distance) mount (micro-4/3, NEX) and which will keep the standard mount (Sony SLT).
The other question is who will produce a pro-level mirrorless camera with high-spec’d lenses. Panasonic has the GH series, but apart from that there are no high-end MILCs out there. Fingers crossed for a Samsung NX1.
“It is based on the K bayonet” does not sound to me it will necessary have a true K mount. It could be K mount compatible with an adapter for example. There were rumors some time ago about a new mount which would not support K mount screw drive mechanism, but SDM lenses would work fine. So how about a “micro K” mount with a shorter registration distance and a mK-K adapter that provides the mount and electrical connections? The funny side of this option is that the SDM lenses aren’t the smallest ones and providing support for them for a small camera body might not be so popular after all.
When I first saw the pictures I said to my self: Finally, I can have a Leica at 1/10 of the price. But no, it had to be 1/2.33, like an ordinary 80$ digicam. Where is the serious stuff from pentax, or did they just gave up the aspc DSLR world after the resounding fail with the AF of the last two cameras, and decided to take another route ?