Pentax K-3 is rumored to have 24MP APS-C sensor

By PR admin | Published: September 3, 2012

The website zol.com.cn has a listing for a Pentax K-3 DLSR camera with a 24MP APS-C sensor. No other details/specs were provided. According to Ricehigh, this Chinese website has a good track record and has correctly predicted specifications of other upcoming cameras in the past. Rumors about a full frame Pentax DSLR has been circulating for a while, but it seems that the camera will not be announced at Photokina.

The K-3 and X-5 cameras plus the DA 560mm f/5.6 lens are probably going to be the only Pentax announcements for Photokina. Few months ago there were some rumors about a new medium format camera, but I have not heard any updates recently. The Pentax K-01 is also rumored to be replaced soon (but not for Photokina).

Related posts:

  1. Rumored Pentax K-5 and K-r specs
  2. Could this Pentax flash patent be for their rumored mirrorless camera?
  3. Pentax Australia: “good things are coming”
  4. Pentax announcement on September 9th
  5. Pentax Optio RZ18 announced, looks nothing like the previously rumored picture

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  • Sahaja

    Pentax already have a “full frame” camera – the 645d

    • Mistral75

      Nope, it has a 1.25 crop sensor compared to “full frame” 645: 33×44 instead of 41.5×56 :) .

  • Gil

    The Nikon d600 is going to blow these expensive APS cameras out of the water. This camera should have been full frame.

    • http://photorumors.com PR admin

      I agree, it all depends on the D600 price – if they manage to keep it under $2k as the rumors suggests, they will kill the competition (plus they have the lenses as well).

    • john

      full frame only gives you a very wide photo – If your a Nikon fan why are you here

      • Jivee

        John, john, john…… If you think FX is PURELY for wide angle, as you suggest, then I suggest you spend more time EVERYWHERE learning about photography, and associated tech before questioning others on their reasons.

        Fyi, my main gear is about $16 000k of Nikon equipment. Only DX bodies. And for that reason, for wides, I have a Tokina 11-16. My only non Nikkor. But I’m looking to go full frame, and have non DX lenses too.

        And I have plenty of other cams for Fuji, Panasonic, and Leica. My Ashai / Pentax m42 mount bodies, along with all other film ones are retired to the cupboard.

        Oh, I own a canon too. A scanner. Before you go around throwing “fanboi” around.

        • El Aura

          FX is about:
          - one stop shallower minimal DOF
          - one stop more low light performance (at that lower DOF)
          - one stop more SNR at base ISO
          - one stop more DR at base ISO
          - larger viewfinder (for DSLRs, irrelevant for mirrorless)
          - more MP on average
          - in general more lens resolution (integrated over the frame), though some of that comes from the higher MP count
          - a somewhat larger lens selection (eg, in WA primes)

          • Gimme D600

            +1

            Good summary for the unenlightened.

            It took me a while and many hours with both DX and FX bodies to finally realize what you have listed as that certain look that FX can provide over DX.

            It’s subtle, a stop here, shallower DOF there. Best way to test this is to have both DX and FX bodies with you and shoot the same scenes and situations.

          • jon

            oh did u forget…

            10 stops more expensive?

            if cost doesnt matter, try the leica 2 over full frame is what is full frame over apsc you cheapskate!

          • jon

            leica s2 – medium format

          • Sahaja

            At least Pentax has some good wide angle primes for APS-C – something neglected by Nikon.

        • Sam Iam

          $16k …… oooo I’m shaking in my boots……

  • http://www.neocamera.com Itai

    This makes perfect sense for both Pentax and its users.

    They have to get their sensors somewhere, so going with the latest 24 MP (most lilkely Sony) lets them keep up with megapixels since even Nikon has gone 24 MP at the low-end (D3200). They hopefully could boost performance above the K-5and D3200 but not using an AA (Low-Pass) filter and should be working on Autofocus speed which is their weakest point.

    Going full-frame would be suicide for Pentax since they only have 7 current full-frame lenses in their line-up. They can leverage APS-C very well by keeping to produce high-quality lenses specifically for APS-C including their DA* and WR series which are some of the most affordable and complete set of weather-sealed lenses.

    • David

      It’s only a matter of time. Pentax needs to have the lenses and camera ready so it may take a little longer. I have little doubt they’re getting them ready. I think they’re much more busy internally than we can see from the outside. Ricoh has been too aggressive for this to be all they’re actually turning out – although it’s still good so far.

      They only need 2-4 FF lenses to launch the camera. In fact, they may already have all of them – either from third parties or their own previous designs. It’s really only in zooms where they’re lacking – although, admittedly they could use something like a 20 or 24mm prime (though they already have a “Limited” zoom on their lens roadmap for ~1H 2013 that could cover this from ~24mm, and an even wider zoom coming after that). Also, it could well be that the DA* ~22-80mm on the map could actually be a ~24-75 or 80mm FF zoom!

    • David

      It’s only a matter of time – literally. Pentax needs to have the lenses and camera ready so it may take a little longer. I have little doubt they’re getting them ready. I think they’re much more busy internally than we can see from the outside. Ricoh has been too aggressive for this to be all they’re actually turning out – they must be working on more.

      They only need 2 to 4 FF lenses to launch the camera. In fact, they may already have all of them – either from third parties or their own previous designs. It’s really only in zooms where they’re lacking – although, admittedly they could use something like a 20 or 24mm prime (though they already have a “Limited” zoom on their lens roadmap for ~1H 2013 that could cover this from ~24mm, and an even wider zoom coming after that). Also, it could well be that the DA* ~22-80mm on the map could actually be a ~24-75 or 80mm FF zoom!

    • David

      It’s only a matter of time – literally. Pentax needs to have the lenses and camera ready so it may take a little longer. I have little doubt they’re getting them ready. I think they’re much more busy internally than we can see from the outside. Ricoh has been too aggressive for this to be all they’re actually turning out – they must be working on more.

  • simon

    Am I the only one who hopes this is wrong? I’m not impressed by the high-ISO (400 and above) performance of the NEX 7 or Nikon D3200, I’d much rather see a state of the art 16 MP sensor in the K-5 successor, something like the one in the X1Pro (but shipped with a decent RAW converter).

    • bas076

      No, you are not only one, but … this is what is probably going to happen :(

    • pooh

      Remember that sensor is 2 years old now. And if you want it from Pentax, you still have the weather sealed K-30 as an option.

      Pentax seems not be able to get hands on the latest sensor of NEX-5R and NEX-6 – though I doubt the actual improvement in performance when comparing against the last generation 16MP sensors.

      Meanwhile Canon is still using that 3 years old 18MP for everything…

  • schufosi777

    Thats a really pity if true. Looking at how a 24 mp sensor performs on the Nikon D3200 it does not bode well at all for noise at even moderate ISO. Get ready for very grainy blue skies even at ISO 200. I was hoping they would update the K5 with all of the improvement the K30 possesses including 16mp sensor. Maybe they will release two cameras a K3 and a K5super. Lets see.

  • remember

    Lol remember when we has film and film grain? :-p now people think its bad lol. Less pixel peeping people!

  • Koseng

    Technologies move on. If Pentax manage to have the same pixel level IQ as good as the Olympus E-M5, then the 24MP K3 is going to be awesome.

  • M42

    Can someone please tell me again why we need 24 megapixels squeeezed tight in an area about half the size of a postage stamp? I keep forgetting – after seeing how far 12mp pictures can go… :)

    • MaMamiyaLetMeGo

      Excellent point M42!

      While I can see some benefit to have 24MP for the purposes of cropping, have we not reached the point of diminishing returns?

      Large photosites trump small photosites. That’s physics for you.

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