Pentax? Medium format? Never saw that one coming!! Not bad for under $10,000 (in this class of cameras)
Engadget Linky
Engadget Linky
it has dual SD, according to DPR.
Hmm...it says that it will initially only be available in the Japanese market. I think there would be plenty of takers elsewhere too!
I work for a Canon dealer. Canon's pricing doesn't change on a regular basis. Your dealer probably doesn't stock the lens because it's expensive and they may not have enough demand to justify tying up their money in a lens like that.I priced a Canon 100mm IS macro at my local shop this afternoon and they didn't stock the IS. They said it was order only because the price changed day to day with the strength of the dollar.
It's definitely a good deal, but you do lose out on some features for that $10k you save over a mamiya or phase one kit. Primarily the sensor isn't removable, so if you want to back up the camera body you need to buy two. You also can't swap the back amongst SLR, view, and technical cameras. I also don't see any mention of live view, which is currently missing from digital backs and would have been a big plus for the pentax.
The leica S2 share's these problems, and the pentax definitely has a much more palatable price, so it'll be interesting to see how it sells and how it changes the medium format landscape. Current world wide sales for all medium format backs is around 10k. That's not a very big market, but maybe the lower price will change that.
it has dual SD, according to DPR.
While both Nikon and Canon have been telegraphing a sensor size increase beyond FF for a while now, they're not going out the gate at this stage for a lot of reasons- I think Pentax should have done 35mm first given the current market- 1% of a exponentially larger and growing market beats 5% of shrinking one- I just don't see how this works out well for them strategically- even if they actually started to sell enough to make the investment in tooling and sales work, Hassy can always close the price gap and take them out.
Fascinating. I don't think anybody saw this coming, and it portends good things for Pentax, who I rate as being the only DSLR manufacturer worth bothering with along with Nikon and Canon.
This ought to shake up competition in a good way.
This is great news for photographers. There is no way I'd buy a D3X when for a few dollars more (!) I could buy the Pentax. I don't want to spend that kind of money on a camera right now anyway.
SD cards are easier to manage than CF and nowadays have large capacities. Better two SD slots than one CF (on a pro camera, that is).