New Pentax should be officially announced today!

[SLC Flyfishing]

As far as I can tell, all the sites are going up and we should have an official announcement of the K20D, K200D and possibly the long overdue 645D DSLR's by the end of the day! Also I saw an advertisement with the lenses which are reportedly ready for a late february-early march street date. They are as follows:

DA* 200 mm f/2.8 SDM (weather sealed)
DA* 300 mm f/4 SDM (weather sealed)
DA 35 mm f/2.8 macro (limited edition)
DA 55-300 mm f/4-5.8 ED
DA 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 AL II (reworked optical formula for use on higher resolution sensors)

There are many more lenses on the roadmap, but these are the ones I know of that should be ready immediately!

Good times ahead for us Pentaxians!

SLC

 

[miloblithe]

Sounds like a nice set of additions. Good to see Pentax beefing up their telephoto line.

Competition, it benefits us all!

 

[job]

It appears that the K200 is also sealed against moisture (read: rain) and dust. It's effectively the K10D in a smaller package.

Can't wait to see what the K20 brings.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Here's an official leak of some of the specs, taken from the Pentax germany site. I ran it through Google translation tools so some of it didn't come out that well but I think it reveals a lot! Link for the german version is here: http://www.pentax.de/downloads/photo/de/Pentax%20K20D/Pressemeldung%20K20D.pdf

Summary of the main features
• 14.6 MP CMOS sensor
• Fast Signal Processing thanks PRIME
• Dust Alert - for dust removal system at the touch
• pixel mapping
• 14-bit analog converter
• ISO 100 - 6400
• Dynamic Range Enlargement
• Noise suppression hardware base
• Noise Suppression software additionally
• Live View on the high-resolution monitor
• Digital Preview (after editing stored)
• depth of field preview
• histogram display in retail channels
• Penta prism viewfinder
• Shake Reduction 4 LW
• 16 field exposure measurement
• 11 point distance measurement - 9 Cross sensors
• AF adjustment
• Custom image with 4 color profiles
• 5 color profiles and SW-recording function
• RAW files in the DNG format - RAW + JPEG simultaneously
• Individual file name can be forgiven for recording
• Interval Timer
• X-sync contact for flash plant
• 3-level sensor cleaning system
• 2.7 "monitor
• Monitor Kalibrierbarer
• zoomable text size to 150%
• 4 exposure modes (normal, high speed, depth of focus, MTF)
• bracketing by a trigger pressure
• Programmable adjustment wheels
• Wireless flash control
• Housing seals against moisture and dust
• JPEG without limit - to 16 RAW in a row
• nearly 3 frames per second - burst mode with 20 B / sec.
• bracketing for white balance, color saturation, hue, contrast,
Sharpness
• Water and Staubgedichtet

SLC

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

And here's a link to the full color brochure (in german again) http://www.pentax.de/downloads/photo/de/Pentax%20K20D/SLR_Catalogue_K20D_GER.pdf

Enjoy!

SLC

 

[Buschmaster]

Looks like I'll be saving my pennies.

ISO 3200 looked pretty damn usable and 20fps is sure nice for certain things

 

[marclapierre13]

Wow, very cool!
I hope they made some changes to the K100D. Regardless, Im probably saving for the k10D still... Im sure the other ones are much to advance for my needs.
Edit: wait, is the k200 the new and upgraded K100D? The links you posted arent working for me, so im speculating. If so, IM SO EXCITED
Because I LOVED the size of the K100D, I found the k10d to be a little to heavy for my needs, and advanced.

 

[theblueone]

SLC,
How sure are you that it'll be today? That's the same thing I've been hearing for a couple weeks, but people at dpreview are acting like it's tomorrow.

Edit: looks like I misread.

Here's a link to some press pictures on an actual official Pentax site:
http://www.pentaxtech.com/Press/pressfiles.html

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

I guess it would be tomorrow, I'm confused because it's already the 24th in Japan.

Maclapierre: yes the K200D is a heavily upgraded K100D!

SLC

 

[marclapierre13]

I guess it would be tomorrow, I'm confused because it's already the 24th in Japan.

Marclapierre: yes the K200D is a heavily upgraded K100D!

SLC

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

I told you guys, when we were talking about this last month theyd be doing this! And I was really hoping they would come through! I cant wait to see the new specs on it.
What Im hoping for: Higher MPs, battery pack, RAW, and thats all I can think of for now. The poster a few above said it is weather sealed? so cool

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

OK Macklapierre, hold on to your hat!

Here's what I know so far, (the specs were up on those sites too):

10.2 mega pixels
weather-sealed
pentaprism viewfinder (instead of the K100D's pentamirror) with 96% coverage and much more bright than K100D
3 FPS
RAW (I think .PEF and .DNG but don't quote me on that one)
There is a battery grip available
and yes it does run with Lithium battery pack, supposedly being able to achieve 1,000 shots per charge.

ISO only goes to 1,600 (because of the increased resolution)
Dynamic range extension mode
basically a K10D crammed into a K100D's frame from what I can tell so far!

OK now you can scream!

SLC

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

And here's a link to a blog that has copies of some of the advertisements, mind you they are in japanese.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/mythings/

SLC

 

[theblueone]

Ahh,
Here we go:
http://www.pentaximaging.com/produc...-K20D/reqID--10505894/subsection--digital_slr

 

[jpfisher]

Hrmm.... now, if I get a decent tax return this year, and sell my K10D, that K20D might be worth it....

Full details on the K20D and K200D are up on dpreview.

 

[marclapierre13]

OK Macklapierre, hold on to your hat!

Here's what I know so far, (the specs were up on those sites too):

10.2 mega pixels
weather-sealed
pentaprism viewfinder (instead of the K100D's pentamirror) with 96% coverage and much more bright than K100D
3 FPS
RAW (I think .PEF and .DNG but don't quote me on that one)
There is a battery grip available
and yes it does run with Lithium battery pack, supposedly being able to achieve 1,000 shots per charge.

ISO only goes to 1,600 (because of the increased resolution)
Dynamic range extension mode
basically a K10D crammed into a K100D's frame from what I can tell so far!

OK now you can scream!

SLC

AWESOME! Im so excited. remember last month we were talking about this, i knew they needed a battery pack! if its the same size as the K100D, then itll be perfect for me! omg, i think i just had a small orgasm

PS: its MARCLAPIERRE lol

edit: only 3 FPS? That is not very high. I guess that is one of the things they didnt really upgrade over the K100D

Ahh,
Here we go:
http://www.pentaximaging.com/produc...-K20D/reqID--10505894/subsection--digital_slr

sweeeeeet!

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Yeah sorry marclapierre, I keep seeing that and yet it still comes out wrong.

SLC

 

[job]

Specs for both the 20D and the 200D look as expected.

Can't wait to upgrade to a 200D soon. Add the grip and the 21mm f3.2 and I'll be all set.

 

[greg555]

Video of K20 features

here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZlVEe2y9e4

Greg

 

[Abstract]

The K200D looks sick. It really is a K10D in a K100D's body. The image quality will probably beat the K10D's, too. For people who want a small, weather-sealed body, inexpensive body, the K200D is it. Sounds like a fantastic camera.

The K20D doesn't sound like a huge change from the K10D, but if you want to shoot at high ISO, then it would be worth the upgrade. This camera takes great photos in high ISO. I don't know how it compares to the D300, 40D, A700, or E-3 in relative terms, but if you look at just the photos and judge the noise performance, it does look highly improved in the noise department.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Some of the changes in the K20D over the K10D:

LCD screen that you can calibrate similarly to a computer monitor
User adjustable Autofocus trimming (which can be set for individual lenses)
Extreme jump in high ISO performance (and selectable ISO for that matter)
50% more resolution
Addition of a PC synch socket for studio work
obviously the live-view

And most importantly

Some of the people who have used the camera say that the image quality of the camera is not matched in any DSLR anywhere, period.

Benjamin Kanarek even says the IQ of this camera approaches that of the Hasselblads he's used!

I want one real bad, but it's going to be a while for me.

SLC

 

[marclapierre13]

I wish the k200d had live view
ah well, cant have everything right lol.

 

[seahawk09]

Well this is going to be like Christmas all over again can't wait

 

[jpfisher]

Benjamin Kanarek even says the IQ of this camera approaches that of the Hasselblads he's used!

Speaking as someone who owns a K10D and a Hasselblad 500C, that sounds a bit like hyperbole.

 

[miloblithe]

Some of the people who have used the camera say that the image quality of the camera is not matched in any DSLR anywhere, period.

Who are these people? What qualities are they impressed by? I find it a little hard to believe a 14MP 1.5x crop sensor is going to produce the highest quality images of any DSLR.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Ben Kanarek, and those people at pentaxforums.com who were beta testers etc who were placed under NDA! I'm just conveying what they say, and we will have to see when the images start rolling in.

SLC