Hey - I love the idea of even more new limited lenses - but let me "go big" for a moment....
In addition to introducing the new 97 1.9 FA* IF AL, our friends at Asahi Optical have something way-cool up their sleeves.... Why mess around with the limitations of an old lens mount? Following rumors that Olympus is introducing an entirely new digital camera system, Pentax will scrap plans to introduce a digital Kmt body and introduce an entirely new digital SLR system. This system will feature an entirely electronic, all-new lens mount. Only a handful of high quality lenses will be available at first. The first and "standard" lens being an F1.8-2.4 24-90 (35mm equiv.) DZ IF AL zoom. 15/2, 300/2 and 600 2.8 DZ* IF AL (all 35mm equiv.) lenses will be available within a few years. These lenses will be approx. 2/3 the size and weight factor of similar 35mm lenses, or smaller. The camera will feature a 3.5mpX3 Foveon imager in a body form factor similar to an 90% scale MZS with up to a gigabyte of on-board storage and Firewire connectivity. Because of the drastically lower computational overhead of the Foveon chip and large buffer system, the "DZ" will capture 24, 36, or 48 bit color and deliver at least 5fps for up to 20 frames in standard form. Tethered to a dedicated workstation (or using Bluetooth wireless technology in an add-on grip), the dz will capture up to 30fps until off-board storage is exhausted. Top shutter speed will be up to 1/6000 (mechanical) to 1/12000 electronic. Flash sync is available at all shutter speeds. The Foveon sensor will be protected from dust by a user removable/cleanable optical flat inside the camera body. Other grips (in addition to the wireless tether) will be available to extend the cameras capabilities, or simply extend its size for those with larger hands. The DZ also features extended IR capabilities and "modeless" operation. (No switching back and forth between recored and play modes.) Dozens of focus, exposure, and metering modes will be available from full auto to full manual with many types of "bracketing." With smaller, fast focusing standard "DZ" lenses, the new Pentax will be one of the fastest and most directly reponsive digital cameras EVER. With a back-focus of 25.4mm, the best part of this system will be its backward comparability will ALL existing Pentax lenses. Using the proper electro-mechanical adapters, all Pentax lenses from the M37 mount Asahi-Flex lenses, to the M42 Takumars, to the most recent FA series autofocus will mount and give whatever full functionality they are capable of. Additionally, since Pentax will licence the mount at a reasonable cost to third party mfgrs., a wide range OEM and third party lenses will be mountable, with various levels of functionality. The M39 Leica thread mount adapter will one of the first available. MSRP will be $2500 falling within a year or two to a street price of $899.... ....just my happy thought for the day. Regards, Chris L. - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
