> If, and this is a big if, Pentax chooses to market a DSLR (and I > don't think they will), it will be based on the MZ-5 chassis, > and will not have pro specifications.
Observation here. Pentax have built the 230, 330 and 430 optio on the same operating system and display, so the electronics obviously handle different sensors, and also designed around CF cards, not SD, MMC or other smaller, easier to interface units. Only technical reason for CF is the higher acheivable data rate and storage capacity, smartmedia is cheaper to produce and memory stick and SD are smaller. All these cameras (230, 330, 430, 330RS 430RS, 330GS) are built as small as possible. And the 330GS is about the cheapest 3.3 megapixel there is. Could it just possibly be that they have decided that they will hit the market when the full frame sensor price allows them to make a basic MZ50 class low end camera with 5-6MP (notice no 5 MP P&S from them this year?) and an MZ-S class camera with a 10+MP sensor? CMOS sensors are cheaper to make, and Canon have just launched one.... Also any DSLR user would want to be able to use CF cards, microdrives....
