K-7 confirmed for May 21

[mattdm]

In case you haven't seen the news elsewhere: Pentax is releasing a new dSLR. It will be spec'd comparably-to or above the K20D, but doesn't replace that directly. What that means exactly is anyone's guess (and of course, anyone sure has been guessing). Anyway, Pentax Japan now has this web site up confirming that the earlier leaks were accurate.

http://www.camera-pentax.jp/

I can't help but be a little excited!

[S_p_i_d_e_r]

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v313/RiceHigh/K-7/K-7_Front_s.jpg

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v313/RiceHigh/K-7/K-7_Back_s.jpg

Interesting features:

- 77 weather seals, cold-resistant to -10 C
- Samsung 14.6MP CMOS APS-C sensor in 23.4 x 15.6mm
- new 77-segment multi-pattern metering system
- contrast detection AF with face recognition
- glass prism viewfinder, 100% image coverage, 0.92X magnification
- continuous shooting (Hi):JPEG: 5.2 FPS: Until 40 Frames; RAW(PEF): Until 15 Frames; RAW(DNG): Until 14 Frames
- real-time Life-View
- movie/video with mono-audio recording at maximum 1280x720 pixels (16:9 Standard HD), 30 FPS
- 3.0" LCD, 640x480 VGA, approx. 920,000 pixels
- AF assist light
- HDR mode
- D-LI90 1860mAh battery, up to 980 shots w/o flash
- kit lens: DA 18-55/3.5-5.6 AL WR (Water/Weather Resistant)
- optional accesories: vertical battery grip D-BG4, weather-sealed and cold-resistant

http://ricehigh.blogspot.com/2009/05/pentax-k-7-is-here-finally.html
(more photos and full spec-sheet)

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&thread=31899319
(more photos)

Impressive, most impressive...

[faisal]

Looking good!!!

What do they mean by 'Real Time' Live View....

HDR mode...interesting...I wonder how that works...

[AlexMonro]

At last! AF assist lamp (I hate using flash unless absolutely neccessary) and 100% viewfinder. Shame I can't afford to upgrade my K20D just yet, but maybe this is the start of a line of standard features for new high end models, so perhaps in a year or two... :)

[Rooz]

cool, thanks for letting me know pentax still make cameras. :p

[raven15]

Looks like a pretty compelling camera. If all the features work as well in real life as they sound on paper then it should be an extremely nice camera.

[raven15]

So now that I have looked at the specs more, it gets better and better. Along with the Oly E-620 it is one of the most interesting and innovative DSLR's in some time. If the reviews indicate good autofocus and high ISO performance, this will be the best cropped format DSLR available. I hope we will soon see an Olympus version of the K-7 and a Pentax version of the E-620.

[Phill D]

Raven does your post infer that there is some tie up between Pentax & Olympus?

[raven15]

No... just me wishing in a round about way that Olympus will make a small water sealed body :):mad:.

[Phill D]

Ahh I see......mind you it's a good way to start a rumour;)

[djmft44]

Does it have image stabilization?

[S_p_i_d_e_r]

Does it have image stabilization?

Of course it has -> Sensor-shift image stabilization now allows for rotational sensor movement

[mattdm]

Of course it has -> Sensor-shift image stabilization now allows for rotational sensor movement

Which is really cool, because it's hard to press the shutter without causing a tiny bit of rotational movement.