DSLR News

Pentax DSLR fans got some welcome news today. Ricoh Imaging, the parent company that owns the Pentax brand, just announced it's been developing a "flagship" Pentax K-series DSLR, which will go on display in Tokyo, Japan at a special event tomorrow.

The announcement of the new K-mount Pentax DSLR came in the form of a press release on Ricoh's website, titled "The K series digital SLR camera currently under development will be exhibited at the PENTAX fan event."

The release goes on to state: "Ricoh Imaging Company, LTD. is pleased to announce a preview showing of the PENTAX K mount digital SLR camera at the 'PENTAX Meeting 100th Anniversary Special' scheduled to be held Japan from September 21st."

However, details on the new Pentax DSLR, which will use an APS-C size image sensor, are scarce so far. Ricoh said the name of the new camera will "be announced later" but that it will go on sale in 2020. The price is "not decided" yet.

The above Pentax camera image was included with today's announcement by Ricoh. The company noted, however, that "the designs and specifications are identical to those first announced publicly about the camera's development, and subject to change without notice."

The last Pentax DSLR to be introduced was the K-1 Mark II, a full frame camera that featured only incremental upgrades from the previous model. The Pentax K-1 II was launched in February 2018; here is our review.

The last APS-C sensor-based Pentax K-mount DSLR was the Pentax KP, from early 2017, which had led some to speculate Ricoh was considering dropping Pentax DSLRs altogether. (Here is our review of the Pentax KP.) With today's annoucement from Ricoh, this no longer seems to be the case.