Japanese website Ricoh has officially announced its new Pentax KP DSLR. It is positioned as the “heir to K-3 legacy,” that Ricoh says is perfect for outdoor photographers. At the core of the Pentax KP is a 24-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor and it’s also the first Pentax APS-C camera to feature Shake Reduction II, which uses a 5-axis system to compensate for camera shake up to 5 stops.
Pentax KP DSLR Camera
The Pentax KP’s ISO range is noteworthy in the Pentax lineup: with a max sensitivity of ISO 819200, it beats the Pentax K-3 II’s max of 51200 and even the full-frame Pentax K-1’s max of 204800. This improved sensitivity should make the camera capable of producing long exposures with less noise, especially useful for low light and night photography.
While not quite as fast as the K-3 II’s 8.3 frames per second, the Pentax KP can shoot up to 7 fps in bursts of up to 28 JPEG or 8 RAW files. For landscape work, the camera includes Pentax Pixel Shift Resolution technology, which employs the camera’s Shake Reduction System to incrementally move the sensor between four exposures which are then combined into a single image with enhanced resolution.
Pentax KP DSLR Camera
A set of 9 example photos have been published to Ricoh’s Japanese website. They were all captured by photographer Yukio Uchida:
Some rumors reported even additional information on the new Pentax KP – there will be 3 different grip sizes (small, medium and large):
Grip S O-GP167
Grip M O-GP1671
Grip L O-GP1672
A new AC adapter K-AC167J and D-BG7 battery grip will also be introduced.
The rumored selling price for the Pentax KP in the UK is £1,099 (around $1,350$ or €1,270).
