Ricoh shows Pentax high-end aps-c-dslr and names viewfinder with 1.05x magnification
Camera manufacturer Ricoh has shown in a video the upcoming aps-c flagship camera from Pentax. Quite a few details are still kept under wraps, but an eye-catching feature is the optical viewfinder. This one gets a magnification of 1.05x.
In the English subtitled video, a photographer holds the camera and also asks some questions to the head of Ricoh’s product planning department, Shigeru Wakashiro. Wakashiro indicates that he is not yet able to share all the details, but he says he will dwell on some features that he thinks are the most important. One of these is the optical viewfinder. According to him, it gets a magnification of 1.05x.
Wakashiro explains in the video that this was partly achieved by the development of a new pentaprism, which Ricoh would have already started in 2017. He says that an all-new, high-refraction glass pentaprism has been developed. Wakashiro says the magnification is not due to a larger eyecup with new optics. He reports that glass with a high degree of refraction is difficult to produce and that the new camera uses an unnamed material that would never have been used on a camera before.
A magnification of 1.05x for the magnification is close to the magnification that is usually common with full-frame cameras and is comparable to the magnification of, for example, the D500, a high-end aps-c camera from Nikon. According to Wakashiro, the brightness has also improved and is 10 percent higher than the image through the viewfinder of the Pentax KP. Compared to the KP, Pentax’s most recent aps-c camera, the handgrip has been improved, a screen has been added on top, but the size has remained relatively compact and corresponds to the KP.
Other details are often still unknown, such as possible improvements in the field of autofocus, a part where Pentax cameras usually do not score very well. It is also unclear how the construction of the screen on the back works. In any case, a joystick is visible on the back and two SD cards can be put in the camera. Presumably, just as with the now somewhat outdated previous flagship, the K-3 II, the characteristic astrotracer functionality is present. This means that the sensor is able to track the stars for a certain period of time by means of the integrated GPS function and the calibration of an internal electronic compass. It is still unclear when the camera will be released and for what price.