From Digital Camera World · · 2m
The DSLR that refused to follow the rules
After 23 years, Pentax's K-series DSLRs are done, and they leave behind a run of features nobody else dared ship.
In brief
After 23 years, Pentax's K-series DSLRs are done, and they leave behind a run of features nobody else dared ship. Pentax spent 23 years proving a DSLR could do things the rest of the industry said it couldn't, from in-body stabilization to a hundred paint jobs. Originally reported by Digital Camera World.
The end of a 23-year run
Pentax has stopped production on every K-series DSLR. The company promises a "completely new concept" SLR next, but this chapter is closed.
“production for all K-series DSLRs has officially ended”
A mount that never moved
Most makers switched lens mounts going from film to digital. The K-mount has held on for more than 50 years, and the next Pentax DSLR will keep it.
Your grandfather's lenses still fit
Almost any K-mount film lens bolts straight onto a Pentax DSLR with no adapter. In-body stabilization works with them too.
Stabilization inside a mirror box
Pentax put sensor-shift stabilization in DSLRs starting with the K100D and K10D in 2006. The mirror made it hard, so most rivals stabilized lenses instead.
A sensor that chased stars
Pair GPS with a moving sensor and you get a built-in astrotracer. The camera drifts the sensor with the Earth's rotation so long night exposures stay as points, not trails.
Shaking the sensor on purpose
The same stabilizer could add blur instead of removing it. That simulated an anti-aliasing filter to kill moire, and unlike an optical filter you could switch it off.
Swap the grip to fit the job
The 2017 Pentax KP shipped with small, medium and large grips you could change out. Small for carrying, large for heavy telephotos or bigger hands.
One hundred color combos
The 2009 K-x came in four colors elsewhere, but Japanese buyers picked from twenty bodies and five grips. That is a hundred combinations of one camera.
A limited run with a robot
The K-r Korejanai was capped at 100 units in red, blue, yellow and gray, with a little robot perched in the hot shoe.
Lights that told you the mode
The K-S1 had color-coded LEDs on the grip. Green meant stills, red meant video, and in Live View face detection they lit up to count the faces in frame.
Black and white only, and sealed for rain
The K-3 III Monochrome of 2023 dropped the color filter entirely, the only widely sold mono DSLR. Pentax also put weather sealing in cheap bodies like the K-30 and KF.
At a glance
Pentax spent 23 years proving a DSLR could do things the rest of the industry said it couldn't, from in-body stabilization to a hundred paint jobs.
