The New Pentax K-5 II's

For us Pentax lovers the announcement a couple weeks ago that their flagship DSLR the K-5, was being discontinued came with the expectation that it would be replaced by an even better camera with a bigger better sensor and exciting new capabilities. There have been rumors for a while now of a full frame Pentax DSLR being developed using the new 24.3 MP sensor from Sony.

Well just last week Sony announced their new full framed DSLR using the new sensor,  the A99, but apparently the best Pentax could come up with was a slightly improved pair of K-5's. One billed the K-5 II and the K-5 IIs without the anti-aliasing filter. I'm not really sure what the anti-aliasing filter thing is all about but getting rid of  it is supposed to be a good thing.

The original K-5 is an impressive camera. In fact it is the only DSLR described by reviewers as both an amateur and professional's camera of choice at an amateur camera price. With the improvements the K-5 II & IIs pair should be even more impressive.

The only negative is that most of us were hoping for more. The new K-5's still utilize a 16 MP sensor when most DSLR's are moving on to 18 to 24 MP sensors although to be truthful, the sensor in the K-5 always delivered better performance than some of the so-called more advanced sensors. The improved AF will be a welcomed improvement but overall I don't think many folks will be trading in their old K-5's for the new K-5's.

Here's the link to the Pentax press release for more details.

http://www.pentaximaging.com/about/press/286/PENTAX_Introduces_New_K-5_II_&_K-5_IIs_DSLR_Cameras