The NEW premium ultra-compact Pentax KP!

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<p>I wish that Pentax moves production of cameras to Vietnam as well.</p>

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I don't know what you are wishing for. Maybe, you just want to destroy Pentax (and Ricoh). Olympus has cameras made in Vietnam and they are not so bad. But the Pentax lenses that are made in Vietnam are not cheap at all. I am more interested in using old Pentax K lenses and the Pentax DSLRs prices go down a lot being used, a lot more than Canon's or Nikon's. About cheap used prices, maybe the Olympus and Panasonic MILC would be better choices, except that I really prefer a 100% pentaprism viewfinder (this is also a reason I am interested in Pentax DSLRs). I totally agree with the decision to get rid of the top LCD and having 100% pentaprism. I don't like the retro look because it is just the look. I don't want to say much about the KP that I have not seen but I like my K50 which I bought used for about $150 in mint condition, at a city that always keep a high price for used items. The built quality is not great, but I will not use these cameras a lot and I don't worry of breaking it. It allows me to use the lenses from my film cameras in the same way. The viewfinder is good enough and the controls are easy enough. I don't like the mode dial but I can set it to M and forget it for a lower price. It is a little annoying that the display is flickering whenever the lighting is not enough for the meter, but I can get used to it also because of the low price.</p>

<p>I'm not good for posting links, but there's a thread on Pentax Forums regarding sample high ISO images from the KP by a German source. It can be found in the Pentax News and Rumors section. </p>

<p>The results are very impressive, to say the least! The images are probably just JPEGs out of the camera. Not only is noise minimized, but even more impressive is the excellent preservation of detail! Easily the most outstanding performance I have seen. One contributor took the images and ran them through a program called Neat Image 8, which made the results really phenomenal!</p>

<p>I came across other reports of Ricoh-Pentax having stated the KP's sensor to be even better than that of the K-70, and that the KP is the realization of their goal for IQ being very near that of the K-1, but in an APS-C body. Not only does the KP look like a K-1 junior, it also performs like one!</p>

<p>Most likely, we'll also have test shots from Imaging Resource as early as late March.</p>

<p>There are some rumors floating around that Pentax is going to release another attempt at a mirrorless camera. If the rumor is true, I will wait to see what comes forth before purchasing another Pentax body. I really like the mirrorless m4/3rds bodies and would love to see Pentax offer something in ASP-C sensor size. Time will tell. Right now the new KP does not excite me. <br>

GR</p>