Pentax Pentax K-1000d

Pentax seems to be embedded firmly in DSLR with no apparent interest in mirrorless. And now they're embarking on a new film venture. Sounds cool.

With everything old being new again, isn't it time they continue their march on nostalgia with a K-1000d?

Just for fun, imagine a K-1000 with that lovely K1 Sensor. All analog controls that mimic the K-1000 as closely as possible. No touch screen. Hell, no screen at all. If I want to chimp I'll do it through the viewfinder. No grip, keep the body faithful to the original including the correct color, real metal top. Basic metering, maybe spot and balanced or something. Ok, fine, they can add IBIS. AF and front/rear dials are needed so all of the K mount lenses are usable...but that's it. NO EFFING VIDEO. None. No deep menus. I suppose the film rewind could be replaced with a PASM dial, but I'd be happy with M only. ISO stays where ASA was, shutter speeds, etc. And if I could figure out what to use the film winder for, I'd keep that too!

Basically, make it as close to the K-1000 film experience as possible, but with a sensor. Didn't Olympus do something similar with one of their last releases before the sale to OM?

Would there be any takers? Could they build something like this and sell it for under $1500? $1200? Would anyone buy it? Fun or 'meh'?
 
I’ve always been interested in Pentax. My only dip into the pool was the Q7.

Had they gave an option for a viewfinder I may still have that thing. Shooting it in RAW made for a satisfying experience.

I may be showing my age, but I’m not really interested in video, computational fanciness or anything like that. Like you mentioned, give me great IQ, competent focus and implement menus.

I might like to see some cool jpg processing stuff for film simulations and such.
One thing I miss from the Q7 days is the ability to keep the last image in the buffer when shooting jpg and snag the RAW and save it or do an in camera jpg conversion with it. Do other Pentax cameras have that? Kind of wish the Ricoh GR III had that.

Would love to explore some of the old and new Pentax glass as well.

This time of year, I need something that is good in cold, wet, snowy weather and can be used easily with gloves. A DSLR is my preference and since Pentax is sticking with them, makes sense.
 
Make it an actual mechanical shutter, where the film winder cocks it. Like the Epson RD1. Plus, better battery life that way. I like the idea of no screen or at least a hidden screen, so I find myself interested in that one Leica digital M with no screen or the Fuji X-Pro 3 for those reasons. And yes, ditch the video. One of the reasons I love my Df. If any manufacturer is gonna go off and do weird things at this point, it’s probably going to be them.
 
I mean, I'd love it exactly as you describe. I think it would have to be a bit deeper than a film camera, because the electronics behind the sensor plane. But it could still emulate the style of the K1000 fairly well. If they actually skipped an LCD screen, that could save some of the depth. But we all know using a DSLR, the urge to chimp to refine exposure is strong. So I feel like it would need a screen. I'd be willing for there to be an LCD or OLED inside the viewfinder, if they could do that, and it would actually be a cool way of implementing live view.
 
I'd love something like this. They could either go all the way to Spartan like Leica did once, or make a more palatable hybrid like the usual Japanese tradition is.

Spartan:
  • hand-cocked mechanical shutter like RD1
  • no video
  • no screen, no IBIS to get the slimmest possible body
  • available only in chrome (the original K1000 never was a "pro" body?)
  • non-crippled K mount
  • no autofocus
A more commercial hybrid
  • autofocus is probably mandatory
  • hand-cocked shutter but with a setting to make it automatic. Single/Continuous low/Continuous High.
  • IBIS because otherwise youtuber influencers and dpreview derps lose their shit and the camera only sells 5000 copies instead of 7k
  • no screen, but copy what Pixii does and put in a solid phone integration for photo/rudimentary video implemented in phone
  • available in chrome, black, and banana Yellow
Bonus points:

  • Ditch the brilliant K1 sensor and go with a CCD sensor at around 18 megapixels and maximum ISO of 3200.
  • (Despite going with old tech, they could go bonkers with the processing pipeline and for example put in dual gain system like in GH6. There's a small noise penalty due to extra wiring, a speed penalty because the CCD has to be read twice, and a considerable cost-of-manufacturing penalty due to an extraneous set of processing, but nothing prohibitive.)
 
No dissent in the ranks? I expected to be told it’s a stupid idea. Other than feature preferences (or lack of feature preferences) we’re on the same page! Scary…

Make it an actual mechanical shutter, where the film winder cocks it. Like the Epson RD1. Plus, better battery life that way. I like the idea of no screen or at least a hidden screen, so I find myself interested in that one Leica digital M with no screen or the Fuji X-Pro 3 for those reasons. And yes, ditch the video. One of the reasons I love my Df. If any manufacturer is gonna go off and do weird things at this point, it’s probably going to be them.
Brilliant! I tried to decide when making the first post if I’d want to keep the same shutter button. I do, but wasn’t sure it’d be feasible. If you make the shutter truly mechanical and do away wit the screen, it would reduce battery drain and allow for a smaller battery to help keep the body slimmer.
 
I'd love something like this. They could either go all the way to Spartan like Leica did once, or make a more palatable hybrid like the usual Japanese tradition is.

Spartan:
  • hand-cocked mechanical shutter like RD1
  • no video
  • no screen, no IBIS to get the slimmest possible body
  • available only in chrome (the original K1000 never was a "pro" body?)
  • non-crippled K mount
  • no autofocus
A more commercial hybrid
  • autofocus is probably mandatory
  • hand-cocked shutter but with a setting to make it automatic. Single/Continuous low/Continuous High.
  • IBIS because otherwise youtuber influencers and dpreview derps lose their shit and the camera only sells 5000 copies instead of 7k
  • no screen, but copy what Pixii does and put in a solid phone integration for photo/rudimentary video implemented in phone
  • available in chrome, black, and banana Yellow
Bonus points:

  • Ditch the brilliant K1 sensor and go with a CCD sensor at around 18 megapixels and maximum ISO of 3200.
  • (Despite going with old tech, they could go bonkers with the processing pipeline and for example put in dual gain system like in GH6. There's a small noise penalty due to extra wiring, a speed penalty because the CCD has to be read twice, and a considerable cost-of-manufacturing penalty due to an extraneous set of processing, but nothing prohibitive.)
Banana colored and ibis, or I’m not buying!
 
Would there be any takers? Could they build something like this and sell it for under $1500? $1200? Would anyone buy it? Fun or 'meh'?
I don't mind such, if they are able to do it. I believe the main reason they have sport bodies is that they are just good for ergonomics but the K1000 also have plenty of add-on grips for larger lenses.

I believe KP is the closest they have been to the K1000's form factor but that one is APS-C. A 35mm sensor with IBIS would be a very tight fit, haha.

One thing I miss from the Q7 days is the ability to keep the last image in the buffer when shooting jpg and snag the RAW and save it or do an in camera jpg conversion with it. Do other Pentax cameras have that?
It's quite different, I think. When JPEG shooting is preferred, the RAW button can always be used pre-shot to snag the RAW. In-camera RAW developments can be made afterwards. I just shoot RAW+JPEG and when I wish to convert some of my shots to another custom profile, mostly to Natural when I am shooting Monochrome. I just do them in-camera , as long as the RAW is saved, and away from the computer. The RAW processing with later models like the KP, K-1, KF, K-3 III and K-70 have much more parameters like a bigger EV comp range for post-processing, high-key or low-key contrast, etc. The KF even has all the limited Custom profiles that the K-1 II and K-3 III users get only with some lenses.

I like that experience because of ergonomics. When the camera is on the left hand, all the controls just flow when doing this RAW processing.
 
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