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Matsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-02-02, 08:29

Well this is weird

Pentax K-01

It might be of particular interest to Canon and Nikon. It's design is at best, inelegant. They've cleared away the mirror box, but don't seem to have used any of the vacant flange distance. The 40mm looks like it would work just fine on a traditional DSLR. What's the point of that? But, it might still be interesting for those manufacturers selling an established DLSR lens system - Nikon, Canon, and Sony/Minolta, in some ways already ahead.

Can they successfully evolve their DSLR systems by dropping the reflex mirror?

Sony has designed a better implementation than Pentax - though SLT robs a little light - they have real PDAF and a viewfinder. But they too haven't made better use of the roomier mirror box. The transluscent mirror doesn't swing, so I highly doubt that all 44.5mm of flange are needed for clearance. At best the mirror protrudes partly through. And, if we use Leica's M registration as a guide, we know it gets challenging to make non-retrofocus, full-frame wides with even a 28mm registration. Basically, if we go to pellicle mirrors or on chip PDAF, there is room in the mirror box to make old style, pre-retrofocal wides that protrude into the box a little. You then keep wide compatibility will all lenses but are free to try new lens and camera designs while maintaining system compatibility with all current lenses. More faster pancakes and wides maybe? But not if they look like the K01...

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Last edited by Matsu : 2012-02-02 at 20:19.
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