Pentax K-3 III Monochrome Leaked
I happened to be on instagram when one of Pentax's official accounts prematurely leaked the announcement for the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. The post was removed in about a minute. The official announcement looks like it will come on April 13th.
Here's a screenshot someone else snagged before it went down. I didn't even think to take a screenshot.
It will be produced in small batches, but not necessarily limited edition, the post says. So no intention of limiting it to certain amount produced, but willing to produce as much as will sell. Might be something you buy into an initial pre-order, and then have to wait a while for it to release.
I can't imagine it will be cheap, and it's a super niche product. But this is still an exciting announcement and idea from Pentax. The Leica Monochrome is the only other consumer photography centered camera I can think of that you can buy from the factory with a monochrome sensor. So, this adds now a second option at what I'm sure will at least be cheaper than Leica's.
Quote from James Warner on April 12, 2023, 12:59 amI happened to be on instagram when one of Pentax's official accounts prematurely leaked the announcement for the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. The post was removed in about a minute. The official announcement looks like it will come on April 13th.
Here's a screenshot someone else snagged before it went down. I didn't even think to take a screenshot.
It will be produced in small batches, but not necessarily limited edition, the post says. So no intention of limiting it to certain amount produced, but willing to produce as much as will sell. Might be something you buy into an initial pre-order, and then have to wait a while for it to release.
I can't imagine it will be cheap, and it's a super niche product. But this is still an exciting announcement and idea from Pentax. The Leica Monochrome is the only other consumer photography centered camera I can think of that you can buy from the factory with a monochrome sensor. So, this adds now a second option at what I'm sure will at least be cheaper than Leica's.
Wow. Really.
Looking forward to it but also Pentax is playing a nieche but being a bit smart. Yet I hope they sell it with the 15mm limited or similar attached to "fight" or to position it against the Leica cameras. Other than those small and wide lenses would be also nice but I think the nieche should be street photography and for this those optics are great and very reduced. Yet I also feel like they should only sell the body with no battery grip in order to make it a minimalist combo.
Quote from red5isalive on April 12, 2023, 2:12 pmQuote from James Warner on April 12, 2023, 12:59 amI happened to be on instagram when one of Pentax's official accounts prematurely leaked the announcement for the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. The post was removed in about a minute. The official announcement looks like it will come on April 13th.
Here's a screenshot someone else snagged before it went down. I didn't even think to take a screenshot.
It will be produced in small batches, but not necessarily limited edition, the post says. So no intention of limiting it to certain amount produced, but willing to produce as much as will sell. Might be something you buy into an initial pre-order, and then have to wait a while for it to release.
I can't imagine it will be cheap, and it's a super niche product. But this is still an exciting announcement and idea from Pentax. The Leica Monochrome is the only other consumer photography centered camera I can think of that you can buy from the factory with a monochrome sensor. So, this adds now a second option at what I'm sure will at least be cheaper than Leica's.
Wow. Really.
Looking forward to it but also Pentax is playing a nieche but being a bit smart. Yet I hope they sell it with the 15mm limited or similar attached to "fight" or to position it against the Leica cameras. Other than those small and wide lenses would be also nice but I think the nieche should be street photography and for this those optics are great and very reduced. Yet I also feel like they should only sell the body with no battery grip in order to make it a minimalist combo.
I feel like they should have kept producing the KP, and then done this with that body instead. Now that would be a good street photography camera. Still, this is neat and I can't wait to see how the sensor performs. 🙂
They should have done it to the full frame camera.
Quote from James Warner on April 12, 2023, 12:59 amI happened to be on instagram when one of Pentax's official accounts prematurely leaked the announcement for the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. The post was removed in about a minute. The official announcement looks like it will come on April 13th.
Here's a screenshot someone else snagged before it went down. I didn't even think to take a screenshot.
It will be produced in small batches, but not necessarily limited edition, the post says. So no intention of limiting it to certain amount produced, but willing to produce as much as will sell. Might be something you buy into an initial pre-order, and then have to wait a while for it to release.
I can't imagine it will be cheap, and it's a super niche product. But this is still an exciting announcement and idea from Pentax. The Leica Monochrome is the only other consumer photography centered camera I can think of that you can buy from the factory with a monochrome sensor. So, this adds now a second option at what I'm sure will at least be cheaper than Leica's.
Pentax's supply runs have sold out many times in Japan already. They said that they didn't realise the demand, as usual, like the K-3 III original. It's just cheaper than many Leica monochromes and many love shooting monochrome.
Quote from red5isalive on April 12, 2023, 2:12 pmQuote from James Warner on April 12, 2023, 12:59 amI happened to be on instagram when one of Pentax's official accounts prematurely leaked the announcement for the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. The post was removed in about a minute. The official announcement looks like it will come on April 13th.
Here's a screenshot someone else snagged before it went down. I didn't even think to take a screenshot.
It will be produced in small batches, but not necessarily limited edition, the post says. So no intention of limiting it to certain amount produced, but willing to produce as much as will sell. Might be something you buy into an initial pre-order, and then have to wait a while for it to release.
I can't imagine it will be cheap, and it's a super niche product. But this is still an exciting announcement and idea from Pentax. The Leica Monochrome is the only other consumer photography centered camera I can think of that you can buy from the factory with a monochrome sensor. So, this adds now a second option at what I'm sure will at least be cheaper than Leica's.
Wow. Really.
Looking forward to it but also Pentax is playing a nieche but being a bit smart. Yet I hope they sell it with the 15mm limited or similar attached to "fight" or to position it against the Leica cameras. Other than those small and wide lenses would be also nice but I think the nieche should be street photography and for this those optics are great and very reduced. Yet I also feel like they should only sell the body with no battery grip in order to make it a minimalist combo.
I believe the "kit" lens for this one is the 40mm LTD, at least in Japan. For reference, the "kit" lens for the KF is the 35mm F2.8 Macro. They do spoil their followers.
Quote from JBP on April 12, 2023, 2:22 pmQuote from red5isalive on April 12, 2023, 2:12 pmQuote from James Warner on April 12, 2023, 12:59 amI happened to be on instagram when one of Pentax's official accounts prematurely leaked the announcement for the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. The post was removed in about a minute. The official announcement looks like it will come on April 13th.
Here's a screenshot someone else snagged before it went down. I didn't even think to take a screenshot.
It will be produced in small batches, but not necessarily limited edition, the post says. So no intention of limiting it to certain amount produced, but willing to produce as much as will sell. Might be something you buy into an initial pre-order, and then have to wait a while for it to release.
I can't imagine it will be cheap, and it's a super niche product. But this is still an exciting announcement and idea from Pentax. The Leica Monochrome is the only other consumer photography centered camera I can think of that you can buy from the factory with a monochrome sensor. So, this adds now a second option at what I'm sure will at least be cheaper than Leica's.
Wow. Really.
Looking forward to it but also Pentax is playing a nieche but being a bit smart. Yet I hope they sell it with the 15mm limited or similar attached to "fight" or to position it against the Leica cameras. Other than those small and wide lenses would be also nice but I think the nieche should be street photography and for this those optics are great and very reduced. Yet I also feel like they should only sell the body with no battery grip in order to make it a minimalist combo.
I feel like they should have kept producing the KP, and then done this with that body instead. Now that would be a good street photography camera. Still, this is neat and I can't wait to see how the sensor performs. 🙂
The original "request" by the community in Japan was a K-70 monochrome but then the Pentax head decided to make it more premium hence the use of the K-3 III and, of course, the K-70 became the KF.
Quote from KankRat on April 30, 2023, 10:21 pmThey should have done it to the full frame camera.
I do think there's a missed opportunity there, but maybe a K-1 III is in the works enough that they decided to wait until that camera? Or, just the fact that the K-1 II is so old (still brilliant) that they just naturally picked the newer camera. Especially after the results of this run they should definitely consider releasing a monochrome option of whatever that camera ends up being.
I felt confident the monochrome would sell well just given there are almost no other options on the market, but it seems to have exceeded even my lofty expectations. I am really curious what the actual number of orders are. Were they only expecting 100? 1,000? are we up to several thousand?
