In this month’s issue of CAPA, a Japanese publication covering mirrorless cameras and techniques, eagle-eyed readers were tipped off to reports of a new Pentax Mirrorless Camera – the Pentax M-E. Unfortunately, outside of a name drop, there isn’t much info on the camera.
So far here’s what we’ve been able to gather.
- The name of the camera is listed as the Pentax M-E
- It’s reported to have a throwback design most likely inspired by the Pentax MX-1
- The rear-tilt screen will be very similar to the one found in the Pentax K-1 (which we fully expect to create two distinct camps of love or hate if true)
- The Pentax M-E will not natively support K-mount lenses but is expected to have an adapter to allow the use of Pentax’s existing line of lenses.
- The Pentax M-E will be a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera though we’re unsure if it will sport an APS-C or Full-Frame sensor
Although CAPA is Japan’s best-selling camera and photography magazine, these types of publications are notorious for their track record on getting the inside scoop on new camera announcements. Still Asobinet finds that the recent omission of Pentax’s former mirrorless camera, the Pentax Q, from their website loans some credibility to CAPA’s claim of uncovering the reported camera.
Pentax hasn’t had much success with the mirrorless market but the possibility of a full-frame mirrorless camera could very well give the camera maker a much needed shot in the arm. Though the reported spec list including the larger sensor size is intriguing, we’re a little off-put by the needing of adapters to use Pentax’s K-mount lenses. Still, if the report turns out to be a reality, we definitely hope the M-E proves to be far more successful than the K-01 or Q line ever was.
