Ricoh has confirmed that it’s engaged on a brand new Pentax compact movie digicam, with extra fashions on the horizon, as a part of its Movie Digicam Undertaking, which it introduced final 12 months.

Bold plans to deliver new Pentax movie cameras to market brought on a stir within the movie digicam neighborhood, however the transfer made full sense: like vinyl, movie images has loved an prolonged time within the solar just lately, if the surging worth of movie and analogue cameras is something to go by. 

Movie and Pentax are an ideal match given its wealthy movie digicam heritage with legendary cameras just like the Okay1000, and it is sensible for Pentax to concentrate on movie as an alternative of the dormant DSLR digicam market that it has continued in – I actually can see Pentax main a movie resurgence. 

On the time of the unique announcement, particulars of the Movie Digicam Undertaking had been scant, plus we couldn’t even financial institution on new movie cameras turning into a actuality – this was information about forming a analysis and growth group and never a product pipeline. Half a 12 months later we lastly have some encouraging particulars, and right here’s what we will count on. 

A hard and fast-lens compact surpassing the Kodak Ektar H35

Within the video beneath, Pentax design group member Takeo Suzuki says the primary digicam to be launched beneath the Movie Digicam Undertaking banner shall be a newly designed fixed-lens compact, with some components coming from current cameras.

There aren’t too many technical particulars but – we don’t know what the lens shall be, we will’t be utterly positive if the digicam will use full-size 35mm movie, nor are there any pictures displaying what the brand new digicam will appear to be. Nevertheless, the idea is obvious: this can be a Gen Z compact digicam “that makes taking pictures a pleasure, and that’s a pleasure to hold round every single day”, says Takeo.

The place does the enjoyment come from? Takeo goes on to say, “It’s all the picture-taking course of that makes images so thrilling and a lot enjoyable”, and it’s the tactile expertise of the brand new digicam that features a movie winding mechanism, “which doesn’t exist in digital cameras”, that can give all of the feels. 

To be extra exact: count on a brand new SLR-style hand-wound lever-action mechanism that includes a ratchet wheel with audible suggestions, reimagined in a contemporary compact digicam. The brand new digicam feels like a supercharged Kodak Ektar H35. 

Winding up 

A lot of the video announcement particulars the prolonged design course of – which charmingly included enter from previous-generation engineers – and the reasoning behind selecting a hand-wound mechanism. Close to the top of the video Takeo hints at what a future Movie Digicam Undertaking digicam shall be:

“First shall be a compact digicam with an SLR-type, hand-wound mechanism. This provides us the potential for putting in the identical mechanism in an SLR digicam physique after we resolve to provide a film-format SLR sooner or later…and lead us to the long run growth of different merchandise.”

In a heartfelt finale, Takeo provides, “The purpose of the mission is just not solely to provide a brand new digicam however to create a stable surroundings wherein those that witness this mission and people who love movie images can extra freely specific their concepts, opinions and hopes.”

I for one am rooting for the mission and its collaborators, and might’t wait to search out out extra.