Info 01: Interview with Mr. Ohkura

The AOC International Sales Department has confirmed that this interview
can be taken as an official statement.

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Amateur Photographer, 7 October 2000

In an exclusive interview with the director of Pentax's camera division, AP's Carry Coward-Williams and Damien Demolder were able to glean a little more information on the new camera and the path Pentax is taking for the future. Though additional information concerning the specification of the new model is confidential, we were able to establish that this does not mark the beginning of a new range of cameras from this company. Thus it would seem that the model, which spent a year-and-a-half in development, will take the prefix MZ or Z. This leaves a choice of the camera being called the MZ 8 or 9, or the Z2.

Mr Ohkura tells us that this new model will compete with the high-end, but not top-end, current models of the other major camera manufacturers, such as the Nikon F100. When questioned about a future 35mm SLR to compete with the likes of the F5 or EOS 1V, he told us that Pentax is not interested in working on 35mm models in this arena. It seems that Pentax will be concentrating on improving the handling and features of its 645 models to compete in the top-end AF SLR market. 'Photographers at this end of the market are interested in high-quality images: Mr Ohkura explained, 'and they will get it from the 645 format.' Pentax aims to attract more 35mm users to the 645 system by making the transition far easier in terms of the way the cameras handle and the functions they provide.

Mr Ohkura was also able to confirm that Pentax is working on a system to reduce vibration in lenses, similar to Canon's Image Stabilisation , system and Nikon's Vibration Reduction system, but he was not prepared to reveal when we might see this technology in a production-model lens. There was no comment on systems for internal lens motors either, but if the new 35mm camera is as well specified as the company claims, and if the company intends to compete with existing high-end semi-pro models, you can be sure the release of these technologies cannot be far off.

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(*) I believe MZ-8 or 9 designations - as supposed by Amateur Photographer's editors - to be nonsense, as the new SLR is undoubtably placed well above the current MZ-3. For that reason, it could be named either MZ-2 or MZ-1. (Dario)

20 Oct. 2000: now we know the new camera is called the MZ-S, where S probably means Super. This was another possible designation, already discussed between AOHC members about one year ago, after some rumors.

  Info kindly posted by Protege srl