The Pentax K-7 Limited Silver takes the existing K-7 body, and replaces several of the black body panels with silver-finished panels. These include the top and bottom panels, plus the upper surface of the popup flash strobe, and the panel comprising the bottom of the viewfinder prism and lens mount surround. The rear panel surrounding the LCD display retains its black finish, as do the textured hand grips on either side of this panel. The color of the microphone jack cover, shutter button, power dial and metering mode dial have also been changed to match the finish of the silver panels. Finally, the silver on red "SR" badge on the camera's front has been changed to a gold on black badge, and both the Pentax and K-7 logos have been changed to use black print.
The changes in the K-7 Limited Silver do go beyond just the body color, however. The K-7 Limited has a new reinforced glass cover over the LCD, which is said to be "highly shock and scratch resistant", and intended to be more durable than the existing cover from the standard K7. The K-7 Limited Silver also comes with a new focusing screen which is billed as being an "exclusive, suggesting that it won't be made available to purchase by existing K-7 owners. The new focusing screen includes several extra markings to help with golden ratio composition.
Finally, as you'd expect given its limited edition status, the K-7 Limited Silver will come with the current Pentax K-7 v1.03 firmware and Pentax Digital Camera Utility v4.10 versions, both of which are already available for download by existing K-7 owners.
In other respects, the Pentax K-7 Limited Edition is identical to the current camera. The Pentax K7 digital SLR includes a 14.6 megapixel APS-C CMOS image sensor, compact and rugged magnesium alloy weather-sealed body, high-res 3.0" LCD with live view function, 100% pentaprism viewfinder, 11-point AF, 77-segment metering, and both in-camera shake reduction and dust reduction. It also offers 5.2 frames-per-second burst mode, 1/8000 second top shutter speed, electronic level and composition adjustment functions, in-camera HDR capability, and a high-definition movie mode with external microphone jack. More details can be found in our Pentax K7 preview.
Pricing and availability for the Pentax K-7 Limited Silver have not been announced at this time. The production run for the K7 Limited Silver has been set at 1,000 units, and we understand that further information will be available in Japan from March 13 2010.
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Pentax's K-7 Limited Silver digital SLR.
Photo provided by Hoya Corp. |
Pentax announces limited edition silver K-7
