Ricoh

What could a future Pentax digital SLR look like?

On September 6, Ricoh (the owner of the Pentax brand) published a communique, making the end of Pentax’s current line of dSLRs official, and vaguely announcing they were working on a new and significantly different series of models, to be made available in the mid-term.

Very little was written about those new models, expect that they would still be digital, single lens reflex cameras, that the K-Mount lens legacy would be preserved, and that Pentax’s design goal was to let photographers “experience the distinctive enjoyment of SLR photography and discover the wonder of photography itself.”

The context

That Ricoh has made official the end of their current line of the dSLRs hardly came as a surprise – it was obvious that Pentax had stopped manufacturing the K-1, K-3 III and the KF a little while ago, and were just shuffling the remaining inventory around to meet the punctual demand of some of their importers or major retailers. And it’s likely that Canon and Nikon are in the same situation, cleaning inventory rather than really manufacturing new digital SLR bodies.

Pentax K-3 III Monochrome – the most recent of the recently discontinued Pentax dSLRs.

But contrarily to Canon, Nikon (and Sony) who have successfully transitioned their interchangeable lens camera business to mirrorless, Ricoh and Pentax have failed to propose an attractive mirrorless camera system:

  • the Q series with its ultra-small sensor was an interesting proposition, but the line stopped after the fourth iteration,
  • The K01 (an attempt to create a mirrorless body using the K-Mount lenses) was a dismal failure.
Pentax K-01 (image: Tokumitu, in Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/bsYQ2X) – an (unsuccessful) attempt to create a mirrorless camera supporting the K-Mount – March 2012.

Ricoh-Pentax are far too small (in the world of interchangeable lens cameras) and far too late to launch a new, proprietary mirrorless camera system. Which condemns them to find a way to convert a new population of younger photographers to their vision of photography, while preserving the building blocks (optical viewfinder and K-Mount Lenses) that will be increasingly unique in a world dominated by mirrorless cameras.

In multiple interviews, the Ricoh product managers have stated that they believe that Pentax’s DNA is about providing a gratifying user experience (with an optical viewfinder and tactile commands), and prioritize the “feeling” over the absolute performance (two examples: the unique rendering of their Limited prime lens series, and the so-called “Pentax Touch” of their JPEGs).

So clearly…

  • whatever they prepare will be different from a K-1 or K-3 or KF (in other words, don’t expect a K-1 III or a K-3 IV),
  • will be based on a new concept,
  • but will still be a “reflex” camera with an optical viewfinder,
  • and will be somehow compatible with at least some of the K-mount lenses.

And, considering that Ricoh’s priority is to bring a new generation of users to photography (“everyone with an interest in photography” as per the official communique), I assume that some consideration will be given to ease of use and affordability.

Nice (France) – Fontaine du Soleil (Pentax KP, HD Pentax DA 21mm Limited).

Considering the options

dSLRs don’t sell in any significant volume anymore – and in order to attract a new generation of users to their future digital SLRs, Pentax will need to address problems that their own current dSLRs (as well as Canon or Nikon’s) are not capable of solving.

How are Ricoh’s product managers expecting to bring new users (fans of smartphones, action cams and vlogging) to something which still has an OVF and supports K-lenses?

Let’s consider the problems left unsolved by the current generations of dSLRs, mirrorless systems and smartphones:

  • What the remaining dSLRs and the mirrorless camera systems don’t solve:
    • Uploading the images to online photo cataloging services and social media – it requires a connected smartphone and remains cumbersome,
    • The images may have more ultimate potential than the pictures taken with a good smartphone, but out of the camera and for casual use, won’t look as nice as photos taken with an iPhone or an Android device relying on computational photography and AI,
    • They’re still big, heavy, and increasingly complex to configure,
  • The current smartphones deliver flattering images with ease, and solve the photo-cataloging and social media integration problems, but offer a poor user experience to photographers:
    • no viewfinder, no tactile commands, a slippery soap bar shape, requiring two hands to be operated – they’re not designed for photography,
    • They offer a limited artistic control over images (no direct control of shutter spped or aperture, too much AI, too much computational photography…)
Pentax K-3 III Monochrome – optical viewfinder, Pentax K-Mount, monochrome imaging sensor, rich but complex user interface – a niche within a niche.

So…. for a camera company trying to convert a new generation of users to their approach of photography, there are two routes: they can try and solve all the problems related to the capture and distribution of images, or stay as far as possible from the definition of smartphones, embrace the KISS principle and focus on the basics of stills photography.

Option A: create the perfect connected camera that solves all the problems above

Pentax would have to create a line of cameras that keeps their traditional strong points (single lens reflex, optical viewfinder, K-mount, tactile commands) BUT at the same time offer the connectivity and content sharing capabilities of smartphones – a camera with 5G+GPS chips, an Android-derived or Android-like OS, uploading images directly and transparently to Google Photos, Instagram or Adobe’s Creative Cloud.

To solve the integration problem, Pentax would need a deep collaboration with Google or with a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, lots of R&D money, and they would have to venture in an area where Japanese camera makers have traditionally been very weak.

And because the camera should be able to shoot reels and short movies strips (what would be the point of direct social media integration otherwise), this new Pentax camera would necessarily be an “hybrid” (still images composed on the optical viewfinder, movies composed on a rear display or on a second, electronic viewfinder). And it may need a new line of K-Mount lenses to optimize its autofocus performance. The resulting products would be as complicated and cumbersome as the current dSLRs, and definitely not cheaper.

There may be a need for a camera permanently connected to the Internet and integrated with social media, but it will certainly not be met by a Single Lens Reflex equipped with an optical viewfinder and supporting K-Mount lenses.

Zeiss ZX1 (powered by Android OS). Another camera that failed to meet its market (source: Amateur Photographer, Andy Westlake).

Option B: go the opposite route, and offer a simplified, stills photography-only digital SLR.

Ricoh could on the other hand target users who don’t want to shoot movies or reels, and don’t want their camera to behave like a complex computer. They could propose a camera that only takes still images, with an interface reminiscent of the film SLRs of the early eighties. In a Leica M11-D sort of way.

Leica M11-D – From Adorama “42 West” magazine – Peter Dam (2024) – no LCD display, minimalist interface on the camera, and in depth controls through an iOS or iPadOS app running on a smartphone or a tablet. It could be an inspiration for a new type of Ricoh-Pentax Digital SLR.

Imagine a line of cameras with:

  • a limited set of physical controls (shutter speed, aperture, ISO sensitivity, metering pattern),
  • maybe one extra dial to set the white balance,
  • No top plate LCD, no rear display, and therefore no menu,
  • No movie mode, no filter, no picture style, no computational photography, no AI,
  • Some basic wireless connection (Bluetooth) to a smartphone app to change the settings of the camera and upload the images.
  • Image transfers and basic image manipulations would be performed on a smartphone or a tablet, with a Ricoh-Pentax app. Or third party apps through collaborations with partners such as Adobe or Phase One.

The camera could look like a film SLR of the 1995 generation (like the MZ-3 we reviewed recently), and be offered with a color or with a monochrome sensor. To maintain the size reasonable and the cost acceptable, the imaging sensor would not need to be full frame, an APS-C sensor could work, as there is no shortage of Pentax K lenses designed for the APS-C format.

In my opinion, that would be more in line with Ricoh’s recent announcements, and easier for them to bring to market than a do-it-all, over complicated, Android-powered “hybrid device”.

Pentax MZ-3 from 1996 – would a simple Digital SLR inspired by the MZ-3 meet its public?

As a conclusion…

In its long history, Pentax has often played the role of the small troublemaker, betting early on the single lens reflex architecture, and introducing innovations (rapid return reflex mirror, pentaprism, through the lens metering, aperture priority auto-exposure) that their bigger and more “institutional” competitors like Canon and Nikon only adopted at a later stage.

But they also stuck to outdated designs (the 42mm lens mount, the conventional dSLR architecture) far too long, which explains the predicament they’re in today.

I don’t know if Ricoh will be able to launch an innovative re-interpretation of the digital SLR theme – they may throw the towel if they come to the conclusion that there would not be enough demand for it, but if they pull it off, it will sure be interesting. Stay tuned.

Even more basic than a MZ-3 – the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic SP (1964)

Food for thought…

More about the Zeiss ZX1: https://amateurphotographer.com/review/zeiss-zx1-review/

More information about the Leica M11-D: https://kristiandowling.com/blog/2024/9/10/leica-m11-d-a-digital-camera-for-analogue-hearts

A (totally) different opinion on what a future Pentax Digital SLR should/could be: https://www.pentaxforums.com/articles/columns/the-dslr-isnt-deadit-just-moved-to-the-blue-ocean.html

Abbaye de Saint Hilaire (France). (Pentax KP, HD Pentax DA 21mm Limited).
Nice (France) – La Baie des Anges (Pentax KP, HD Pentax DA 21mm Limited.

Sears SL11 from 1964 – a relabeled Ricoh SLR with a Nikon F mount.


Few cameras have more obscure and incestuous origins than this one.


At the beginning of the Sixties, Mamiya was ready to launch its first 35mm SLR, the Prismat, and following a suggestion of its US importer, agreed to develop and manufacture a version of the camera for Nippon Kogaku, the maker of the already famous Nikon F. The Nikkorex F was launched in 1962, at half the price of the model F. Nikon expected that the new camera would penetrate the amateur phographer market and increase the sales potential of the Nikkor lenses. Nikon learned quite a few things in the process, and put that experience to good use when they launched the Nikomat in June 1965.


In 1964, Ricoh presented the Singlex, which was very similar to the Nikkorex F, F mount included. It is unclear whether Ricoh was just relabeling cameras made by Mamiya, or whether they had bought the plans and the tooling after Nikon and Mamiya had lost interest in their joint venture. In any case, Ricoh was one of the main manufacturers supplying Sears-Roebuck with private label cameras, and the Singlex was rapidly incorporated to the Sears catalog under the Sears SL11 moniker.

The Sears SL11 with the standard Rikenon 55mm lens
The Sears SL11 with the standard Rikenon 55mm lens


Technically, it can be argued that the Ricoh and Sears cameras were not using the real “F” mount, but only a very close variant: Nikon’s bayonet mount is using lugs to help position the lens on the body (3 body-side lugs imbricated with 3 lens-side lugs). On the Ricoh and Sears bodies, one of the lugs was shorter than Nikon’s , leaving room for a larger lug on the lens side. As a consequence, a Nikon lens with its “small lug” could be mounted on the Ricoh and Sears camera bodies, but the “big lug” Rikenon lenses shipped with the cameras could not be mounted on a Nikon body.


In 1967, Ricoh and Sears replaced the Singlex and the SL11 with new models designed and built by Ricoh. They did not use the Nikon F mount, but the ubiquitous 42mm screw mount, and were equipped with a TTL CdS exposure meter. It seems that Ricoh and Sears designated the new models with the same Singlex and SL11 names as the models they were replacing, at least for a while. The cameras were also sold as Ricoh Singlex TLS and Sears SLS or TLS in the subsequent years. As we can see, using confusing product references is not a recent practice.

How to spot a Sears SL11?

The Sears label on the pentaprism housing. The Sears retained the accessory holder of the Nikkorex.
The Sears label is glued on the pentaprism housing. The Sears SL11 retained the vertical accessory holder of the Nikkorex, at the left of the mount.

The Copal metal shutter
The Copal metal shutter. Mamiya was the first camera manufacturer to use a vertical Copal shutter. Nikon and Ricoh kept it in the Nikkorex and the Singlex.

Made by Ricoh
On the back of the body, the name of Ricoh is engraved. There are some traces of glue. A Sears label may have covered Ricoh’s name originally.

Using the Sears SL11


The big difference between film and digital photography is that the body of a film camera does not play such an important role as the body of a digital camera in the final quality of the picture. If the photographer is technically competent and has enough time to set up the camera, any Single Lens Reflex with no light leak and an accurate shutter will give good results, provided a good film and a good lens can be used.

Marietta-the wall of the train station
Marietta, GA- The wall of old the train station. The shutter release of the SL11 is very sensitive, and this picture was taken accidentally. The camera took the decision for me and I tend to like the result.


With a recent Nikon fast prime lens and fine grain film, the SL11 will not be as convenient to use as a modern film SLR (no exposure metering, no autofocus), but if the subject is static or cooperative, there will be little difference as far as the pictures are concerned.


The SL11 is a fairly large and heavy camera – it’s larger than the Nikon F and with its standard 55mm lens, it tips the scale at more than 1.2 kilos. I’ve also held a Nikkorex F in hands, and both cameras share the same matte aluminum finish, which seems very difficult to keep clean in the long run (dust and grease seem like ingrained in the camera’s outer shell). The body shell of the Sears model is not exactly similar to the Nikon’s, but the SL11 is absolutely identical to the Ricoh Singlex, with the exception of a Sears label pasted on the prism cover; Ricoh’s name is engraved on the back of the camera, so that there s no doubt on its origin.


As can be expected from a camera designed in 1962, no exposure meter has been incorporated, and the photographer will have to rely on his experience, on a hand exposure meter or on the Sunny 16 rule to determine the right aperture/shutter speed combination. The camera and the lens support Nikon’s automatic aperture pre-selection, and the diaphragm stays at full aperture until the shutter release is pressed. As a consequence, and surprisingly for a camera that old, the viewfinder is very bright.


In the field, the camera surprises with a very sensitive shutter release, and the very high demultiplication of the focusing ring of the lens seriously slows down the operations. As expected, the shutter is rather loud. The lens is still very good. There is some flare in back-lit situations, but at mid aperture (f:8 or f:11), it produces razor sharp pictures.


A camera without a built-in exposure meter is too slow to use to my taste, but this one is an interesting curiosity. Compatible with any Nikon lens made in the last 50 years, provided it has an aperture ring, it will find a place in the equipment bag of a “Nikonist” between a FE2 and a D300, for a film roll of nostalgia.


More about the SL11 and its cousins

The Sears SL11 with a Nikon 24mm AF lens. It simply works.
The Sears SL11 with a Nikon 24mm AF lens. The SL11 is compatible with any Nikon lens provided it has an aperture ring.


The common ancestor: the Mamiya Prismat NP.
Ron Herron’s site is totally dedicated to Mamiya 35mm cameras.


The predecessor of the SL11: the Nikkorex F and Nikon’s own version of its history, reported by Kenji Toyoda.
Kenji Toyoda went to the source and talked to the Nikon engineers who worked on the development of models such as the FM, the FE or the FA. For Nikon, they’re “the best of the rest”.


Nikon’s official Web site offers a very detailed history of the most important cameras of the company: More about the history of the Nikon cameras – the legendary and the other ones : Nikon Imaging Products


A few sites have a pages dedicated to the twins of the SL11:
– the Ricoh Singlex (first model).
– another source of information for the Singlex and the Nikkorex F : Richard de Stoutz and his Nikon F collection.


As explained above, Ricoh and Sears kept on using the Singlex and SL11 names after they abandoned the original design of Mamiya. The user manual of Ricoh Singlex TLS of 1967 is still available.
The Sears labeled version of the camera is also shown here as the Sears SLS.

Marietta, GA - Jan. 2010
Marietta, GA – Jan. 2010 – Sears SL11 with Rikenon lens (55mm f:1.4)-Lodak CN400