Pentax B&W Camera About to Be Announced? (Or, 'The Universe Tends Toward Maximum Perversity.')

Reader Andy F implied yesterday that it is believed that Pentax will announce a B&W-only camera on April 13th. I will truly believe it only when I see it, having waited for a rationally-priced B&W camera from a mainstream maker for a good solid 20 years now. Actually a little bit more.

If it happens, I deserve credit for it...based on the Umbrella Rule, which states that it only rains when you forget your umbrella and won't rain if you remember to take it. Since I've just recently invested heavily in a customized workaround, clearly that is the reason why a much cheaper option would come along immediately thereafter.

The universe is a trickster! I hate irony. Or as David Aiken put it, "The universe tends to maximum perversity."

If it does happen, I might have to lay low for a while. I will be sulking.

Mike

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Comments

[Jeff]

For about $1k more than the anticipated price of the Pentax (based on the provided link), one could have purchased a mint used Leica Monochrom more than 5 years ago, and could probably even make a small profit selling it now. Sometimes the universe works in wonderful ways, especially given time and trust.

[ChrisC]

Please can you go and do some Fuji shopping!

[Mark L]

Yay, that's my birthday!
I feel a pressie coming on...
Maybe with a Ltd 21mm...

[Robert Roaldi]

If Ricoh wanted to have some fun they could release a B&W version of the GR III. But no dpreview article to read about it!

[Daniel]

Still waiting for Fuji to make the X-ProM - a dedicated Monochrome "little Leica".

[schralp]

Don’t worry; be happy!

[SteveW]

It looks like the Pentax Monochrome will be a DSLR, which means you would still see the real color world through the viewfinder. This might actually be a plus for you though?

[Bob Rosinsky]

I'd love to have a digital B&W square format camera.

[Matthew]

I’ve wanted to want a Pentax SLR for a long time. This could finally do it.

[Richard Parkin]

There must be a good reason why Ricoh is considering a monochrome Pentax rather than the GR but it’s not obvious to me. The GR seems a natural candidate for a mono version for a variety of reasons one of which would be that the extra resolution would be a benefit to those who want to use a crop of the 28mm.

[tex andrews]

Hey, don't feel bad. In late 2013 I bought an A7r---wonderful camera, thought it would serve me for years, with my A850 as a backup. Then, in April of 2014, Pentax dropped a bomb: the 645Z. I was crushed. It was the camera I needed, but I was already tapped out. But, through a synchrony of knowing the mid-Atlantic Pentax rep, and extraordinary trade in (very painful) with a quirky semi local camera shop, already having a 645N and several lenses---lenses that would work right away with the Z, and some excruciating, but not fatal, financial pain, I was able to get it. I wound up very happy in the end.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

There are a lot of David Aiken's but none immediately associate with that quote. But the version I know is "The perversity of the universe tends towards a maximum", and it's from Larry Niven, one of the extended set of Finagle's Laws.

Ooh, the first association between the quote and David Aiken that Google found was -- this article on TOP! That hasn't happened before.