K7D announced in US?

More fps with grip like the D300?
Well this time next week we should all know.

Without in any way wishing to impugn the integrity of Unlocker in posting those snaps I am surprised that everybody appears to be taking them as gospel truth.

Alarm bells rang when I saw what to me is clearly a K10 kit lens stuck on the front, pretty much identical to what resides in a dark corner of my bag. However, if the K7 is to make any claims to producing quality video I would have thought they must bundle it with a lens sporting an ultrasonic motor, so as to have usable sound free from annoying whirring during focusing.

Sure enough tracking back via the wordpress blog where the pictures are hotlinked from they are sourced from a message board on a site www.digitalFotoNetz.de. I haven't attempted to hack myself though the innuendo thereon with my schoolboy German in any systematic way, but I fear these pictures are likely the product of some enterprising photoshopper with too much time on his hands rather than of Pentax corporation.

If he had only layered in a 17-70mm f/4 SDM I would have been much more credulous

Hmmmm I looked at my camera and I have a DA 'Star'lens attached. My FA 'Star' 85 mm f1.4 is also blessed with a 'star'

How different are they from the DA* 'Asterisk' or FA* 'Asterisk' lenses

see that mic jack?
every videographer knows built in mics (like built in flash) generally suck.
The video abilities will allow for some shots that video cameras can't do and won't replace video cameras for other things...
but external mics are to video what off camera flash is to photographers....

and in the day when pentax was at the top, it was know for small cameras and small lenses with big performance...

Yours is weather resistant then is it?

From what I can see they look pretty genuine and certainly consistent with all the other snips (photos) that have gradually appeared over the last few weeks.
We will of course know for sure next week but I would be very surprised if it looks any different from pictures Unlocker posted / linked to

PS I think the new 18-55 kit PS'd onto the mount is believed to be water and dust proof

Don't worry, it's not my integrity, they're not my photos! Came from viewing US forum, where those that (have said they) have seen the camera, say they are genuine, and it does tie in with the official photos we have seen on various pentax websites. I'm at least 95% sure they are genuine, but we'll find out next week!

It clearly isn't a K10 kit lens, the rubber grip for the zoom ring is different, and as Mike said, it's weather resistant (the WR on the front of the lens). Does seem to be a variation on the current kit lens though which would be no surprise, but it definately isn't the current kit lens! As for SDM, we will have to see!

The lens roadmap is no help either. It's dated March 2009 and still shows the 60-250mm as a 'future' lens targeted for Spring 2009.

Shaky, you're pulling my words out of line there, it was about the body.
On numerous offical Pentax sites you can see large part of the camera and they are very consisten what is being showed here.
Here is one on pentax.jp link don't think they will be lying.

About the lens, it looks really well for an kitlens if that would be the one.
I don't mind not having SDM, it will keep the cost down for the lens and focus isn't much faster to begin with only alot more silent, is that worth making the lens more expensive?
Weather resitance is something I would like much more and certainly for a kit-lens that's a more usefull feature, perfect lens for hazardous photoshoots.
But yes let's wait and see what they will bring.

Perhaps the kit lens allows us to see more of the camera than we would with the likes of a DA*16-50 for example

Anyway, what I want to know is where have the image and menu buttons gone? I liked them on the left hand side

Wouldn't screw drive be rather loud for the inbuilt microphone (if it does actually have video).

1. I still wonder where K1,2,3,4,5 & 6 went?

2. The card door seems much larger than the K20D SD door....CF size?

cheers Steve.M. (Pentax might finally have made the DSLR I have been waiting for....)

Twin SD card slots ... :

There doesn't look to be anything on the left, maybe they moved the external connectors over and theyre under the card compartment door, though there is another door below that. Perhaps its a dual card camera.

Great minds think alike Mike