In the Pentax Square in Shinjuku, Japan Pentax has revealed a special 50th Anniversary edition 'Design Study Model' digital SLR with the tentative name of 'Asahi Pentax'. This prototype camera is based on the K10D (as is obvious on closer inspection) but has a very different viewfinder, which is of the same design as that found on the very first Asahi Pentax from 1957, the first Japanese SLR with a fixed pentaprism viewfinder. Note that there are no plans to put this camera into production, rather it is a celebration of Pentax's 50th anniversary and their long contribution to SLR photography.

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Press Release:

Design Study Model  in commemoration of the
50th anniversary of the launch of
Asahi Pentax

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Asahi Pentax (common name: AP type) since its release in 1957.  Taking this opportunity, we built up a design study model based on Digital SLR K10D.  Asahi Pentax AP features Pentaprism for the first time that led to the origin of PENTAX brand.  PENTAX materialized correct image of viewfinder image which was previous challenge for PENTAX.  The built-in flash was removed from this design study model, and recreated characteristic delta roof for Asahi Pentax AP.