What's interesting is that this could be the reason they have been so dry since Ricoh took over. How many times have we heard people mention the new K5 isn't even a real new camera, that the K30 was basically a first gen K5? Perhaps their resources have been tied into something a bit bigger?
I would bet a nickel that they've been working on mirrorless FF. That would give them something unique in the market (for a while anyway), a position they've often said they try to achieve.
It seems obvious that the K-5 II and K-5 IIs are placeholder cameras that do not provide much incentive for current K-5 owners to upgrade. That, I believe, explains the lackluster sales of the two new cameras. But if they are placeholders, then what sort of camera are they holding the place for? Personally, I would be interested in a really well executed FF mirrorless camera with a next generation EVF, even if it has a new lens mount. Should that come to pass, let's hope that Pentax can meet the demand for new lenses.
A new lens mount would kill it for me and probably thousands of others. If switching to FF required switching to a new lens mount, then why not just migrate to the tried and tested FF technology of Canon and Nikon and have done with it?
I think we can rest easy about the mirrorless issue. Pentax just released two cameras, whos main upgrade over the K5 honestly was the AF. It doesn't seem too logical for them to make such an improvement in AF if they are just going to scrap that system one camera later. Mirrorless means a whole new AF system, perhaps not even PDAF depending on which sensor they get. They have managed to build a brand worthy of a very loyal following, I doubt they are going to ditch the system that was so perfect to begin with.
Well it's actually Ricoh now, since pentax was sold by hoya to Ricoh.
If you are going to build a mirrorless body then you need to go with a new mount. The advantage to a mirrorless system is the smaller size and the only way to achieve that is to remove the OVF and shorten the register distance.
Get some experience in the market first? I don't see Pentax is going anywhere but down if that kind of mentality is true.
The Spotmatic, introduced in 1964, was the first Pentax SLR with TTL metering and one of the earliest SLRs of any manufacturer with that feature. (This is not the same as TTL flash metering, nor is it automatic exposure. Nevertheless, it is through-the-lens metering, and was a significant development.)
