Top new camera rumours for 2012

Pentax full frame camera - Pentax K1 rumours?

Believe it or not, Pentax was all geared up to release a full-frame professional DSLR way back in 2001 (Google it, Granddad), but it never saw the light of day.

Since then, the Pentax faithful have been hoping against hope that maybe, someday, the Japanese camera giant will give full-frame another go. If you'd asked us a year ago we'd have said it will never happen, but following the launch of the excellent Pentax K5, we're cautiously optimistic that they just might.

Could it be just a coincidence that Tokina, which is known to make Pentax lenses, is launching its first full-frame format lenses in a few years? The Pentax K-5 is a solid, well-specified camera with an impressive feature set, and Pentax's backwards lens compatibility is second to none.

We'd love to see Pentax create a full-frame DSLR, possibly in collaboration with Samsung (although that relationship seems to have cooled) if only so the Pentax K-1 could give Canon and Nikon some genuine competition.

For the moment, a Pentax K1 release date is strictly in 'wouldn't it be great if' territory but we'd love Pentax to go down the Nikon D700 route and offer relatively low resolution, perhaps 14MP, but in a genuinely compact bodyshell - something that Pentax has always been very good at.

2011 Pentax K1 release date probability: 12%. Honestly, we doubt it will happen. But next time you see a shooting star...