The Pentax K-3 III Monochrome was supposed to be delivered at the end of April, but Ricoh Imaging has now announced that no new pre-orders can be accepted. The Pentax K-3 III Monochrome seems to be so popular, especially in Japan, that Ricoh Imaging was overwhelmed with pre-orders even before it went on sale and a first contingent was sold out just one day after the announcement. Five days later, the company released a second contingent to be delivered by the end of May as production was able to be adjusted. However, Ricoh is now unable to accept any further orders, meaning that the camera will no longer be available in Japan for the next few months.
To what extent the pre-order restrictions in Japan will affect deliveries in Europe and the US, and how popular the camera will be there, remains to be seen. The Pentax K-3 Mark III monochrome DSLR is currently available for pre-order in the US for $2,200. How quickly these pre-orders can actually be delivered to buyers is also unclear due to their popularity in Japan.
Delivery bottlenecks are not uncommon
Japanese camera manufacturers are particularly transparent about the availability of their products compared to Western companies, so reports of delays in cameras and lenses are more common. The manufacturer writes in its communication:
“We will temporarily stop accepting new orders from the Ricoh Imaging Store until the next product shipment (scheduled for Summer 2023) is confirmed. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused to customers who have been waiting for this product.”
The Pentax K-3 Mark III Monochrom Edition is an APS-C format SLR camera. With this, Ricoh Imaging wants to appeal to photographers who specialize exclusively in black and white photography. The new monochrome DSLR is based on a 25.7 megapixel BSI CMOS sensor in APS-C format, which is also used in the color-sensitive sister model. However, the chip manages without color and low-pass filters, so that it captures the brightness values directly and without interpolation per pixel. An AA filter simulator is used for this, which is intended to prevent moiré effects.
(vat)
