Pentax and Samsung: the Alliance

Disclaimer: This short has been written by a blogger with no prior history or experience of professional photography. Written in April 2008, information may or may not be accurate according to when you are reading this. This is solely my opinion and I am not representing nor affiliated with either Pentax or Samsung. Please take this with a grain of salt, as I am a consumer.

Pentax. What does that name bring up? Cameras, decades of high quality optical experience. Oh, right. Now what does Samsung bring up? TVs, computers, monitors, flash memory, cellphones, and home appliances. The do-it-all Korean conglomerate. You have to admit though, a lot of their products are superb, and I just love my P2. Now, not surprisingly, they make dSLRs too.

But they decided to play it safe and rebadge other cameras to tackle in a place in the already saturated market, dominated by the likes of Canon and Nikon. And look who they partnered with. Pentax Corporation (formerly Asahi Optical) of Japan. Some would call this an "unholy alliance", what with one being a respected cameramaker, and the other being a conglomerate. The fact that one is Korean and one is Japanese also runs deep into historic, bitter feuds between the two countries (the youth now don't mind). But this is fantastic for the market. More competition to bring down the 900 kilo monsters Canon and Nikon.

Apparently though, Samsung joined with Pentax a little late. Developement was already deep in for the *ist D and later, the DS and DL (rebadged as Samsung GX-1S, and 1L, respectively). Then came the GX-10. I'd figure it to be a 90% Pentax, 10% Samsung effort, with Pentax providing the body and the image stabilization, while Samsung supplying DDR2 memory and electronics. The sensor was, like many, from Sony. The K10D was and is a massive success for Pentax, and Samsung received more recognition as a quality brand (their model, the GX-10, is cheaper than the K10D yet identical!). With things going like this, Pentax was given new life, and Samsung claimed that they were going to reach the 3rd largest camera maker (including compacts) behind Canon and Nikon by the year 2010. A bold endeavour, yet that's never stopped the huge company from getting whatever they want.

More recently, Pentax has been purchased by Hoya and merged just months ago, as of this writing. Samsung, believe it or not, achieved their goal. In 2007. Three years ahead. They now sit comfortably behind Canon and Sony [Nikkei]. My, my, the market has shifted. It goes to show you, determination and a large, and I mean LARGE, budget can help you do almost anything.

Around PMA 08 a few months ago, both Pentax and Samsung announced their K20D, and GX-20, respectively. I'd say both these cameras are breakthroughs, albeit a little overpriced considering the competition (the price will probably free fall within months like it did for the K10D and GX-10). This dSLR packs a mind-blowing 14.6 megapixels into a small APS-C sized CMOS sensor. More on that later.

This is what I bluntly say. Honestly, this new camera is 90% Samsung, 10% Pentax. What I have just said is a very bold claim. But let me elaborate. The new camera(s) features a bigger 2.7" Live View LCD screen most likely manufactured by Samsung and marginally increased autofocus and dust-reduction system undoubtedly improved by Pentax. Some of the camera Almost all of the camera body is exactly the same as its predecessor. Which means that Pentax could slash its research and developement by a substantial percent, or at least shift it to something else. There is one distinguishing feature that sets it apart.

The sensor, as I said before, is an APS-C sized 14.6 MP CMOS sensor, probably bringing a lot more noise, what with so many more pixels. This sensor you don't find anywhere else on the market, because it is made by none other than Samsung. Apparently this new sensor reduces the size of gaps on the sensor, rather than just making the pixels smaller. The micro lenses, which also are larger and have fewer gaps, and the dividers between the pixels are also closer to the sensor, supposedly also improving performance without comprimise. Samsung boasts its prowress and has diagrams on the GX-20 product page here. An impressive feat to say at the least. And the results speak for themselves. At a nearly 5 MP increase in resolution, noise remains at the impressive levels of its predecessor, and you can now pump it up to ISO 6400. Throw in Live View into the mix and you've got a very appealing camera.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against Pentax, they are a fantastic company and my first cameras have been all Pentax. The only camera I have that's not a Pentax is a small Casio Exilim. I'm just thinking maybe Samsung should get more credit this time. Pentax is like the twin that always gets more attention than the other. Neither company could of created this fantastic piece of equipment without each other.

Bottom line, this has been an exciting partnership and hopefully, more great products form from this alliance. Anyone considering a semi-pro dSLR should seriously check out a K20D or GX-20, as it goes up heavily against the Canon 40D, Nikon D300, Sony A700, and Olympus E-3. In fact, I might just pick up one of these in the future.