While Pentax is keeping some specifications and pricing under wraps for now, it offered some details about the new products ahead of the event.

The *ist DS is a new compact, lightweight digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera that measures 4.9-x-3.6-x-2.6 inches and weighs 18 ounces and takes a 6.1 megapixel image. It features a 2.0-inch color LCD display, 11-point auto focus, shutter speed of up to 1/4,000th second, support for SD memory cards, and the ability to record up to 8 images consecutively at about 2.8 frames per second. It will ship in November. Pentax is also releasing in November a third lens for its line of digital SLR cameras, including the new *ist DS -- the Pentax-DA Zoom 18-55. The lens provides an angle of view equivalent to a 27.5mm-84mm lens in the 35mm format.

Coming in October is the OptioMX4 -- a 4-megapixel camera point-and-shoot model that can capture both movies and still images. It uses a 10x optical zoom and can accept an optional wide-angle conversion lens. It records 640-x-480 pixel movies in MPEG-4 format -- up to two hours at a time -- and features a palm-grip to minimize hand shake and reduce fatigue. Also planned for an October release is the Optio SV, a 5.0-megapixel digital camera with 5x optical zoom and a compact aluminum body design that measures 3.0-x-1.8-x-0.9 inches. It sports a zoom lens system similar to Pentax's Optio S compact model and features a mode selection dial and a Picture mode that lets users select icons on the LCD monitor to match the scene at hand.

Find out more at Pentax

From Digit