Pentax Corp has revealed its development of a single lens reflex (SLR) medium format digital camera featuring an 18-Mpixel CCD solid-state image sensor. The company is currently exhibiting a mockup image at the Photo Imaging Expo (PIE) 2005, held in Tokyo from March 17 to March 20, 2005. Kodak Co is said to have newly developed the 18-Mpixel CCD image sensor. The camera uses a PENTAX 645AF mount, which is compatible with smc PENTAX645 interchangeable lenses conventionally used with silver salt cameras. Pentax aims to commercialize the camera within 2006 and "expects to set the price at lower than 1 million yen," said a company spokesperson.

Mamiya-OP Co, Ltd also exhibited an SLR medium format digital camera at PIE. This camera, previously exhibited at photokina in September 2004, features a 21.5-Mpixel CCD solid-state image sensor, according to its product specifications. "We are currently improving the color reproduction and exploring the right touch of image processing capabilities, including the sharpness, to complete final adjustments before releasing the product," said a spokesperson for Mamiya-OP. The company is planning to start marketing the camera within 2005, and the price is also expected to be around ?1 million.