The DSLR is back in black and white

Pentax continues to carry the torch for optical viewfinders

Welcome back to Multicore for Thursday, April 13th.

Substack launched its don't-call-it-Twitter Notes feature to everyone yesterday. My impressions so far are pretty positive, and I think it could be a good way to post short-form content alongside the regular articles and issues. Check it out and let me know what you think.

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DSLR cameras have been moribund for years. Canon and Nikon, the dominant duopoly, belatedly accepted that mirrorless was the future back in 2018 and haven't released any new single-lens reflex models since 2020. Pentax put out the K-3 Mark III in 2021, gave the aging K70 a touch-up as the KF last year, and that's really been it.

Until now, anyway, because Pentax is back with an unusual DSLR out of nowhere: the K-3 Mark III Monochrome. It's a $2,200 variant of the K-3 Mark III — that's a $200 premium — and as the name suggests, it only shoots black-and-white photos. That makes it the only monochrome DSLR on the market.