Ricoh upended the camera world this week with the announcement of its groundbreaking PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome camera. The color array (anti-aliasing filter) is stripped from the camera's custom 25.73-megapixel APS-C sensor, making it exclusively capable of taking black-and-white photos.
Historically, the only other dedicated monochromatic cameras on the market have been from Leica, which can run upward of $9,000. The Pentax K-3 III Monochrome, however, taps in at about a quarter of that price, making it by far the most affordable monochromatic camera in this extremely niche market.
Ricoh said it decided to create this pioneer monochromatic camera after polling fans at an event in 2021.
While some consumers may balk at paying more for a camera that only shoots in black-and-white, others embrace the camera's simplicity. Without those pesky color filters in the way, the K-3 III Monochrome's sensor is free to absorb more light, giving images a deeper tonal range with increased detail in the highlights and shadows. Furthermore, the purely monochrome sensor opens up the K-3 III Monochrome's stunning ISO range of 200 to 1,600,000. Since more light is hitting the sensor, images are less noisy with sharper focus, meaning users can take cleaner images at higher ISOs.
The K-3 III Monochrome comes with three Custom Image modes designed for its sensor: Standard, Hard, and Soft. The Hard mode produces high-contrast images while the Soft mode creates a high-key, low-contrast effect. The tone, key, contrast, and sharpness can be further modified through micro adjustments in-camera.
The K-3 III Monochrome is identical in many ways to its predecessor, the Pentax K-3 Mark III, with a similar 25.73-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, in-body stabilization, and identical autofocus technology. They are also both weather sealed, can shoot 4K30p video, and are outfitted with Pentax K lens mounts.
Aside from shooting exclusively in black-and-white, the exterior of the K-3 III Monochrome is the most distinguishing factor between the two cameras. Ricoh spared no detail in its commitment to a monochromatic aesthetic. All the lettering, logos and buttons on the camera are in varying shades of gray and its interface menu is in black-and-white.
With the K-3 III Monochrome, shooters may not have the flexibility of choosing between black-and-white or color, but they also don't have the hassle of converting color photos in post-production or worrying about shooting in the correct color mode. Ricoh is banking on the idea that with less choice comes more freedom to experiment in the field, and less time behind a computer screen editing.
Do you think this monochromatic camera will benefit your particular photographic idiom? Tell us why, in the Comments section, below.
13 Comments
This is a pretty awesome concept, and they're tagging along with Leica into a small niche market. The problem here is that it's still a Pentax K-3 III, a camera that was outdated ten years ago. Now it's an absolute antique, which Ricoh alleges to be a new camera. Come on Ricoh, if you have any respect at all for the heritage of the Pentax brand, give us a proper modern camera body and put whatever color or monochrome sensor you want in it. There are still a lot of us old folks who loved their Pentax back in the day, with enough retirement savings to cough up $3000 for a Pentax camera we'd be proud to use in 2023.
Written by someone who obviously does NOT own, and has never used, a Pentax K3 III, a modern, up-to-date camera in every respect. And I'm not a loyal Pentax user. I've used and owned every single camera brand including two different Leica monochrome models and started shooting mirrorless in 2011. I can state with all confidence that the K3 III is a stellar camera that can keep up in the professional arena.
The K3III was released two years ago. You've confused it with the original K3.
I am absolutely delighted with my purchase of the K-3 iii after many satisfactory years of using the original K-3. Richo's allegation that it is a new camera is true. It is a well designed and executed; intentional in its departure from the rest of the crowd. I am one of those "old folks" who loved, and still love Pentax cameras. My mark iii can hold its own against any "proper modern camera body" (whatever that means). Clearly your remarks are not informed by hands-on experience.
Years ago, Pentax offered an Infrared-only version of the KP…but only in Japan. I'd have paid almost anything for that one, because you can't convincingly extract IR images from standard RGB files. This K-3 III monochrome sure looks good, and I like the thinking behind it, but as someone with finite resources I think I'd still rather have a regular K-3 III and then just downsample to B&W when an image calls for it. I agree that the dynamic range options for a truly monochrome sensor are nice…but geez I do like the colors out there in the world, especially through my DA Limited lenses.
nope - as attractive and intriguing as it sounds, you have FAR more control converting in myriad ways from color. and i'm a pentax fan with the z and the k-1. and this sample image is pathetic. i can't blame pentax for trying to stay relevant and it's a cool-looking camera.
Sounds intriguing. I hope the extremely dull, low contrast sample of the balls of yarn are no indication of typical results.
hopefully that is just the raw file, showing it as flat and with as much data as possible.
Sounds nice! Bummed Fuji didn’t jump on this idea a few yrs back as fuji fans have been requesting a B/W cam as well. Congrats & good luck Pentax, hope this sells well, i will look into it at release for sure! My 1st 35mm film cam was a Pentax ME Super in 1981 … aaagh! so long ago
Hey Karen, my first SLR was a Pentax ME Super in 1981 also! What a fantastic camera, so much joy and memories with that faithful Pentax. I still have it, safety tucked away, it still works just like 40 years ago.
I have been coveting a monochrome-only camera, and will be eagerly awaiting the reviews.
I think it is an exciting announcement. I will look forward to the reviews of this interesting camera.
This is a very exciting addition to the Pentax world, I hope to see this from other manufacturers and I really look forward to seeing images captured using this KIII version.