This is the latest entry level offering from Pentax:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0909/09091 ... andson.asp
Apparently, it is to be offered only as a kit, with the new lens:Pentax-DA L 55-300mm f/4=5.8 ED.
Way back in my photographic history, probably before there were SLRs, I had fantasies about making movies of wildlife, in particular of the smaller subjects, such as the larger insects. In those days we had Super8!
As a dedicated user of 35mm film, it would take a lot to get me to invest in a digial camera. However, the advent of movie, in particular HD in DSLRs, has me thinking.
Questions arise such as:
What quality lenses are required to produce credible HD?
What are the lighting issues for macro HD through DSLRs?
With autofocus being unreliable for still photography macro, is manual focus the default for HD movie macro?
I'm sure there are other questions I should ask.
Harold
DSLRs, Movies and HD
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Harold Gough
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DSLRs, Movies and HD
My images are a medium for sharing some of my experiences: they are not me.
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PaulFurman
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They generally are pretty limited in function like being able to autofocus or change exposure during a scene. The big advantage I see is being able to get shallow DOF effects & use special lenses for that hollywood look versus small sensor camcorders with inherently huge DOF. I have done time lapse for years (just tinkering) and recently experimented with macro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0r-HKzVpeg which as you can see, DOF is a problem 
Going to a small sensor camera might be wise for macro since even bluray HD is a tiny 2 MP compared to 6 or 12 MP still cameras. This also means lens flaws aren't a problem, well sharpness anyways. Working as stop frame/time lapse from stills, you can zoom & pan in the final video a little more than 2x for 12MP DSLR images, if you are producing for web or DVD, you can zoom a lot more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT0h1zq1FWs
The bigger challenge is going to be how to mount, pan, stabilize, etc for live video or stop frame. Lighting is less of a problem with DSLRs because of their very high ISO abilities compared to film.
Going to a small sensor camera might be wise for macro since even bluray HD is a tiny 2 MP compared to 6 or 12 MP still cameras. This also means lens flaws aren't a problem, well sharpness anyways. Working as stop frame/time lapse from stills, you can zoom & pan in the final video a little more than 2x for 12MP DSLR images, if you are producing for web or DVD, you can zoom a lot more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT0h1zq1FWsThe bigger challenge is going to be how to mount, pan, stabilize, etc for live video or stop frame. Lighting is less of a problem with DSLRs because of their very high ISO abilities compared to film.