Photo Rumors is reporting to have reliable info that the Samsung GX-30 will be introduced in June 2009. Presumably, this will be a follow-up to the Samsung GX-20. Perhaps Samsung will change its mind and bring the GX-30 along with the Samsung NX series to US consumers.
The Samsung GX-20 was practically a clone of the Pentax K20D. The partnership between Samsung and Pentax has been rumored to be taking a different direction since the K20D and GX-20 were introduced. While it would make sense to see a K-7 clone as the new Samsung DSLR, recent trends between the two suggest otherwise.
At PMA 2009, Samsung was certainly not banging the DSLR drum. In fact, they were downplaying it. It would be curious to see Samsung jump out with a new DSLR when the NX series is still on the drawing board as a product they hope to launch by Q4 2009. However, when the Photo Rumors folks call something reliable, there’s usually something to it. Stay tuned.
I hope Samsung doesn’t just build a clone of the K-7. It should build it’s own version of the camera. How about if it used the 3″ AMOLED display from the WB1000 instead of the Pentax 3″ LCD? I also wish that Samsung would brand normal lenses as “Samsung” and keep the Schneider name for upmarket lenses, like some Same Samsung versions of Pentax DA* and limited series. Better still, get Schneider to design some K-Mount lenses for Samsung and Pentax. It’s time Samsung stopped being just a silent partner when it comes to DSLRs.
I found that Samsung has no specific launching schedule because I could not find any annoucement about launching from Samsung.