Pentax unveils shiny LX Gold SLR to celebrate 60 years

What better to snap oodles of pictures at your Thanksgiving feast than with a gravy-proof (and gold-plated) SLR? Taking a note from the bevy of other Midas-touched gizmos out there, the Asahi Pentax LX Gold sports a thoroughly blinding paint job with faux-alligator accents to add an extra layer of tacky to an already gaudy device. Apparently aiming to bring back a taste of 1981 (when the 10 millionth Pentax SLR rolled off the production line; pictured after the jump), the company is seemingly reintroducing the vivid shooter to celebrate 60 years of staying afloat. Of course, we aren't sure how many of these splendiferous units will be offered up (or wanted at all), but we're sure it'll rock quite a premium for those somehow interested.

[DeltaOps101 @ Nov 23rd 2006 9:11PM]

I don't even want to know how much extra that will cost.

[Chris Benyayer @ Nov 23rd 2006 9:15PM]

Im sure theres already a long waiting list of Middle Easten Arab Princes wanting on this "gold item"

[Michael @ Nov 23rd 2006 9:45PM]

That's awesome. But I'd prefer black rather then alligator for the trim. Of course I'd never really use it. But to sit on a shelf would make a good conversation piece.

[Alden @ Nov 23rd 2006 9:49PM]

hahahahahh I would love to go out shooting with that thing.

[The Goof @ Nov 23rd 2006 10:07PM]

why isn't the leather from a gold aligator?

[Sentient @ Nov 23rd 2006 10:12PM]

They should have went platinum with albino gator skin.

[Geir E @ Nov 23rd 2006 10:46PM]

I got to have that! Going to a 70s party with that camera and a 70s pimp style outfit and It'll be an instant hit.

[Sinbios @ Nov 23rd 2006 11:11PM]

It's not a DSLR, either? Bah!

[Yem @ Nov 23rd 2006 11:21PM]

I'm confused. Are they REintroducing the gold edition? Is this a real story?

[sammy mazola jr @ Nov 24th 2006 12:33AM]

Cool. It'll go with my teeth.

[Alex McKenzie @ Nov 24th 2006 1:20AM]

that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.

[kadajawi @ Nov 24th 2006 1:45AM]

Uh... bling. Could imagine that Snoop Doggy Dogg, 50 Cent, etc. would run around with these. Of course lacking the skills they wouldn't be able to make photos, but who cares?

@Sinblos: Why? Analog SLR were cool, and at least they required that the photographer has some skills.

[ando @ Nov 24th 2006 1:46AM]

Heh, the camera shop down the road has a Nikon like that too.

http://www.cameraquest.com/fmgold.htm

[Zeke @ Nov 24th 2006 2:27AM]

I can't see anyone but a 70's pornographer using this. (Think Austin Powers)

[Tommy J?nsen @ Nov 24th 2006 3:42AM]

I'm pretty sure I actually saw this model a few years ago in a camera-shop, where the owner collected all kinds of rare cameras. This one might be a newer model, but the gold and the leather on a Pentax SLR, that's been made before!

[drib @ Nov 24th 2006 3:54AM]

Um, the Pentax LX Gold came out in 1981. It's not new, in fact they haven't made any LXs for about 5 years now, and I suspect LX gold production ended in the early 80s as well. Also, they made 300 of these, but they aren't making any more. Pentax (and some of their distributors, apparently) owns a few, and just brings them out every once in a while to show off. It was also made to celebrate Pentax's 10 millionth SLR, not their 60th aniversary. Pentax (Asahi Optical Corporation Inc) was founded in 1919 as eyeglass makers, made their first camera lenses in 1938, reformed after WWII in 1948, and made their first camera in 1951, so the '60 years' doesn't really match up to any significant date in Pentax history; it might have been a mistranslation.
Sources: http://www.aohc.it/slr03e.htm (scroll down to 'LX Gold')
(I would think that the Pentax Club would be fairly knowledgeable on these things)
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/pentaxlx/variations/index.htm
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/pentaxlx/Pentax_LX_Gold/index.htm
(second link has pics)
Wikipedia also has a large amount of info about pentax

[Michiel @ Nov 24th 2006 3:58AM]

Gold anniversary models are made by a lot of companies.

But did you know that some of them actually have a gold plated shutter curtain?

Which of course makes them completely and utterly useless, unless you want all your pics to have a yellowish shine to it.

[zedfoto @ Nov 24th 2006 4:31PM]

Did you contact the copyright holder and ask permission to use his photo? I'd wager not since the copyright is blatantly painted over. Whatever happened to respect of other people's property?
The second photo is shown on the mir.com.my links in the post above, with the copyright information intact.

[Timoteo Canales @ Apr 23rd 2007 5:24PM]

Why would Pentax show this model along with the K10D? I doubt Pentax will produce any more film cameras; maybe they were wanting to compare the Pentax K10D sealing to the excellent sealing of the Pentax LX of the 1980s. Who knows . . . maybe there will be a KXD produced soon--keeping the "K" series letter, and adding the "X" to reminese the film KX, MX, and LX bodies, and make it comparable to the Nikon D1X.