Pentax launches Pentax 645D MF without IR filter (100 copies)

Oppa Pentax style! It may be mid-December, but the new product announcements are not dead yet! Pentax Japan has announced a new really-limited-number of Pentax 645D medium format cameras with the InfraRed filter removed. The camera is aptly named "Pentax 645D IR" and according to the computer-translation they are planning 100 "annual" units of the camera.

Details at Ricoh Press Release and DC Watch Impress, both computer-translated. Via Rice High.

UPDATE: The press release is also available in englishes at Ricoh.com (via Imaging Resource).

Pentax-Ricoh made it easier to differentiate the IR from the standard 645D. The IR has a bright red Pentax on it, while the standard 645D does not. See standard 645D pictures at the B&H listing. An annotated picture of the 645D IR with the red Pentax as shown in the aforelinked press release is included right below...

This increases the number of new cameras in 2012 to 224 from the major manufacturers, 44 of which are of the interchangeable lens variety. Roughly 20%.