Pentax K-1 Mark II falls to £1,399 in UK as DSLR stock thins

The Pentax K-1 Mark II dropped from £1,899 to £1,399 across several UK retailers between 5 and 6 November, a £500 cut on one of the last full-frame DSLRs still on shelves. Camera Price Buster logged the fall as a seasonal promotion, not a fire sale. Ricoh has not officially confirmed the camera is discontinued, and in Pentax-land that distinction currently carries the whole story.

Four major UK retailers — Wex Photo Video, Camera World, Park Cameras and Clifton Cameras — are listing the body at £1,399. Harrison Cameras sits at £1,499, down from £1,899, as part of a winter promotion running from 6 November 2026 to 10 January 2027, subject to availability. Stock levels vary between retailers, so the sticker price and the shelf may not agree.

What does this change for working Pentax shooters?

For photographers already invested in K-mount glass, this is one of the cheapest entry points to full-frame in the system's history. You keep your lenses, you get a 36.4MP sensor, and you avoid a system switch that would cost four figures before you'd bought a single new body. That's the entire business case.

The specs still hold up for certain paid work:

• 36.4MP full-frame CMOS sensor
• 33-point autofocus system
• Five-axis Shake Reduction II in-body stabilisation, rated up to five stops
• Weather-resistant magnesium alloy body
• Flexible rear LCD, built-in GPS
• Pixel Shift Resolution System II (multiple combined exposures for fuller colour data)
• Astrotracer (GPS plus sensor shift compensating for Earth's rotation in long exposures)

Landscape and astrophotography specialists will recognise that feature list. It's a 2018 camera, and it behaves like one in some respects, but five stops of stabilisation and weather sealing don't expire.

A discount, or a quiet exit?

The cut lands amid genuine uncertainty over Pentax DSLR availability in the UK. Recent retailer listings show fewer new models, and the APS-C Pentax KF has become difficult to find through major retailers. Read that how you like.

The caveat matters, though: limited stock is not confirmation that Ricoh has ended K-1 Mark II production or abandoned DSLR development. The source is explicit on this point. Treat any 'Pentax is dead' framing you encounter elsewhere as speculation, not reporting.

The practical fine print

Anyone weighing a first-time Pentax purchase should check lens availability before committing. A discounted body is only a bargain if you can actually build a system around it, and the same supply thinning visible in bodies applies to the mount's wider ecosystem. Budget for what you can source now, not what a catalogue promised in 2019.

What's the verdict, then? If you shoot K-mount for money and have been waiting on a second body or a full-frame upgrade, £1,399 is a defensible spend before 10 January. If you're betting on a long future of new Pentax DSLR stock, the evidence is thinner than the discount — and the promotion's end date, unlike Ricoh's production plans, is at least clearly documented.