In a recent announcement in London, Pentax officially unveiled its new high-end and compact digital camera, the Pentax K-01, which is reportedly equipped with the world's thinnest fixed focal lens; and is the first camera to be designed by Marc Newson.

Displaying the eye-catching yellow and white versions of the camera body, Pentax - noting that the name of the camera be pronounced as "K zero one" - said that the shipments of the device will begin in March. The camera, as per Pentax, will be priced at $750 for the camera body or $900 with a new 40mm pancake f2.8 lens. The lens by itself will cost $250.

The Pentax K-01 makes use of the fairly big APS-C-sized sensor and corresponding K mount lenses from Pentax's SLR line; and the 16-megapixel sensor boasts a range up to ISO 25,600. It is capable of shooting H. 264-encoded video at 1080p and 30 frames per second (fps) or 720p at 60fps.

The K-01 has a dedicated `High Dynamic Range' (HDR) setting on the mode dial, giving the device the ability to click pictures at three levels of exposure; thereby eliminating the chances of low-light issues and impeccably highlighting the dark as well as the light areas of the images.

Talking about the inspiration for designing the Pentax K-01, Newson told the press: "Essentially I found myself looking for things that didn't exist in the market and then filling those gaps, and I felt this was one of them".