Pentax RAW codec enables preview of photos captured as Raw files using Windows Vista's explorer, without the need to process the files first. The previous version was released in November 2008, and offered support for the Pentax *ist D, *ist DS,*ist DS2, *ist DL, *istDL2 ,K100D, K10D, K100D Super, K20D, K200D , and K-m (aka K2000) digital SLRs. The new release of Pentax RAW Codec includes all of these, plus one further addition - the recently announced K-7.

The Pentax K-7 was announced on May 20th, and offers a compact water/dust/cold-proof magnesium alloy body, 14.6 megapixel CMOS image sensor, five frames-per-second shooting, piezo-ceramic dust reduction, and sensor-shift stabilization which corrects not just horizontal / vertical motion, but also rotation around the lens barrel's axis. Other features include a high-res 3" LCD display, 100% coverage glass prism viewfinder, SDHC card storage, 77-segment metering, 11-point autofocusing, 1/8000 max. shutter speed, electronic level gauge, a live view mode with contrast / face detection autofocus, a 30 frames-per-second high-def movie mode, and high / standard-def video connectivity. Priced at US$1,300 body-only, the Pentax K7 started shipping earlier this month. More details can be found in our Pentax K-7 preview.

Pentax RAW codec software for Windows Vista can be downloaded from the Pentax website.