Pentax Ricoh Imaging Co. plans to release in late May a top-of-the-line compact digital camera with a resolution of 16.2 megapixels produced by an APS-C-size image sensor as sensitive as one typically found in a standard single-lens reflex camera.

The device — the fifth generation in the company's popular digital series — is expected to retail for around ¥100,000. It measures 11.7 by 6.1 by 3.47 cm and weighs 245 grams, the Ricoh Co. group company said in a news release.

Pentax Ricoh is the latest to release a digital camera with an APS-C-size sensor. Fujifilm Corp.'s X100S was released in Feburary , followed by Nikon Corp.'s Coolpix A in March.

The company said demand for compact cameras had been slowed by the advent of smartphones with powerful cameras. High-end compacts, however, are still in solid demand, it said.

Domestic shipments of compact digital cameras in February fell 19.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the Camera and Imaging Products Association.