AF improvements between K3 (mark i) and K3iii

Hi all

I've got a few decent telephoto lenses but not sure the AF response on my K3 is as good as might be - would I see significant improvements with a K3III? I'm particularly focused (pardon pun) on birds and small wildlife.

My main lens is a DA* 300mm F4 along with the 1.4 HD teleconverter, but I also use a screw-drive Sigma 70-200 F2.8. The 150-450 is a pipe dream at present!

Am I likely to se much uptrickt if AF, particularly with tracking? I find the AF loses birds in flight with any change in background, and it just can't recover. I'm sure my technique not perfect, but could do with some help from the camera! I ask mainly as there appears to be significant improvement in AF performance over the K3ii, according to reviews.

It's certainly not cheap, so I might keep eyes for a battered second-hand model - otherwise I might go for an Olympus EM1-x to go with my panyleica 100-400, but really do prefer DSLR to mirrorless.

Thoughts appreciated!

You should see "some" improvement, but the DA*300 was never a speed merchant and a new camera won't make it so.

Although I don't own the K3 III I do have the K-1 and K-1 II. When using these with a modern lens like D-FA 70-200 or D-FA 150-450 the difference versus my DA*300 is like night and day for AF speed especially in AF-C mode.

You will get the best performance from a K3 III plus a more modern lens, which may not be what you want to hear.

Can you take your kit to someone like SRS or Park Cameras and do a side by side comparison ?

I second Peter's observation about AF speed of the DA*300 not changing. The K3iii can't make the motor in the lens run any faster. I haven't been able to do any birds since getting the K3iii earlier this year but have tried the camera and DA*300 with and without the 1.4TC on other subjects. It does seem to lock onto focus more quickly than the K3 (original), particularly at lower light levels - probably due to a better AF algorithm in the camera giving more accurate instructions to the lens.

It may or may not be relevant to your interests, but I've also been experimenting with using AF for hand-held macro (insects etc.) with a screw-drive macro lens (I usually use MF for macro but eyesight is deteriorating...). Area AF does respond very quickly to subject movement and I've found the joystick unexpectedly useful for moving the selected area around while trying to track bugs and bees. I haven't tried tracking a bug moving against a changing background - that's another experiment to add to the list... .

Steve

Ta both - I appreciate the lens isn't up to the speeds of the later D-FA, I may just look to M43 for the moment.

sadly both the 150-450 and 70-200 are significantly outside budget, hoping they might drop a bit in price but think it'll be a few years yet!

suspect you really need that plm ? zoom to get the most out of the new body. The response on that is fast and quiet and would be the perfect pair for better computational af capabilities.