b&h take on K-3ii

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/hands-review/pentax-k-3-ii

Slightly different to Ken Rockwell

Nice write up and good summary of the camera.

Whilst it is an accurate review and he states the sales staff are not on commission I doubt they would criticise something they were selling, although he does have a bit of a dig at Canikon and also emphasises the value for money aspect, which most reviewers ignore when they compare it to a Canon costing twice as much!
It does concern me though that in a balanced review there is no mention of AF performance at all, which as we know is the one area that has aspects which lag behind the competition.
Dave

I don't see this as an issue.

Arguably we are biased by being on this very forum.

It's easier for him to promote other brands surely.

Does it? The k-5 Mkii has the best low light af of any system. My D750 is supposed to af at -3ev like the k-5mkii and all top line Pentax dslr since and it's not a patch on my old k-5 Mkii which in near dark conditions locked on instantly.

I think it would have been more accurate to say AF tracking performance.

But Pentax does this so well
As long as you stay in the middle of the frame...

Put yer hard hat on Richard!

Gary Pentax's see in the dark! I've always found the AF performance in dim conditions of Nikon bodies to be a little optomistic but it's disappointing to hear that the D750 does not fare as well as the Pentax, I've had both 600's and both 800's and concur none of them was as good as my K5IIs or K3.

AF performance means different things to different people and it depends what your priorities are I suppose, if you shoot in dark enviroments you need a reliable lock on and a big sensor, to cope with the lack of ambient light. Others just want blazing autofocus speed and tracking that allows you to just wave the camera at the subject (Where's the fun in that? :shock. Guess there is nothing perfect for everybody and everyones take on what autofocus performance means seems to be different...
AF with Pentax bodies always ends up in a long drawn out argument I'd rather not take part in...
I'm pretty happy with what I'm using at the moment but then I'm not really pushing the envelope!

Hi Jules

The AF on the D750 works in the dark but hunts for a split second where as on the k-5 I always found it lock on straight away with no hunting. I bought the D750 because the low light AF is so poor on the D600 and is supposed to be an improvement and it is, but not in Pentax league yet....

And your subject is a 3 wheeled trike with a maximum speed of 30MPH

As I said in my Airshow thread, I took along both the 7D (MKI) / Sigma 150-600mm and K-5IIs / 150-450mm and I shot them side by side, mostly at exactly the same settings. The Canon was possibly 50-60% better at tracking the subject but I actually kept more of the Pentax shots because I preferred the image quality. In the time I had the K-3 I felt the AF tracking was certainly a little better than the K-5II but not enough to warrant the hit in ISO and DR performance.

Hopefully the K-3II is (as Pentax claim) much better at tracking but I have read quite a few posts from real world users and have seen nothing to convince me of that yet. If Pentax did bring out a camera to match the AF performance of the 6 year old 7D they would have something quite special IMO, especially when paired up with the 150-450mm.

I've only fire off about a dozen wildlife shots on my K-3 II since I got it last week but I love it already. I got shots at a lower ISO in poor light than I would ever have gotten from my K-3 so I'm convinced the new shake reduction really works well. I'm also a bit anal about spending hours geotagging my photos and have resorted in the past to using a battery-zapping app on my phone to log gps locations and then match these up to photos using software on the PC. The in-built gps is going to save me so much time!!!!! More time to shoot! One thing I noticed compared to my K-3 is that the name "Ricoh" doesn't appear on the camera body anywhere.

Good to know Gary! I agree the AF on the 600 was poor, as the focus mask was lifted out of the D7000, fair do's they gave it plenty of cross sensors and even some F8 ones but they were even more in the middle than the ones everyone complains about on the K3!
See all of you! Pentax does get some things right!


Mike, at the risk of getting banned, have you tried a 7D MkII yet? I'd be interested in a noise comparison to the K3, although A lot of people have a hang up about the amount of noise in the K3 files, compared to anything else (APSC, except maybe the Samsung NX1) with 20+ Mp they are by far the best, K3 wipes it's bottom with 7D files but your awkward Mike and you want some of them in focus as well, theres always one...

Thanks for the real world feedback.

I am predominantly a wildlife and mainly bird photographer. I love my K3 and the image quality is exceptional. But as I have said time and time again and I've never seen it disputed by a serious Pentax wildlife shooter it cannot compete with the opposition for speed of focusing and tracking with it's telephoto lenses. It has improved and it is possible to get some shots with the right techniques and settings and a lot of effort. But, and it's a big but, I have literally stood next to my friend and used his Canon for virtually the same shots and the focus seems instant in comparison.
I am as ever, prepared to listen to alternate views from serious bird photographers but not those taking shots of gigs at night or aeroplanes!
Dave