Just upgraded to K3

Too tempted went to see the camera, came home with it! Just found out I'll have to upgrade/update photoshop/picasa!

I have CS3 and CS5 running on a week old self build PC (CS3 for its TWAIN support) and I discovered by accident this morning that K3 DNG will not load into CS3. K5 DNG is fine.

Fortunately no further expense in my case.

There are a number of knock-on costs arising from the new K-3. Mine is due to arrive on Tuesday and I am already facing up to a new battery grip (didn't fancy trying to modify my D-BG4 so I sold that). Also it's likely I will have to upgrade my Lightroom 4 and Elements 10. I'm also not yet sure if my Metz AF50 flash will fully function with the K-3 - perhaps with a firmware update?

The larger PEF/DNG file sizes of the K-3 will also put pressure on hard-drive storage/backup. I have plenty of spare capacity at present but others may not have.

Anyone thinking of buying the K-3 needs to factor in these potential extra costs but hopefully it will be worth every penny.

The upgrade is more than worth any extra pennies one may have to spend. I shot a wedding yesterday with the K3 and without any stress or worries, the camera worked flawlessly and ISO 3200 is working very, very well. I would post a few examples, but the clients have not seen the images yet, so obviously I can't upload them here.

I used bounce flash at the reception, from the images i have looked at so far, the flash appears to be working very well too, although i was using the Metz in Auto A mode not PTTL

Focusing was a breeze compared to the last wedding that I shot with the original K5.

Am ordering another K3 this week, that's how good i think this camera is. I have the RAC Rally to shoot next weekend so am really looking forward to using the K3 in that environment.

Pentax definitely have a winner with this camera, I think it will not only attract upgrades from Pentax land, but also tempt some other branded users.

I managed to open K-3 DNG files OK in LR4

I am little confused about this as I can open a K-3 DNG file downloaded from Imaging Resource with no issues in Adobe Camera RAW and can then import it into CS3 with no problems at all.

Regards
David

Many thanks for that report Fletcher8. It's very helpful and also encouraging for those of us who await K-3s whilst being perhaps a little concerned by some reports in another thread of compromised high-ISO performance. Yours is quite an endorsement.


That's useful info too Smeggy, thanks.

I've contacted Metz to ask whether a firmware upgrade for the K-3 is forthcoming (or necessary). The last firmware version 4.0 took care of the K-5 II.

So, is it really a great deal better than the K5?

I reckon anyone who has already acquired one will say unequivocally YES!

But only you can decide for yourself...

---------------------------------------------------------
I opened and edited the K3 .DNG file downloaded from IR in Elements 10, Irfanview and Fastone Viewer as per my current K30 .DNG files.
Dave

The increased resolution of K-3 images will require more memory in the PC to open them. Try a 14MP image and if that is fine it will almost certainly be a memory (lack of) issue.

John K

K3 DNG and PS CS3 tells me "Could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document". No problem with CS5.

The same happens with both sRGB and AdobeRGB pictures and whether the DNG file is dragged directly to Photoshop or by double click and appropriate file associations.

On two 64bit computers, one with 24GB of RAM, the other with 32.

Doesn't matter to me, I use CS5.

I spent yesterday evening exploring the menu options and was very pleased with what I found there, especially the info options.

In the far corner of my dimly lit room I have a black loudspeaker bearing the makers initials in grey letters 2 centimetres high. The lettering is barely visible to my eyes but the 200, 55, 35 ltd and 18-135 all snapped on to it immediately from 15 feet away. No hunting. I had a big grin on my face. The K5 would have given up.

Have now heard back from Metz. Unsurprisingly their development department has not yet had a chance to check the K-3. For the moment they are supposing that there will be no function compatibility issues but will verify this once they have checked out a K-3. They'll only then issue a firware update if found necessary.

Probably the answer that might be expected at this stage and Fletcher8's report of using Metz flash with K-3 in Auto-mode (not TTL) is encouraging.

Have you visited Adobe's website and downloaded the most recent version of Adobe Camera RAW that is compatible with CS3? As I mentioned earlier, I have CS3 and the files open with no issues. I have Windows 8, but I don't think the Windows version would have any bearing on this.

Regards
David

Thanks for the suggestion but CS3 is reporting it is fully up to date but I downloaded the latest Adobe Camera RAW for CS3, followed the install procedure so that it is in the right folder and nothing has changed.

I think the problem must be running CS3 and CS5 at the same time because file associations are always going to hand the RAW plug-in to CS5.

Thanks for trying. Back to enjoying the K3 now. Happy for now, but first night time shots tomorrow. I hope I am not too disappointed.