K3 price

What makes the difference is how companies design their products, put them together, the standards they choose to apply and so on. A sensor is not just a sensor, there's a whole lot of processing that goes with it. Then there's quality of components, quality of assembly and testing, and of course ergonomic design.

This is why I don't feel tempted by other marques, and there's no shortage of options, this is why I stick with Pentax. The quality level is right, the design is right, the lenses are superb, the "Pentax colour" I've often referred to is exactly what I like.

Cameras are functional items as well as, sometimes, objects of beauty and it's very important to me that the kit I use matches ergonomically and in terms of performance. So no third party lenses and accessories and definitely no mixing of systems.

I made no comment about whether one is better than the other.

However, they're not the same. I read somewhere that it's a completely new sensor, but I can't remember where I read it.

Yes its a newly designed sensor and the k-3 is the first to feature it.

Let's hope that's a good thing

MattyH wrote:

Have a look at this:

link

$AUS 0.92 = 55p

Regards, Horst

John Riley wrote:

Are you really trying to say, that all 3rd party lenses are inferior to all Pentax lenses.

Well, I bought some Pentax lenses which are optically not so great and mechanically bloody awful.
I also have a couple of Sigma and a Tamron lens, which I think are fantastic, both mechanically and optically.

I think it it good to be a Pentax fan, as I am, but don't be to narrow sighted.

Regards, Horst

No, that's not what I'm trying to say, so I'll explain more fully.

Over the years, it has to be said that I've bought many makes of both cameras and lenses. I have concluded that I would have saved a fortune if I had paid a little more and stuck with marque lenses and accessories right from the start. Buy cheap, buy twice as it's said. That would equally apply whether I had settled on Nikon, Pentax or anything else.

These days I sell a lot of classic and modern camera kit and have the opportunity to examine closely a wide range. Sometimes I have the chance to test them and then I look even more closely.

I'm not a Pentax fan, so let's dispense with that notion, but on here it's called Pentax User so that's what we talk about. The reason I settled on Pentax is that I enjoy quality engineering and I like the ergonomics as especially the digital colour.

Third party accessories rarely fit as well and rarely have the same quality of finish as marque ones do. Third party lenses may sometimes be excellent, especially these days, but that was not always so. Anyway, the quality isn't all of the issue. Matching colour balance and operational systems is more of the issue. In the manual focus days this might mean all the focusing rings and aperture rings turning the same way, not some clockwise and some anti-clockwise.

Anyway, even take a simple thing like the optical viewfinder for the Q (or GR for that matter). some quail at the price, but these simple items are in themselves beautifully made and of superb quality. Do we want Leica quality or Zenit quality? I know which I enjoy.

Take a Pentax lens, most of which have stainless steel mounts secured by five screws. Many third party lenses have only three screws securing them. I expect the Pentax one will break apart very rarely.

That's the reasoning, and a few examples, but it's definitely not narrow sighted. I keep looking.

Might be some good news regarding the price of the K3 with today's release of the N**** D5300?

For the laymen who will be comparing buying choices by the big main numbers, and who cares little for the importance of DXO lab results or build quality, (might even prefer the lighter weight plastic body), this new camera is much cheaper, easily matches the K3 in most areas and beats it in others - WIFI, GPS, tilt screen - Hellloooo Ricohoooo?!

If you're talking about attracting new users Ricoh may need to put their thinking caps on. Perhaps Ricoh will mark down the K3 price a little? Unless they have a 24mp K50s in the wings?

And no screw drive, so newer AF lenses only.

But I hope you're right, and the K-3 price comes down as a consequence.

That's the trouble coming late to the party which was an inevitable consequence of the acquisition. If you want to increase market share then you have to compromise your release price. If you still want to price cream then you risk disgruntlement from your existing client base as prices will surely have to drop more quickly than usual.

OTOH the humble K50 beats it in a lot of enthusiast / 'traditional' areas - sealing, 100% pentaprism, faster frame rate etc.... and at a lower price. It depends which features are more important to you.

What was the gap between the D7000 and the D7100? Two years? It's nowhere near replacement time yet, so the K-3 will have to become competitive with that quite quickly I'd have thought.

Must a lot better then the D7100 then.

Exactly, the K5 came out very soon after the D7000 so both could command their premiums for a while. I think the K3 will have to go to £899 very quickly to tempt non Pentaxians to the K3. At which point the D7100 could go to £799. Tricky.

Unless of course the 'revolutionary' aa filter strikes a chord. Possible.