pentax k3

hi all, had a pentax kr for the last 3 years and im in the mood for an upgrade. ive been looking at the K3. anybody got one or your views will be a great help. plenty of info online but id like to hear from the very loyal pentax family...cheers

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Pentax K3 Pentax SMC-FA 50mm 1.4
Pentax Kr Pentax SMC D FA 100mm F2.8 Macro
SMC DAL 18-55mm Pentax SMC DA 18-270mm F3.5-6.3
SMC DAL 55-300mm Pentax DA 15mm HD F4ED AL
SMC Pentax-M 1:2.8 28mm

This is what I thought about it:
https://www.pentaxuser.com/review/pentax-k-3-dslr-review-762

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Best regards, John

I upgraded from a Kr to a K3 about 4 months ago and love it, really glad I did. I find it has better image quality, its definitely quieter and with the weather proofing there's no need to worry about the rain. Having two control wheels and a top panel is also a plus. It's heavier than the Kr but the build quality is superb and it feels really comfortable in my hand. I know quite a few people argue about upgrading from a K5ii or the K5iis and maybe they have a good point but from a Kr I think it makes perfect sense!
Brian

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All the best
Brian

And come him slow or come him fast it is but death who comes at last.

Been wanting to upgrade for a while read loads of reviews so took the plunge and just ordered a k3 pick it up in next couple of days just can't wait to get my hands on it.

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K-3. K20D, Pentax 18-55mm AL II, Pentax DA 16-45 Pentax FA 50 F1.4, Pentax 18-135 wr, Pentax-AF 80-200, Pentax DA 55-300, DA 10-17, Metz 48

Hi, I upgraded from a K-r to a K-3 earlier this year. The picture quality is a lot better and the images can be cropped more harshly than from a K-r and still achieve a reasonable images.

I do mostly insect and nature photography and find the brighter view finder, weather sealing and a quieter shutter plus points.

As Brian has already mentioned the additional control wheel is useful. The only complaint is the AF button on the back seems a little further over than on the other Pentax cameras but I would agree that is being picky.

I find the extra weight helps steady the shots. The K-r is little light with a heavy lens and it always felt front heavy.

I've only held a k-5ii briefly in a shop so cannot comment on whether K-3 or K-5ii is better in terms of focus or noise. Either way they are all an upgrade over the K-r.

I'm not trying to knock the K-r though I still use mine and still think it's a great camera. But I don't regret getting the K-3.

Cheers,

Jez

thank you all for your ever reliable help....been looking at a few reviews on youtube and a few have said the AF is its downfall. what do you think?

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Pentax K3 Pentax SMC-FA 50mm 1.4
Pentax Kr Pentax SMC D FA 100mm F2.8 Macro
SMC DAL 18-55mm Pentax SMC DA 18-270mm F3.5-6.3
SMC DAL 55-300mm Pentax DA 15mm HD F4ED AL
SMC Pentax-M 1:2.8 28mm

Absolutely not. For me, the AF is superb. It is very accurate, very reliable and better on all lenses than any other body I've had, including the K-5IIs. I have been using my DA*300 a lot lately, both on the K-3 and the K-5IIs. It is very noticeable how much more quickly and reliably it locks focus with the K-3 than it does on the IIs. It hunts less (hardly at all) and almost always nails the focus. I am surprised by this, considering the K-5iis is a very good focusser. On small subjects it is less liable to focus on the background than the IIs is.

I cannot comment on the tracking as I don't use it, I don't feel the need for it, I would not be surprised if the tracking is garbage compared to a Nikon D7100 for example, but tracking is only one aspect of AF and one that is maybe less important to a lot of us.

Where the AF really gains ground is in poor light, with wide aperture lenses. Here it outperforms anything else I've ever used and also comfortably outperforms its Canon and Nikon counterparts.

Regards
David

PS: There is often a lot of confusion over the AF capability of recent Pentax bodies, in particular the speed they focus at. The truth is the K-3 is a rapid focusser. It is the design of the lenses that is the limiting factor, not the camera. Many of the Pentax lenses, including the SDM versions, are very slow to focus and there's nothing the K-3 can do to fix this.

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Flickr

Nicola's Apartments, Kassiopi, Corfu

Some cameras, some lenses, some bits 'n' bobs

I have to say I haven't noticed much difference with AF from my K30. I really don't have much luck with any birds that suddenly appear in flight. Still can't find them initially and by then of course they are often gone. I have found that when it does lock on it does track better though. Otherwise it's ok with my DA* 300. Others on here have more success so I may have a slight problem with camera or lens but when it is right it can be fantastic. I had the K-r before and would definitely upgrade because except for AF (which is ok) it is brilliant.

Edit: - David's comments hadn't appeared when I sent this! But you see what I mean. He knows mine doesn't seem quite as good as his and perhaps we'll get together some time to see if I have a fault with my lens or camera, I am just bad at using it (I'm older!) or David has a better copy.

Interestingly Dave, I met up with a fellow Pentaxian (JVS) a couple of weeks ago as he was having real problems with his K-5 and DA*300 in the focussing department. Having the opportunity to compare, we immediately identified a problem with the lens and John was quite staggered to see how quickly and accurately my DA*300 focussed on both the K-3 and the K-5IIs, but the K-3 in particular. The lens has now gone back to the manufacturer under warranty and John has bought a K-3!

I would suspect there must be an issue somewhere with your K-3 or your lens for you to experience the variability you are describing. I simply haven't experienced this at all with mine, it has been unerringly accurate at all times, especially with the DA*300 lens.

Regards
David

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Flickr

Nicola's Apartments, Kassiopi, Corfu

Some cameras, some lenses, some bits 'n' bobs

Much was made of the K-3's focussing when it first came out, with regards to tracking specifically, as this is one of the main areas Pentax is knocked back in. As others say though, the ability to focus quickly seems fast enough with the K-30 and definitely the K-3 (with lenses looking like the real limiting factor now). Also the low light focussing sounds very good as well.

Tracking wise though DSLR's are falling behind the mirrorless developments, with phase detection now on the sensor itself. Where my K-30 has 11 focus points and the K-3 has 27 focus points, the newest mirrorless cameras now feature in the region of 180 phase detection autofocus points. I just don't think the Pentaxs (and most other DSLR manufacturers) have enabled the cameras with enough feedback sensors to actually accurately undertake tracking autofocus.

Then however you move onto the big question of how the camera is supposed to know what you want to track/focus on in the first place, but that's another story. In the case of birds in flight against a sky background you'd think it would be fairly easy often to get it right. Anything more complex presents a range of new challenges.

Pentax Ricoh need to do three things as regards the K3 Two of which are actually relevant to the conversation here!
1:
Make sure that the supposedly coming 100ish to 300 and a lot-ish, and the 70-200, and indeed any lens after that has a motor in it and is able to focus quickly, IE, shorten the focus throw by a big margin and get a quick and reliable mechanism to back it up, whether they use the SDM system or the one in the 18-135 et-al does not matter as long as it works quickly efficiently and quietly.
2:
They need to cuddle up to Sony (Probably Patented) and get hold of the tech for the in body focus limiter from the Sony A99, I hate the idea of anyone "Cuddling up" to Sony but needs must, it would give some of the older SDM lenses a chance when it comes to AF, the throw is so long on these that when they either lose focus or fail to acquire they are sooo far out they just give up! Being able to limit the travel relevant to your subject matter would be a big help.
And 3, unrelated to the current topic but one for me:
They need to ask Hassleblad nicely if they can implement the super resolution tech via sensor shift, that their new MF cameras have, 90 odd mega pickles would be s huge talking point and get the average joe interested, big numbers are after all big numbers and create interest in the brand as a whole it's a headline grabber and must be possible given the control that is required for the selectable AA filter?

@Richandfleur
I get where you are coming from on the mirror-less aspect with a caveat, the CDAF on these is still poor if the subject moves, flooding the screen with sensors is no bad thing though it does give you options, I have not tried any Olympus's but have experience with the Fuji X-T1 and the Sony A7 series, the Sony A7/r are worse than any Pentax in the focusing department but the Fuji is as good as your K30 using it's nine centre PDAF points on board the sensor. The exception to all of this is the Nikon 1 series which is just incredible! Other than the Nikon 1 series, they don't quite match the K5II/s and are a mile behind the K3, it's the lenses that let down the K3 for sure...

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Cheers Jules...

My viewfinder is 576,000,000 pixels.
My other viewfinder is 5.76,000,000.

www.exaggeratedperspectives.com

hi all, I cant thank you enough,
thank you David, your input has sold it for me. im ordering it next week.
cant wait.
once again..thank you all very much. I really appreciate it from my lovely pentax family!