What will the new Pentax really offer us?

The current top of the range DSLR's from Pentax have "evolved" from a very good core design (the K7), improving in the key areas that many of us wanted (great sensor, better DR, class-leading low-light AF, removal of AA filter, etc.) but from the rumoured specs of the upcoming "K3" (maybe) what would you see as the real benefits?

Further improved ISO as well as AF system. I don't reckon the pixel count will be anywhere near as important to most people.

Agreed

The question is what benefits we *will* see, rather than what we want to see, right? In that case from what I've seen so far the benefits seem to be

- Higher resolution (keeping up with the Jones's, not a big priority for me)
- Improved AF
- Improved metering

And possibly

- Ever so slightly improved DR/ISO

It's a question that's probably better off answered in a week or so!

This seems like the most likely outcome to me, even with the new AF system on the K-5II, AF and metering still look like the low hanging fruit. Might also see some improvements to the video since that's an area where Pentax lag behind the competition a bit (even though personally I'm quite happy for them to use as little effort in that area as they can get away with, it's important to some people).

Any form of predictive focus system must surely be on the cards?

Would we really expect to see a significant improvement in AF? The K5-II is claimed to be "class leading", so is it likely to improve noticeably on that?

When it comes to higher resolution, presumably that will only really become notable when cropping/enlarging? If you print an A3 from a K5-IIS and compare I assume that the newer sensor wouldn't give much improvement?

I can see gradual improvements in Higher ISO and DR, but overall I assume we will reach the point soon where will be few "significant" improvements?

There is room for adding more focus points and a proper tracking AF system, surely? The K5-ii may have been class leading in terms of low light sensitivity, but i don't see any reason not to continue the improvements!

The K3 needs to compete with the D7100 and others. The extra resolution may not be needed by many people and isn't a reason to upgrade from a K5ii IMHO, but '24MP is the new 16MP'.

totally agree with this, and in fact it's the only thing they could do that might make me hold off and save for a K-3 instead of taking advantage of any price drop on the K5II once the K-3 comes out. Edit: actually that's not true, a non-crippled K mount would have the same effect, but that seems orders of magnitude less likely.

My K10 is looking tired but ultimately it still does the job, I want the best AF I can get when I upgrade because I expect my next camera to be with me at least as long as the K10 has been (I bought my K10 in early 2007)

It offers me an expensive route to being able to use the new flashes (K-7 user)! I nearly went for a K-5 IIs but wanted to see what was coming next. I think it will probably do me for a long time and answer most of the issues I have at the moment. I will keep the K-7 because it still produces good pictures (when I get it right!). The K-3 will beat it on autofocus, lowlight and resolution, the last one being the least important new feature to me.
What I really need as well, though, is a lightweight portable mirrorless ILC with a brilliant evf for use when I'm cycling and walking.
Brian

Yes, yes! I'd like this too A "rangefinder" style k-mount body to use with my limted primes.

I don't need nor want GPS, Wifi, Video, astro tracer, electronic viewfinder, 100 focus points, silly in-camera filters (e.g. cross processing) or any other 'surplus to requirement' technology......just autofocus tracking equal to (or better than) the competition that's fast and quiet.
Most people don't keep their cameras long enough to even scratch the surface of what the camera is capable of before crying out for the next model full of techno wizardry they'll probably never use

You need more AF points to have good AF tracking though don't you? More than the current 11, anyway!

I think I have been with Pentax so long that I have always just accepted their Autofocus system for all its limitations - I only ever use the centre AF method Many of you have enough experience of other Autofocus systems to know that it's an area that Pentax must improve on. What I'm particularly interested in is whether the AF improvements are notably better than the K5IIs, as my usual DSLR buying pattern is to buy when prices have dipped (often around the release of the next model) !

I couldn't agree more with the comment about not scratching the surface of my existing cameras capabilities - probably true for many of us