I've got 6 2000mah K-5 batteries that cost £5 each from ebay. One of them doesn't charge properly but all the others work perfectly, for the sake of £5 I'm not worried about one that doesn't work right. They still cost me as a whole a lot less than a single Pentax genuine replacement. I've never had a camera lock-up on either the K-5, K-01 or K-3 with any of these batteries.

Regards
David

Thank you to you all, I'm looking forward to a great 2014, hope to see you then!

Cheers
David

A Merry Christmas from me too!

That's quite ironic because I haven't picked mine up for a week too, except today I felt an urge to calibrate my lenses on the K-3! I think I am addicted

Merry Christmas
David

Hi Tom, I used to have a K-5 a short while ago and still have a K-5iis. I sold the K-5 when I bought a K-3; the K-3 is a big step up from a K-5 and is also quite a leap from the K-5iis. The K-5 is still a great camera, but it's not in the same league as the K-3. It's not just the extra image detail, there are a host of other reasons why the K-3 is so much better, including faster operation, focus peaking in live view, AA filter simulator, better AF, slightly brighter viewfinder, dual SD cards, better metering, more accurate colour reproduction and the list goes on.

I think it's a little spurious to start asking questions like 'would the 12-24 be better on a K-5 than the Sigma 10-20 would be on a K-3'. Apples and Pears spring to mind, a fairer comparison would be the relative merits of the two lenses on the same camera. The 12-24 is a superb lens and I can tell you that using this on the K-3 in comparison to the same lens used on the K-5iis reveals that the lens is capable of significantly more resolution than it was revealing on the K-5iis, the difference is quite dramatic. Other lenses I own have seen similar results when used on the K-3, in particular my old Pentax-M 28mm F3.5 has gained a new lease of life, the detail it produces on the K-3 has surprised me.

Also, there has been a lot of comment about image noise on the K-3, i.e. that it is worse than the K-5 series. In practical everyday use this is pretty much a non-issue, there may be a little more noise, but it cleans up easier and is not intrusive.

In short, I would say that there is no doubt at all that the K-3 is a worthy upgrade from a K-5, the only question is whether the additional outlay is worth it for you.

Regards
David

No, thank goodness!! Does this keep you awake at night? Credit to them though, this must have taken some effort!

Merry Christmas!

Regards
David

A very happy Christmas and New Year to you all from me!




Not your typical Christmas Card image but it's one of my favourites from this year, taken in one of my favourite places, the Lake District.

Here's to next year, hope it's a great one for all of you.

Best wishes
David

Thanks for posting these Ralph, they are a great set and so much more meaningful than just a few random images.

Regards
David

Hi Sally, I bought my K-3 from Clifton Cameras, they are a Pentax Pro Dealer and seem to be reputable / reliable.

The K-5iis certainly should not be more expensive than a K-3; if this is the case then you would be better off buying the K-3 instead as it is more capable than the K-5iis (not necessarily in overall IQ terms but taking into account all of the camera features and operation).

Do you have relatives in the UK who could order the camera for you then ship to you in France? This may be a more viable option than you ordering it directly from a UK dealer.

Hope this helps.

Regards
David

Happy Christmas Adrian, it's a very lovely image.

Would you care to expand on that? I'm guessing it has been licenced to a Greetings Card Company?

Regards
David

I really do despair sometimes that we seem to take at face value what we see in 800px images. We don't know the circumstances that Steve took the shots in, we don't know how heavily they were cropped, we don't know how Steve processed them, so why do we make sweeping judgements about the camera that took the shots?

Don't worry about the K-3 Alistair, it is a fabulous tool that produces great images. Is it better than a K-5iis for IQ? Subjective. Does it have better, more accurate AF than a K-5? Yes. Is it an all round better camera than a K-5? Yes.

Regards
David