It's not Richard, it is all metal, like the K-5. I have one and can confirm what Jules said is correct. As for the other points made - I'm not sure if they are that relevant, there will always be slight differences between the spec's and performance of competing cameras, at the end of the day we all make our own minds up. I have no axe to grind with anyone whether they decide to buy a K-5, K-5II, K-3, Nikon D7100 etc., it's all down to personal choice! The best way to decide is to try out the different options and see what suits the best. I personally don't like the feel / handling of the D7100, regardless of whether it is better / faster than the K-3 or not.

Regards
David

Maybe future firmware releases will squeeze a bit more from the sensor? I didn't expect it to beat the D7100, they are very similar and clearly both very capable. I'm happy so far with mine, it handles beautifully, images look good, but I'm keeping the K-5iis so hopefully have the best of both worlds.

It's been mentioned a lot on here and elsewhere already but we won't see a quantum leap in Pentax IQ until and unless a FF body is released. I actually think the K-3 bodes very well - it's clear that Pentax have ergonomics, build quality and overall handling sorted - if they can repeat that formula with a FF camera they will be onto a winner.

Regards
David

In the context of the Gallery Images, it is the 'F Stop' value that shows the aperture actually used to take the shot. I don't know what the 'Aperture' value shows as it seems inconsistent and I just ignore it. I'm sure someone will be able to enlighten us...........

Regards
David

Thank you to everyone who has commented.

Regards
David

I wish you all the best on your move back to the UK Dr. O, only you and your family will know that it is right for your future. I'm sure that all of us here will look forward to seeing some UK photographic output from you.

You'll certainly have plenty of opportunities in Brighton and the South Downs area in general.

Best wishes
David

Number 3 is the best for me, it has the best contrasts and impact. The sky is very burned out in number 1 and number 2 does not have the drama.

I'm not 100% convinced about any of the three, my suggestion would be a crop at the bottom to remove some of the foreground and make the tree more prominent.

Regards
David

This will be diffraction Roger, probably not anything to do with your technique!

Regards
David

I think we all know this Algi, but you haven't responded to ChrisA's request in the previous post. You are barking up the wrong tree with this one!

Cheers
David

PDCU certainly applies 'default NR' settings to RAW files, but I think this is the software applying these on opening the file, rather than the camera applying them to the file. I agree with Daz's findings above, in that I don't think RAW files are affected by the in-camera NR settings.

Regards
David

Hi Phil, thanks for the comments, I think your idea is good. I did think of this but didn't want to lost the reflections in the bottom right corner, so as a compromise I chopped some off the sky, but left the foreground unchanged.

Regards
David