Yes, have updated. In fact don't know if it was doing this locking before I updated because I hadn't extensively tested it before. It tracks for a while then just stops focusing till you release button and press again. I don't think that is right?

I've come from an early Panasonic Bridge camera for birding and wildlife. It was a great introduction and they are miles better now. The one you mention is right up there but there are others that are pretty good with even more reach but you would need a tripod which straightaway negates one advantage. Without going into too many details here is a summary of what I think the advantages and disadvantages are (For wildlife ):-
Advantages:-
1.Light and easy to carry, no need to carry or change lenses.
2.AF pretty fast and snappy
3.Can give very sharp images and excellent results (See disadvantages as well)
4.Much cheaper and orders of magnitude cheaper for extreme long telephoto.
5.Quiet in operation
6. Great for macro and video
7. Possibly easier to get steady shots hand held with shake reduction because camera is lighter
8. F2.8 throughout range - what can I say!

Disadvantages:-
1. Not as good Bokeh and DOF is high so difficult to get uncluttered background
2. Noise levels are high and will get noticable on cropping
3. Requires good light to keep ISO low to minimise above.
4. Will rarely give the ultra high quality appearance of a DSLR shot due to much smaller sensor size which is responsible for much of above
5. I gather EVF's are much improved but doubt they can match the super optical view of a modern DSLR.

For sheer class the DSLR will win but if I were starting out I would still start with a Bridge camera because the outlay is so relatively low and you will be very happy till you have exhausted all possibilities. In fact I am very likely to get a new Bridge camera for the times where, as I get older, I can't carry all my K3 gear around.

Maybe - but others are reporting more success than that with birds in flight etc. on other forums.

I'm not finding it brilliant and wonder if there is a camera fault. Using either half shutter push or back button focus it tracks (not brilliantly) for approximately 5-10 secs and then just stops refocusing. If I release and repress I then get a confirmation bleep and it starts tracking again for another short but not exactly the same interval. Behaves the same with DA*300, DAL 55-300 and Sigma 150-500. There are no confirmation beeps during tracking (should there be?). All else seems fine.
Dave

Yes cracking shots Steve. Love the Wren.

Look forward to your feedback on it Dave.

Mine has very good IQ with the DA* 300 and autofocuses, albeit slowly and with hunting, with Sigma 150-500, DA 55-300, DFA 100mm Macro and Tamron 18-250 even at f6.3 full zoom. So I am pleased if it's likely to be better.

Although teased for my speculation about a 1.4x TC - it worked for me. Turned up a few days later so you might get lucky

I don't have my K30 any more but my K3 battery seems to last a lot longer, maybe twice as long.

For what it's worth it's about 28g (also 28%) heavier than my Kenko 1.5x PZAF so whether that equates to better glass or heavier plastic or not I don't know! Or how much better the HD makes it. One of the things I'm looking forward to is the comparison against the existing options though.