Hi Phil.

On my K-3II, it doesn't matter which shooting mode the camera is in, or whether or not you've got a USER mode set, GPS on/off is only set by the pushbutton on the pentaprism, and it's only visibly active (in other words, the little orange light is on and the 'GPS' indicator is visible on the top display) when the camera is switched on and the top display is showing the shooting parameters.

If GPS is enabled when the camera is switched on but sleeping (the top plate display has timed out), the orange light goes out too - but the GPS is still using the battery; it has to do this or else the GPS logging feature wouldn't work. This logging feature also continues to work when the camera is switched completely off. If the camera is switched off and the logging is off, the GPS continues to use the battery and pressing the GPS button doesn't do anything. But if you switch the camera off with GPS enabled and the logging feature active, then the GPS light flashes every three seconds or so, to tell you that logging is still happening.

I had my GPS turned permanently on during my recent NZ trip for location and logging, so I turned the warning lamp off in the menus - but then I was rotating four batteries, so battery power was never an issue. Now I'm home, the lamp is turned on again, and the GPS routinely off. So as JohnX said, you need to make sure that the GPS is off before switching the camera off (I'd recommend not deactivating the GPS indicator lamp), and making sure that 'GPS' no longer appears in the top display; if you do this then it should turn back on with the GPS (and its indicator lamp) still off.

It's possible that it's being turned on accidentally in your bag, but if the camera is asleep when you put it in there then it would need the shutter button accidentally half-depressing to turn the meter on, followed by the GPS button being pressed, which seems like a complex sequence to happen accidentally each time. If the camera is switched off while the GPS light and display indicator are both off, then no amount of button pressing in the bag will turn the GPS on.

Hope this helps.

Welcome! I've visited your beautiful part of France a few times.

I agree that gimmicks are only gimmicks if you don't use them. I find GPS tagging invaluable especially for long trips where you can easily get lost with which-photo-was-taken-where syndrome. The astrotracer was invaluable a couple of weeks ago for a spectacular Milky Way picture on the Coromandel.

The video is what it is, and we K-3ers have to work with it; at least the video controls on the K-3/K-3II are comprehensive. Post-processing and shake reduction will get the best out of what it is capable of putting out.

I'm not bothering to worry about what any K-3II replacement will or will not have, I'm just enjoying using it as the damn fine picture-taking machine that it already is.

Same here. Turn GPS on when you need it.

My SP is s/n 1028439 with an ASA range of 10-800, and 231 engraved on the bottom plate which as far as I can tell makes it a version 1 from the original 1964 manufacturing campaign. SP serial numbers started at 1000001. Version 2 SPs were I think manufactured in several campaigns from 1965-1973 with ASA range of 20-1600, with 23102 engraved on the bottom plate. 121xxxx could be 1967-8. Hope this helps.

Great shots all. Photos like these are ability+artistry; I often miss out on the artistry, unfortunately... 😜

Maybe the second PLM?

Surely you mean s'mae, Gareth butty! 😜

Pleasure.

Welcome also. Wow, quite a find! I have a chrome S (it's my avatar) but considering that there were only fewer than 5,000 S models made in total, and a relatively small proportion of them being black, yours is really rare. The only difference between the S and the original AP was that the shutter speeds were re-aligned to what became the norm; 1/60, 1/125 etc rather than 1/50, 1/100 etc on the AP.

Value will depend on condition, and it appears to have been pretty well-used with some brassing (not necessarily a bad thing). Even so, it might be worth having it professionally CLA'd to bring it back to full operating spec. The lens on the front of the bellows unit appears to be a Super Takumar which is later (Spotmatic era) and would not have been its original lens, so it also might be worth tracking down an original pre-set 55mm/f2.2 or 58mm/f2.4 Takumar to go on the front of it.

The operating manual in the photo is for the SV/S1a models rather than the S. Whatever you do though, the black S is as rare as hens' teeth.