@davidwozhere; did you set the AF mode on the K-3II to single shot AF.S?

I just got the PLM to replace the first-gen 55-300 (a snap at £250 on Black Friday from UK Amazon) and although no opportunity to go out shooting yet, it feels very good on the K-3II. The zoom ring is stiff but less so than the original was. It focuses closer with very snappy quiet focussing that doesn't hunt even in low light. The construction is very good with no play in the extended barrel, and I didn't have to make any fine adjustments to focus. First impression with a quick shot of a neighbour's car across the road is favourable, so I'm looking forward to testing it further and seeing how tracking has improved over the original, which was not all that great.

Lovely, Kris. Have you got a zebra standard lens for it?

Kris,

The website says that as the image is etched into the aluminium, it is UV, dust and moisture proof, although I haven't tried it.

I used Whitewall for the first time a few months ago; I ordered one of their HD metal prints of a south coast land/seascape at 16:9 for wall-hanging, and I'm very pleased with it. My only comment was that they were a little slow in delivery, although that was because the first print they did failed their QC, so they re-printed it.

My GPS is on all the time when the camera's turned on. The battery was full when I took shots last weekend, just switched it on and tried it now and it's still full.

I think I heard that earlier copies of the K-3II didn't switch the GPS off when the camera was powered off. If you keep having a problem it might be worth checking that out.

It's on the Japanese Ricoh site, just google K-3II firmware update. It says that it makes the K-3II compatible with new KAF4 lenses with electronically controlled apertures, but as I said, I haven't seen anything different (yet) otherwise.

The process was different to all previous firmware updates I've done on *istDS and K-5 where it displayed a progress bar for each of two phases. On the K-3II it just displayed NOW LOADING on the rear LCD until a very quick COMPLETED - and then it turned off, so I manually switched off and on again.

Everything's fine. Now I can use KAF4 (ha ha - if I ever get any) but I haven't seen any difference otherwise.

G'day from a Pom, also a Pentax user since the mid-70s!

Regarding the resolution component of IQ, the K-3II is worth considering for the pixel shift alone; no, it's not a marketing con - especially as the latest provided software (DCU 5.5.1) incorporates the motion correction function from the K-1 which works fine with the K-3II. As you're a tripod man, this will assist in your landscape pictures - it does mine. The other pieces of IQ (contrast, colour rendition) have always been Pentax strong points.

In-body shake reduction is good, and the AF tracking is improved over the K-3.

But then, I am biased!