Congrats on your new purchase Phil. Got my one just over a week ago and somehow it's reignited my photo buzz. I upgraded from a K-5 and I can see the extra detail in every shot.

Rparmar has one and swears by it instead of at it
Very nice if expensive kit.

So I was browsing through the various forums and noticed a rash of my K-3 is soft, my lens must be fault, you know blame it on everyt hing except yourself while at the same time uploading images to prove your case.
I noticed when I swapped from a K20D to the K-5 that the latter was far less forgiving when it came to handling my ineptitude and it took me around a year to step up and regain lost confidence. Anyway my question is this; is the K-3 more demanding from the photographer skill set and technique wise to deliver its full potential than the previous generations?

- I bow before your rapid posting.
He seems to be one of the few on the web that truly understands the flexibility of the current Pentax APS-C system and he knows his way around the interface , always a bonus.

It has always confused me why with each demo camera, Pentax does not send along a choice set of primes and zooms. The camera would come back, so would the lenses, what is the issue? A lens may go missing every now and again, fair enough, mark the reviewers card for next time round and write it off as a business expense.

Link

As usual comes across as knowledgeable and reasonable. He is a Landscape photographer mainly so birders may disagree.

Strange tone in this. First of mentions the struggle that Pentax has had with various owners, fair enough but then uses the example of Jessop's not stocking Pentax... I was under the impression that Pentax UK did not want to give Jessop's the necessary credit line to keep their kit in the by then going backrupt concern.
Mr Sibley then goes on to complain about the noise of the kit lenses and the 40mm Limited. AF gets 7/10 , seems that the AF isn't sleek enough for his tastes , no mention of its accuracy in low light conditions though.
Sensor wise, a solid 9/10, it is one of the highest resolving DSLRs to date, getting 36/40 on the resolution chart. Lines are readible but moire and other artefacts stopping it getting the perfect score.
He had trouble with the interface, not as intuitive as he would like it to be (perhaps he is using the other marques a bit more ) and feels the body is a bit heavy for an APS-C sized camera.

"Enthusiasts looking to break away from Canon or Nikon could do far worse than the K-3, although expect to do a little bit more legwork to get the results that you want"

It gets a Very Good rating in Enthusiast DSLR.

Actually a pretty good review for the K-3, wins an Essential award... Whatever that means

Typically you will not be sold a Pentax. You buy a Pentax, it is a conscious decision. You might be sold a Canon, a Nikon or a Sony but very rarely a Pentax and it has been that way for quite a few years. This however may be changing with Ricoh's backing.