I'm not sure that you'd really notice much difference between 250mm and 300mm when it comes to bird photography.

I bought a DA* 300mm and immediately bought a 1.4x converter to go with it - as 300mm was no where near enough reach (in reality even 420mm is still too short......)

In an ideal world, I think 600mm-800mm is more the range that serious bird photographers use - but as you say, for Pentax we have to go the second hand route - and even those options come with a very hefty price tag to get decent quality.

I agree.

All of us existing Pentax users, who own a collection of Pentax lenses, are very interested and aware of the new K3 iii - but I can't see how Pentax can attract new users.

And I think the fact that it is only sold as a body only shows that, at the moment, their only target market is existing Pentax users.

Interesting that you say that there is also a marked improvement in the use of manual lenses - as for landscape I'm more than happy with my current K3 (mark 1) - and yes, it will make metering easier with my M series lenses.

But, for wildlife I use a 55-300mm (pre WR version) and DA* 300mm with 1.4x converter - and that's the area where the improved ISO and Autofocus of the K3 iii really appealed.

I believe that when shooting 4K video the camera only uses part of the sensor (so it applies about a 1.4x crop) so maybe that’s what the viewfinder overlay is for ?

(FYI- I’m doing lots of research on the new K3 iii, but I’m still on the fence on whether to invest……

I really want to stick with Pentax long term as I’ve now accumulated so many k mount lenses - but many of the reviews comment that you don’t really see a huge difference in autofocus performance using older SDM lenses, which is a shame )

I'm the same, I was seriously contemplating the Q 08 lens - but the scarcity and prices have now put the idea well out of reach - which is a shame because I love the Q system as my cycle touring camera set-up.

Agreed, in the film era, those were the only 3 lenses I owned - and I still use them all today

Is the area under where it says Lithium + - a hollow cavity ?

As it looks like you'd need to tuck the top of the battery up inside a hollow area - else, indeed the battery is too big.

Interestingly, the design of my SFXn battery cover is a very different design, to the extent that the electrical connections are at the other end.

I too would be really sad to see another friendly face disappear - as, although I don't often comment, I regularly read this forum as I respect all the valuable insights - as I'd definitely class myself as a Pentax enthusiast since my very first k-mount camera purchase.

I was keen to join this K3 iii discussion as I am the market for a new Pentax Camera body - and although I always thought this would be the moment to go full-frame with the K1 ii - the prospect of staying with APS-C is still very attractive (due to my existing DA lens collection and the more compact size of the whole system) - so I guess I'd had my hopes on the K3iii being just an APS-C clone of the full-frame K1 ii.

But, rather than get suckered into features that sound good - but that in reality I may never use, I'm genuinely interested in other people's views - so that I can come to a conclusion of what is - and is not - important to me.

Hence, I am still excited to see what the final version K3iii will look like compared to my final wish list.

Richard

I’d be really interested to know why you regret selling your K3 Mk1.

I still have the K3 Mk1 and was looking with interest at the new K3 Mkiii specs and was a bit disappointed that there doesn’t seem to be a GPS, Astrotracer or Flash built-in.

So, with there being no flip out screen, feature wise, it’s not going to be the step up from the Mk1 that I was hoping for. So I may end up looking for a second hand mk11 instead (I now wish I’d bought one when they were still in production)

I've just tried my camera and with the focus switch set to manual, the SFXn will fire the shutter without the need for any film in the camera (you can have the back open too whilst doing so - so it's easy to see if the shutter is working ok - but as stated above, don't touch the mirror, focusing screen or the shutter mechanism, these are very susceptible to damage)