Pentax K-3 Full-Size Samples

A day with the K-3 in the field: 28 photos!

By PF Staff in Articles and Tips on Nov 3, 2013

For our first shoot with the Pentax K-3, we took the camera out to the park together with the DA 35mm Limited Macro lens, one of the sharpest lenses in Pentax's current lineup.  We captured a number of test photos with the camera: they're not artistic, but they do emulate many different real-world scenarios.

We found the K-3's image quality to be absolutely stunning at ISO 100— take a look at the 28 samples in this post and see for yourself!  The exposure and white balance were generally spot-on, and the files are bursting with detail! Each thumbnail below is accompanied by a link to a full-size JPEG and RAW download.  All photos are straight out-of-camera and no post-processing of any kind has been applied.

All settings were left at their default values, though we did bracket as needed.  With a -0.3EV or -0.7EV exposure compensation, the K-3 seemed to handle even our most challenging test shots very well, including those with harsh lighting and contrasty areas.

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As great as the K-3's ISO 100 shots turned out, it looks like the detail takes a big hit at ISO 1600 and upward, as was to be expected.  We'll be sure to offer a definitive verdict about the K-3's high-ISO performance in our upcoming in-depth review.

ISO 100 - JPG | PEF	ISO 1600 - JPG | PEF
ISO 100 - JPG | PEF	ISO 1600 - JPG | PEF

Convinced yet?  Click here to order your K-3 now!