[The Squirrel Mafia]

I really do hope that Pentax will deliver the AF goods in the upcoming K-3II replacement. As long as it can track at least as good as the D7200, I'll be thrilled! If it can do better than the D7200, that will be awesome.

I highly doubt that Pentax will release anything with AF performance similar to the Canon 7DII or the Nikon D500, but I'd welcome it if they did.

If they release some lenses with updated AF motors at CP+, that will probably be an indication of where they're heading.

[noelpolar]

K-1 is in so few ways a sport or wildlife shooting tool...

If us Pentaxians didn't handy cap ourselves in some way, we'd just make the Canikon's shooters look like 5 year olds.... so in the end.... we do it for the good of others.

(So.... why do your photo's look so much better then mine? the Canikon shooter asks...... well, that would be because I shoot a less featured camera then yours, with 40 year old lenses; the Pentax shooter answers.....so you must love your Pentax gear then, says the Canikon person..... oh no no no replies the Pentaxian, we are always critical of Pentax when we talk to each other..... but we do covet what Fuji, Olympus and Canikon have....ah I see says the Canikon..... that's why Pentaxians are considered a bit strange.... all makes sense now.....)

[DeadJohn]

For many people this is the K-3 II successor:
[image of K-1]
Aps-c was a stop holder until Pentax finally came with a Full Frame camera.

The K-1 is a great upgrade from the K-3 for wide angle and medium focal lengths - typical landscape and portrait territory. The K-1 is also great for low light.

It's not an upgrade for birders: they often need to crop and the K-3 has smaller pixels, allowing more extreme cropping with the K-3 than on the K1.

It's not an upgrade for action shooters: the K-3 has roughly twice the burst rate.

[Mark Spremulli]

It may take some time to distribute and sell down the last K3ii production. It gives retailers some breathing room to sell at a decent margin before officially pulling the plug. It is also gives Ricoh/Pentax time to get the K3ii successor right.

My prediction (based on no specific knowledge and reading the tea leaves only) is in 6-9 months we'll see the successor:
- K2 APS-C flagship @ around $1400
- KP/K1 form factor and controls (this is the new normal)
- Bigger than KP, bigger battery
- Top LCD
- Dual Card
- 1/8000 mech shutter + electronic
- SAFOX 12 (or better)
- 8-10 FPS, bigger buffer
- Bigger flip or tilt LCD with touch screen.
- other surprises....

None of these are must haves for me personally, so a smaller slightly stripped down KP at around $1000 is a much nicer proposition than ponying up for a flagship camera at $1400 that I don't really need.

Sounds great to me, I would like to see an megapixel jump to 28

[mee]

For many people this is the K-3 II successor:


Aps-c was a stop holder until Pentax finally came with a Full Frame camera.

A 10 year stop holder, huh?

[edmundrt]

This whole thing seems to have descended into wild guessing now. The KP isn't a flagship, nor is it a replacement for something - it seems like Ricoh wanted to put a bit of a retro styled camera into their line up - completely reasonable given the success of the OM-D etc. The K-70 is still there and the K-3 II replacement will come in time - maybe even at CP+. Given that it now seems to be sold out in a lot of places (particularly in Japan, its biggest market), it wouldn't make sense for Pentax to sit on it for too long. If not a real camera, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a mockup (a la K-1) in Yokohama at the end of the month.
I'm a bit tired of all the wailing about the KP - it looks like a nice camera with some good features designed for a certain segment of the market. It's obviously not a flagship, so obviously that will come next. Ricoh is allowed to expand their lineup with something different and we should be pleased that they have done it - it goes some way toward showing that Pentax is not Doomed, at least.

[RGlasel]

I would have loved to have a system like that back when my daughter was playing soccer.

Permit me to go off topic, I have a number of slides of my daughter playing fastball, because it was outdoors and the pace was such that I could take photographs and still obsess over how she was doing. My son was an outstanding soccer keeper, playing in a premier U-16 division and in high school was a starter on a championship senior basketball team. EliteChrome 200 ASA film and an AF 200T flash weren't adequate for indoor games and I couldn't hyperanalyze every play he made while looking through the viewfinder. Part of me desperately wishes I had the K-30 before my kids finished high school, part of me accepts that I would have missed so much if I tried to photographically record my kids playing sports. When I did bring out a camera, I inevitably jinxed my son, so I only took pictures when he was losing. Life goes on. I apologize for that interruption, now back to regular programming.

[mee]

This whole thing seems to have descended into wild guessing now.

Where have you been? We've honed our wild guessing skills for over a decade. We're an elite group.

[rvannatta]

K-1 is in so few ways a sport or wildlife shooting tool...

I don't really agree with that. I have both a K-3 and a K-1 (oh yes K-2 also. I've liked them all.
I've nursemaided and augmented my full frame glass from the K-2 days as I see it what
the k-1 can never match is the extra range of the half frame camera body.

What's really missing in my option from the entire pentax line for wildlife photography is a power zoom that is quiet and can be remote controlled.

add a power tripod to a K-1 with a power remote zoom so you can rotate and elevate and zoom as well as control all the other camera functions
on your cell phone app within wi-fi range and then you have a real wild life camera......

you can set the camera remotely to observe a wide field, and if something shows up whether a mouse or a moose, you can bring the camera to bear,
adjust the zoom, pick an ISO that makes sense and get your photos.... all from far enough away that you presence isn't disturbing it...

[Zygonyx]

Well, in didn't meant K-1 was no way usefull for wildlife and sports.
But i do prefer APS-C for such shooting styles mainly because of :

- crop factor (and there everybody knows we lack choice in long glass as well)
- burst-rate (rather slow)
- weight (rather high, grip included or not)

For those 3 reasons, i much prefer using K-3 when i go birding.

[Ishpuini]

And for hiking... I invite anyone to hike up a mountain with a K-3II and a two lens set consisting of both DA*16-50/2.8 and DA*50-135/2.8 for instance. And then the same with the K-1 plus DFA24-70/2.8 and DFA70-200/2.8. In the first case I will have room in the bag for water and some food. In the latter case I will suffer a broken back and die of hunger and thirst... (ok I exaggerate, but you catch my drift)

rgds, Wim

[noelpolar]

And for hiking... I invite anyone to hike up a mountain with a K-3II and a two lens set consisting of both DA*16-50/2.8 and DA*50-135/2.8 for instance. And then the same with the K-1 plus DFA24-70/2.8 and DFA70-200/2.8. In the first case I will have room in the bag for water and some food. In the latter case I will suffer a broken back and die of hunger and thirst... (ok I exaggerate, but you catch my drift)

rgds, Wim

I go with the K-1 and DFA 150-450 and maybe a few other things no issues..... I'm old to.... but over hear we drink from streams and hunt for our lunch... so save weight that way..... none of that girlie crop sensor gear for real men...

[Ishpuini]

I go with the K-1 and DFA 150-450 and maybe a few other things no issues..... I'm old to.... but over hear we drink from streams and hunt for our lunch... so save weight that way..... none of that girlie crop sensor gear for real men...

LOL, I've hiked in SA as well (Kruger, Drakensberg, a few times with the 150-450), but never hunted for my food...
My point is not related to how much who can carry, but rather that APS-C will always result in more compact and lighter kit, which will free up capacity for extra gear not possible within the same limits in case of FF, i.e. an extra macro, wide angle, wide aperture prime, ... (so many things imaginable). I admit it, I'm a gear freak so I always stuff my bags to the limit...

Wim

Edit: just realised that your location isn't South Africa (what I would shorten to SA), but South Australia... Sorry for the mistake, but I'll leave it in...

[mecrox]

Alas poor Pentaxico, so far from the K3.3, so close to the KP! Seriously, the KP looks a pretty fine camera and would suit a lot of folks very well, perhaps. Not everyone, but at least the KP is the camera there is right now. If anyone had to shoot with nothing but the KP for the next year, I am sure they would get some amazingly fine images out of it. Look at its specs; a few years ago they were a dream even on a $5000 camera. It's a bit sad in a way that the moment Pentax release a new camera it gets a thumbs down from so many folks and within a couple of days the rumour mill has started and lots of people are pinning their hopes on a rumoured camera in six months' time or so. It never seems to end.

[ffking]

Sounds great to me, I would like to see an megapixel jump to 28

I think you'd have to sacrifice some of the burst rate (and buffer depth) for that - the K-3 is already more 20% more Mp than the D500 and 7Dii mentioned above