[BROO]

There is a new article up.

https://pentaxofficial.com/en/7313/

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Last edited by BROO; 11-26-2020 at 08:49 PM.

[Larrymc]

There is a new video up.

Product Stories of New APS-C "K-3 Mark III" Vol.6 (Wakashiro) | PENTAX official

Thanks, read the write up but there was no video at that link. Thanks for posting.

[BROO]

Sorry I should have written 'article'

[Larrymc]

Sorry I should have written article.

not a problem.

[clackers]

Thanks, Broo! Cool picture of its skeleton.

[luftfluss]

The article contains three photos. The first two were made with the KP, the last was made with the 645Z.

[JPT]

You can see from the skeleton what has happened to the GPS and WiFi.

Removing GPS from the camera, which logically needs to be in the top part if it is there, means that the whole of the top can be cased in metal.

So what about the wifi antenna? That is now positioned in the grip, where there is a window in the metal that will be filled with a plastic cover, behind the rubber.

This solution is the same as the GR III, albeit on a larger scale.

[rod_grant]

so no GPS is a definite then.

[JPT]

so no GPS is a definite then.

Well GPS has not appeared anywhere in the specifications or wireless registrations so far, so I thought that was a given now.

I think the numerous power and connectivity similarities to the GR III are more than coincidental and it will probably work in the same way. With the GR III, you can connect to a smartphone to share GPS data for geotagging via low-power Bluetooth. In this mode, a satellite icon appears on the screen.

This would be frustrating if you had to reconnect every time you power off, but there is a setting where you can select whether the Bluetooth connection is maintained when you power off. Presumably, the camera is not fully powered off when this is set, but in some kind of sleep mode where the connection to the phone is maintained. For the GR III, this is a bit of a dilemma, because the battery life is so limited. But the K-3 III's battery is much bigger, so while it will have some effect, I don't expect it will be so bothersome.

For using Astrotracer no phone connection is going to work, so the accessory will be required. But I don't see this as a big issue, because once you are doing astrophotography, you are lugging around a tripod anyway, so the external unit is tiny by comparison. Also, by separating the body from the GPS unit, there is the possibility of Ricoh making a new, improved GPS module. It might be time for that anyway. My opinion is that astrophotography is more niche than flash photography, so it doesn't need to be built in, especially if it compromises the strength of the body.

[repaap]

I’d still like to keep GPS as possibility. Why would it need to be right at the top of the camera. There was some other components at there too, not just GPS. And as said, it could be at some other place. Or then we are back with o-GPS. I personally do like the fact that the top of the camera is solid. Having seen pictures of some K-1 top cracked up with flash installed at the top do make me a bit nervous when using my FGZ360II even if it do feel sturdy.

[Kunzite]

Well GPS has not appeared anywhere in the specifications or wireless registrations so far, so I thought that was a given now.

I think the numerous power and connectivity similarities to the GR III are more than coincidental and it will probably work in the same way. With the GR III, you can connect to a smartphone to share GPS data for geotagging via low-power Bluetooth. In this mode, a satellite icon appears on the screen.

Wow. I didn't knew that, and never thought to look in the menus after such a feature. Was it something they added through a firmware update?
The camera, my smartphone, a power pack just in case either's battery wouldn't last. I guess that would be acceptable for me.

[someasiancameraguy]

Looking at the photos I'm confident that I can keep this camera on the bedside should I ever need it against intruders. It looks extremely tanky.

[JPT]

Wow. I didn't knew that, and never thought to look in the menus after such a feature. Was it something they added through a firmware update?
The camera, my smartphone, a power pack just in case either's battery wouldn't last. I guess that would be acceptable for me.

I believe it's been there since the start. Perhaps I spoke too soon, because I should add that I'm not interested in GPS, and I haven't tried it seriously. That is how I understand it to work.

The setting is in the wrench/spanner menu > Bluetooth Setting > Action mode > On anytime
On this screen you can see the explanation "Allows Bluetooth connection even when the camera is turned off.

Also in the "Smartphone link" item, you can find the option to enable auto image transfer and "Image Transfer while Off". I guess that if you have this enabled, every photo you take will be passed onto your phone, even if you "power off" and put the camera back into your pocket.

Honestly, the GR III's connectivity has been quite confusing. It has a lot of ambitious functions which I haven't seen on any Pentax yet, but it was marred by the fact that some of them didn't work well until a few firmware/app updates had corrected them. Anyway, the question of where I was when I took a photo has been kind of simple this year. I'm at home 99% of the time.

I think a lot of people whose experience of wifi enabled cameras is previous Pentax models might be pleasantly surprised by what the K-3 III will inherit from the GR III, even if it's only the much faster image transfer.

[microlight]

If GPS functionality is going to be provided by a smartphone link, I hope that the drain on the battery caused by keeping the Bluetooth powered is lower than the drain on the K-3II’s, caused by keeping the GPS active! Not that I need an excuse to keep the K-3II, but if I did, it seems that Astrotracer might be it!

[Ishpuini]

Shame about the GPS... I was still hoping.

I agree about that the Astrotracer is not much extra bulk on top of a tripod, but it's a shame that extra cost is required to replace a function that the K-3II had built-in.


I do use GPS a lot for GPS tagging my shots. There are many applications for this: to know where in a national park I encountered which animals (scientific curiosity), to identify photographed monuments/streets/churches on a historic city walk, to reconstruct a map of a hike though the mountains (and the mountains on my shots), ...

Connecting to a phone might work in theory, but I found with my GR III it is far from perfect. Perhaps it's my phone (a first generation Google Pixel XL), but the connection between the phone and the GRIII is very unstable and most of the time it's lost after the first sequence of shots, requiring establishing the connection time and time again (even with the setting to maintain the Bluetooth connection). Not something I want to do in the field... In practice, my current setup with the GR III (paired with my Google Pixel XL) simply doesn't do the job, whereas my K-3II's with their built-in GPS are perfect.


I'll survive, and if the other new features are sufficient added value, I'll upgrade for sure. But I'll miss GPS much more than I would some other features (like built-in flash ).