[hoosierdome]

I started laughing seeing suggestions that the camera will now have a flippy screen thanks to the delay. I guess if you wish really, really hard and repeat the wish as if it was true, then act as if it was true. It will, come true!

I know politics is full of that stuff in some countries but I've never seen the process live before. Made my day and made me frightened.

Yes I'm one of the people that want a flipping screen but your correct the design is baked in to late to change. THEY NEED A NEW CAMERA TO BE RELEASED SOON.

[emalvick]

I have not been able to tame AF on that 17-50. I can correct it (though it needs all of the K-5's 10 adjustment range) for one focal length, but even then I'm not sure it works at all subject distances. And it definitely doesn't work for other focal lengths. Tamron took two tries at adjusting mine as well so I think viewfinder AF might just not be possible. I purchased a Sigma 17-50 from the PF marketplace, and it does better with AF, although I still have some difficulty with it at the shorter focal lengths and longer subject distances. The Sigma seems to have a flatter focus field, and I can manually focus it fairly well, so I'm very happy with it. The focus ring does have a little of the Pentax 16-85 jumpy image effect, just enough to be annoying, but much tamer than on the 16-85.

My 16-85 has very good image quality and for my uses it's an excellent lens. I had trouble finding a relatively good copy, and even the best one that I kept still has some annoying quirks, but overall I've been very pleased with it.

Interesting, I read your posts on the Tamron 17-50, and it makes me think of all the issues I've had with their 10-24. I have a 17-50, and I never had any issues what-so-ever using with my vanilla K-5. I loved that combo so much, I got the 10-24, and I was never happy with the lens. I always wondered if it was the camera or the lens. I don't think I've ever used either much once I went to a K-3 because I shifted to relying more on prime lenses and found that I never really used the 10-24 any wider than 15 mm.

I'm glad you found a solution.

[dbs]

Yes I'm one of the people that want a flipping screen but your correct the design is baked in to late to change. THEY NEED A NEW CAMERA TO BE RELEASED SOON.

It's coming it's coming.


Oh you want a different one

Can we at least have this one first ............ eh what do you reckon

[Larrymc]

Yes I'm one of the people that want a flipping screen but your correct the design is baked in to late to change. THEY NEED A NEW CAMERA TO BE RELEASED SOON.

Lets let them get the K-3III on the market first before adding flippy screens to a new APS-C Pentax!! I'd be willing to wager that a new FF K-1III will be released before a new APS-C.

[nitehntr]

I'm guessing here that they might not even have any manufactured for the market other than prototypes. the shelves at best buy are fairly bare due to supply chain problems from Asia. so many components are made in China and from all the shortages of electronics across the board not just photography I'd say the virus has kicked their backsides more than we know. I'm also thinking back to the MZD when quality problems caused it to be cancelled altogether. also we have a Sony sensor made in China by a company based in Japan for a camera body assembled in Vietnam, and that can cause all kinds of logistical problems on top of everything else.

[TwoUptons]

I'm guessing here that they might not even have any manufactured for the market other than prototypes. the shelves at best buy are fairly bare due to supply chain problems from Asia. so many components are made in China and from all the shortages of electronics across the board not just photography I'd say the virus has kicked their backsides more than we know. I'm also thinking back to the MZD when quality problems caused it to be cancelled altogether. also we have a Sony sensor made in China by a company based in Japan for a camera body assembled in Vietnam, and that can cause all kinds of logistical problems on top of everything else.

Even if they had 1,000 in boxes ready to go, with no ability to make more, that would be a real challenge to manage in terms of goodwill...

-Eric

[PocketPixels]

Even if they had 1,000 in boxes ready to go, with no ability to make more, that would be a real challenge to manage in terms of goodwill...

-Eric

I can unequivocally state that if I had one of those putative 1,000 and everybody else was left drooling at the window, I would be full of goodwill toward all.

[SimplyCreativePhotography]

Many thanks for your thoughts- much appreciated. I had a KP but like some on this forum I never got on with its ergonomics. I miss my k5iis very much for all the reasons you gave. My quest continues!

Speaking as someone using an original K5 (with the lens release button held on by black electrical tape) I like the feel and build of my K5. I used to upgrade about every 18 months but stopped at the K5 since it seemed to do what I needed. And then the other day I pulled over to the side of the road to grab some pictures of a snow-white owl and was thankful that she decided to pose for me while my K5 struggled to focus, and frustrated that there was no chance of getting a good in-flight shot. I'm planning to buy the K3 iii and am disappointed that it is delayed, but I've waited 10 years now so a few more months won't be the end of the world. I'm expecting something in the $1,800 USD range. Much more than that and I will still buy it but won't be an early adopter as I will wait for the price drops (which is why I want it to come out asap...)

[RobA_Oz]

Back at the end of the Hoya era, there was a considerable outcry here, when Pentax lens prices rose. Since then, most of us have realised that Hoya was just clearing existing stocks at bargain prices to maximise their profit from their asset-stripping exercise. Ricoh inherited the bulk of opprobrium at the time of takeover, for bringing prices back to the level needed for a sustainable enterprise and, as we know, have introduced some premium priced and specified lenses recently. Unfortunately, the notion that Pentax is a low-cost brand appears to have stuck in some minds, and was probably reinforced by the fact that the launch price of the successive top APS-C bodies fell from the *istD to the K-3ii, even though a number of those models did introduce some innovative technology.

Now, with Pentax not only battling the remaining rival APS-C DSLRs, but also their MILC successors, a significant leap forward has been required to make the K-3iii competitive. From what we’ve seen so far of the K-3iii’s specification, that leap forward has meant that at least some of the previous cost-saving measures like retaining or tweaking the existing processing engines and firmware or using older sensors have had to be abandoned. So as a consequence, the value-for-money proposition that has made its predecessors attractive will now also require rethinking the notion of what constitutes an acceptable price for the K-3iii.

What will be interesting will be the numbers of K-3iii bodies sold. While the whole market for interchangeable-lens cameras has fallen dramatically, the fact that other manufacturers are abandoning, or at least marginalising their DSLRs may mean that Pentax sales hold up, given that they’re a small manufacturer whose niche status will have changed from outlier to segment dominator. We’ll see, but it’d be fascinating to know what Ricoh thinks their sales volume of the K-3iii will be. They said after the launch of both the K-1 and the 645Z that they were pleasantly surprised at their sales, so let’s hope the K-3iii provides them with something similar.

[house]

Money was developed because barter was so inconvenient. If barter had not been so widespread and on such a large scale we would have never developed money to make it easier.

Thats just a story Adam Smith made up. He never even tried to show any proof of it. It got stuck as a story people tell because it sounds good and works as an argument. There is still no evidence that money developed to simplify barter. The reasons were different.

Consumerism and greed are separate things. The former is brand new.

[slartibartfast01]

I have not been able to tame AF on that 17-50. I can correct it (though it needs all of the K-5's 10 adjustment range) for one focal length, but even then I'm not sure it works at all subject distances. And it definitely doesn't work for other focal lengths. Tamron took two tries at adjusting mine as well so I think viewfinder AF might just not be possible. I purchased a Sigma 17-50 from the PF marketplace, and it does better with AF, although I still have some difficulty with it at the shorter focal lengths and longer subject distances. The Sigma seems to have a flatter focus field, and I can manually focus it fairly well, so I'm very happy with it. The focus ring does have a little of the Pentax 16-85 jumpy image effect, just enough to be annoying, but much tamer than on the 16-85.

My 16-85 has very good image quality and for my uses it's an excellent lens. I had trouble finding a relatively good copy, and even the best one that I kept still has some annoying quirks, but overall I've been very pleased with it.

I seem to remember reading a thread on the forum about the focus of the Tamron 17-50 changing when switching between apertures. I tried it and sure enough it was true. I forget the details but I think it mainly affected shorter distances and changing aperture between f8 and f5.6.

[zapp]

I seem to remember reading a thread on the forum about the focus of the Tamron 17-50 changing when switching between apertures. I tried it and sure enough it was true. I forget the details but I think it mainly affected shorter distances and changing aperture between f8 and f5.6.

Maybe the K5 is off here. You always have to look at all parts involved. Lens profiles take care of focus shift at different apertures - Pentax lenses that is. Pentax can zero the camera anywhere if your lens goes over the limit.

[Rondec]

Elsewhere on the Forum, JPT posted a link to a review from a Japanese magazine that indicated that price would be "around 200,000 yen" and that they had reviewed a finished copy of the camera. Clearly, for all the angst here, the price is going to be a bit lower than the K-1 II and the camera is done, just not able to be produced in sufficient quantities at this point.

[Pål Jensen]

Pentax have never been a low cost brand. They have been a high volume brand. The volume is obviously on the more affordable segments of the marked. Hence this is where Pentax have had historically their main focus. The high volume segment is now cell phones.
Now they are a DSLR brand. The lower end of this marked has mostly disappeared.....

[gatorguy]

Elsewhere on the Forum, JPT posted a link to a review from a Japanese magazine that indicated that price would be "around 200,000 yen" and that they had reviewed a finished copy of the camera. Clearly, for all the angst here, the price is going to be a bit lower than the K-1 II and the camera is done, just not able to be produced in sufficient quantities at this point.

This is that link:
K-3 Mark III reviews in the Japanese press - PentaxForums.com