Originally posted by Gimbeley The K-3 and K-3 II have a lot of strengths. I think those are mostly obvious or else we wouldn't all be here. But the camera has a lot of weaknesses too. I don't necessarily specs that lag behind other brands, but inherent weaknesses to the K-3 design that can get in your way while shooting. Here's a list of my own top 5, uh I mean...7 weaknesses of the ergonomics and controls.
Confusing front buttons: I'm having a tough time following you about button confusion. If you hold the camera in the classic SLR shooting position with you left hand cradling the lens barrel base the left thumb can operate all the switches and buttons on the left side of the camera. Move it up slightly and you can switch from AF to manual, up a bit more and you can select AF mode, slightly higher is the RAW/FX button which is assignable (I use it to select bracketing mode). Putting buttons on the right side of the camera will be problematic as you are blocked by the fingers when holding the camrea by the hand grip.
Too few Fn buttons and lack of many functions for them: I'm with C.A.M. on this one lots of Fn buttons and having to remember what is assigned to each with out carrying a cheat sheet would be a real pain.
Playback button location: If you set up Instant Review, Shooting menu 4 Instant Review to "Hold" then you don't have to take your hands from the camera or change stance to review the last shot you can chimp it then touch the shutter button to dismiss the Hold and be back to shooting quickly.
Changing AF mode: The AF mode button is just above the AF/Manual selector switch you can push it and change the mode by rotating the front E-dial to select the mode then if you want change the AF active area you can rotate the rear E-dial. All this info is shown in the view finder as well as the top LCD. Try it and you will find it is just as elegant a solution as the K-5 had
Live View button location: Are you referring to the "Playback Button" or the red dot "Live View Button"? If you are holding the camera with your right hand on the grip its very easy to move the right thumb to the "Live View Button" but for the life of me I really don't understand why you would want to do that if not on a tripod. If you are referring to "chimping" your shot read my answer to your playback button gripe.
Rear LCD screen in shooting mode: You can reduce all your button pushes by hitting the info button twice then the right 4 way controller button then tapping the shutter button to save the setting (you don't have to hit the OK button) there now, you saved you one button push on that one. You don't use multi auto white balance? I've found it to be very accurate, I never worry about white balance as I shoot RAW but MAWB is pretty good.
Switching between cards while shooting: Granted this is a problem for folks who fill up cards before downloading off the card. I shoot in RAW only and card two is for over flow, which I've never had to use.
My biggest gripe on my 4 yr old K-3 is its AF tracking ability in certain circumstances, 8 frames per second I'm OK with. It could stand to have somewhat better HIgh ISO performance