[Rupert]

Maybe this is the wrong place to post this, if so, someone will move it, no doubt.

I'm thinking of the K3, and although not committed yet, I have been trying to justify a purchase, although heaven knows, good justification never stood in my way on buying a camera or camera gear!

We won't have answers for a while yet, but here are my requirements that the K3 might just fulfill. It's a short list, since I am assuming it will be at least as excellent as my K5 (original) which has been a delight for me!

*AF- For once would love to have a Pentax that would focus as fast and as accurate as the Nikon cameras I have sampled over the past few years. Every time I pick up a Nikon, it is the first thing I notice. For once I would love to feel like I was shooting with a Nikon without having to leave my Pentax brand I love.

* WB- Although the K5 is no slouch in this area, better WB promised by the K3 could make a big difference in some situations. This could make a difference I could truly appreciate.

*Exposure- The promise of better exposure is always welcome in any camera. Again, the K5 is not bad by any means, but a marked improvement could sway me pretty fast.

With all the other features of the K3 I see, it looks like the perfect camera. Almost every base has been covered and every option necessary included. It is these three areas that will make me pull the trigger...or not.

I'd be interested in what will make you pull the trigger on the K3?

Best Regards!

[mattt]

The shutter cacking out on my Kr would do it...

[Pheo]

Having tried out a pre-production model this morning:

AF improvement vs my k30 and k01 in both pdaf and live view (significant)

24mp - didn't think I'd be bothered until I reviewed the images I shot, it's very very good even on pre production

Lack of aa filter - see above, razor sharp with my existing lenses

Grip able vs my other cameras

Dual memory card slots

Only thing I didn't test was my Metz flashes.

At this stage I'm pretty much sold!

[mee]

If you are having such a difficult time justifying the purpose.. perhaps you can't and are merely attempting to invent proof?

[Rupert]

If you are having such a difficult time justifying the purpose.. perhaps you can't and are merely attempting to invent proof?

Justification never stood in my way before, but it would be nice to have some parameters to at least make you think you made a reasonable purchase. These are legitimate requests for my personal needs, but maybe not for others. In the end, there are many factors that determine any purchase.....common sense often being the least of these.

I have a perfectly fine X10 that I love, but bought a new X20 when it came out based mostly on it being Silver/Black, although it did have enough new features to "justify" the purchase. Did my shooting improve? Not really, but I "justified" the purchase. We all do it......one way or another!
Best Regards!

[jatrax]

AF - Never had any issues with the k-5 or k-5II, they more than meet my needs. I never use AF.C or shoot things that move though and that seems to be the areas most complained about. So not a draw for me.

WB - The K-5 AWB is pretty good, no complaints and for most of my shots, I set it to fixed and use a gray card anyway. Shooting in RAW, WB just is not a big deal. So not a draw for me.

Exposure - Don't really have any complaints about the k-5 or k-5II, they both underexpose about 1/3 - 2/3 stop and I just leave exposure compensation at +1/3. Shoot in RAW and adjust. So not a draw for me.

Video Improvements - Never shot any video on the k-5, I did on the k-x, once. So not a draw for me.

Dual SD slots - I guess if I was shooting weddings or something I can see this but for what I do, not needed. Not a draw for me.

No AA filter - I think I can see an improvement in the k-5IIs over the k-5 so I'm all for no AA. But I already have that on the k-5IIs. So not a draw for me.

8.3 FPS - I tried burst mode on the k-5 once but it scared me as things were happening too fast so I never used it again . Not a draw for me.

27 AF points - I only ever use the center point on the k-5 or k-5IIs so all those points just seem confusing, too much work to figure it out. Not a draw for me.

WiFi - I know what it is but I'm not sure why a camera needs it.......

Tethering to phone - I probably would use tethering in the studio if I could plug a wire in and have Lightroom import the pictures. Using the phone seems too complicated for an old guy.

FLUCard thingy - I get a flu shot every year because the doctor says I should. Not sure why the camera needs one though.........

200,000 actuations - Not sure I'll live that long. But it sounds impressive.

Focus Peaking - I usually try to get my focus to peak, or is this like the pixel peaking I read about?

More AF modes - I'm still trying to figure out why I need AF.C instead of AF.S, now they add more modes? I'll have to bring my son along so he can explain the camera to me..........

24MP - Okay, I'll buy that, more is always better right?


Note: Just in case my dry humor did not come across, this post is intended as satire. No cameras were harmed in the production of this post. I think the k-3 is a huge step forward for Pentax and will be buying one. Hey, it has 24MP what more do you need to know?

[repaap]

Maybe this is the wrong place to post this, if so, someone will move it, no doubt.

I'm thinking of the K3, and although not committed yet, I have been trying to justify a purchase, although heaven knows, good justification never stood in my way on buying a camera or camera gear!

We won't have answers for a while yet, but here are my requirements that the K3 might just fulfill. It's a short list, since I am assuming it will be at least as excellent as my K5 (original) which has been a delight for me!

*AF- For once would love to have a Pentax that would focus as fast and as accurate as the Nikon cameras I have sampled over the past few years. Every time I pick up a Nikon, it is the first thing I notice. For once I would love to feel like I was shooting with a Nikon without having to leave my Pentax brand I love.

* WB- Although the K5 is no slouch in this area, better WB promised by the K3 could make a big difference in some situations. This could make a difference I could truly appreciate.

*Exposure- The promise of better exposure is always welcome in any camera. Again, the K5 is not bad by any means, but a marked improvement could sway me pretty fast.

With all the other features of the K3 I see, it looks like the perfect camera. Almost every base has been covered and every option necessary included. It is these three areas that will make me pull the trigger...or not.

I'd be interested in what will make you pull the trigger on the K3?

Best Regards!

With exeption of that nikon mumble you wrote at up, I'm with you. Also improved video and headphone jack is making it for me, and I really must say that even that flucard is quite exciting...even that I have been saying about tethering that I won't bother, but now when it is possible with pentax... this is really big step for me from K-7.

And that point also that my lenses will propably work really much better with K-3.

These and better WB, exposure, AF. In dark(clubs, theater...) it is a huge Plus for me.

[DSims]

It may be hard for me to upgrade my K-5 IIs to it, but I think from the K-5 it's a pretty easy call. My main priority is AF performance for sports (running), and my IIs is pretty well hitting the mark here. Admittedly I haven't tried the latest firmware on the K-5 yet - I've heard it noticeably improves AF performance as well. The reason I haven't ordered one is I have other priorities in my equipment budget right now, plus the following reason:


I think the only thing that could hold you back is that Pentax will inevitably release at least one more DSLR in the next 6 months, with at least one being a Full Frame. But even if you want FF, there's no telling how much it will cost, whether there will be 2 models, and whether any "entry priced" FF camera (if they even make one) will equal the performance of the K-3.

[wigelII]

Don't buy it.

Have a look next week at the Sony A7. It is a 24MP full frame for 300 dollars more than a K3.

[Rupert]

Don't buy it.

Have a look next week at the Sony A7. It is a 24MP full frame for 300 dollars more than a K3.

This may be shocking to you, so sit down and relax, but not everyone is in awe of owning a FF camera. Even more shocking, not everyone that goes FF is completely thrilled or all of a sudden finds themselves in Pro territory!

I try to feel guilty about not having much if any interest in FF, but so far haven't been able to shame myself.

Best Regards!

[interested_observer]

I have had my K5 for 22 months now. I have not out grown it (well, maybe never). I really like the K5 a lot!!! I have no compunction to pull up a new browser tab to pre-order. I am interested in the image quality and the dynamic range. Also, interested if the tests show a significant increase in resolution is actually realized.

I am averaging 250 shots a month. I am concentrating on slowing down and thinking each shot through, making each one the best I can do, or when at a location - working that location for all that I can get out of it. So, in this respect - the K5 supports my approach just fine. Landscape/cityscape wise the K5IIs interests me (but folks have indicated the jump is not that great - 8%) - which in the same approach the K3 does also (75% increase in resolution). That said - I would like to see the reviews, numbers, images, and early adopters opinions - great, excellent, good, bad along with the ugly. Are we going to an equivalent of the D7100?

On the other hand, there is a number of items I can certainly use -

• focus peaking on my old manual lenses,
• no AA filter (which would probably never be turned on), the increased resolution would be helpful - but not at the expense of the low ISO noise (I really do not care about high ISO, but low ISO @ 100 - 400 and perhaps 800 needs to be perfectly clean (I do need to bump the ISO in certain instances at night in order to freeze object motion with some quicker shutter speeds - boats at moorings).
• The dynamic range needs to pull the shadows like and hopefully better than the K5 (a lot to ask for). I have read one reference to 14 bit raw, but after that silence.
• The -3ev focusing, I can use with my AF glass in the late evening. That would help to a degree, to speed things up a bit.
• The Flu card with the Tethering would be of interest. PKtether I have used - but have had some problems.
• I have some pretty good glass and if the K3 can leverage the high quality glass with the camera/lens pairing - resulting in a overall higher quality image at large print sizes (20" x 30") then I am very interested.

So, with that - I continue to save and read - while I practice, shooting and building up a set of images that I really, really like.

[ak_kiwi]

What will make you buy the K3?

Probably bought it for this, cropped to using just 1% of available pixels, as this test shot shows
But the real test will be in the yet to be compared AF and higher ISO performance.

[jatrax]

Have a look next week at the Sony A7. It is a 24MP full frame for 300 dollars more than a K3.

1) It's from Sony, so that's an automatic fail
2) It's full frame which means all my lenses will look funny. My F 50mm f/1.7 will look like a 33mm, my A 400mm will only look like 266mm, my 16-50 won't even work properly.
3) Based on your previous posts I assume you are being paid by Sony to troll other camera forums and push the Sony brand? Hope they are paying you a lot.

[patrick9]

I try to feel guilty about not having much if any interest in FF, but so far haven't been able to shame myself.

+1 I have no interest in FF Digital either. The K-30 fits my needs nicely at this time. When it dies , I out grow it, or I come up with a lot of disposable in come I would love the K-3

[Wingincamera]

Don't buy it.

Have a look next week at the Sony A7. It is a 24MP full frame for 300 dollars more than a K3.

I switched from a FF Canon to a K-5 II and haven't regretted it at all. I carry my camera and a few lens everywhere I go. For me it was the size & weight of the camera, same with "L" lenses or assorted Sigma lens. It was a tough decision to sell every thing and start over, especially with a limited budget, but it is working out OK for me. Your mileage may differ.

As for buying the K-3, I would like it, but can't justify it at the present time. I am still building my lens collection.