Originally posted by PBandJ Which leads to the next question: if the price between the D600 and K3 is virtually the same, which it was on some recent (Oct 22) sales, why would you not choose the D600 and cover all ISOs?
Covered in detail here..
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/172-pentax-k-3/240358-reasons-buying-k-3-a.html
But a brief synopsis, more resolution within the area of the crop sensor, making more resolution within, essentially making every lens longer. That's important for wildlife. To do what I do with my A-400 I'd have to buy and carry an A-600. You you're looking at a difference between 2 pounds and seven pounds.
APS-c will use every lens FF will use at the camera's full resolution but , but FF can't use APS-c lenses without seriously crippling the camera's resolution.
You want to carry one system.
Thom has gone to 4/3 for his carry around , which I totally understand after looking at OMD E-M5 images, which are just as good as a K-5II to my eye and FF for pro-work, when he's willing to pay the cost (in weight) to be the boss (the guy who's going to get the best shot in low light conditions, should it be necessary), APS-c as compromise is bigger than 4/3, but smaller than FF. I've gone for the middle ground. One system, not as big as FF, not as small as 4/3. The Buddha says "take the middle way". Just kidding
The fact that the K-3 and D600 are about the same price is an anomaly based on the huge number of D600 refurbs available due to some pretty annoying technical problems at launch, and that the D600 is being sold at 65% of it's launch price, and the K-3 is being sold at launch. It may be that D600 refurbs are available for a long time, who knows how many they have, but I wonder, unless you plan on shooting at 6400 ISO, why would consider a D600?
The image degradation is such by 6400 ISO on both cameras, the images wouldn't be of much use to me. I go for the low ISO, pristine clear shots that make use of the full dynamic range of the camera and with no visible noise. That would not be a 6400 ISO image on any camera I'm aware of.
Or as I'd sloganize it, pay for what you want, not for what you don't want. I don't want to tempt myself to take ISO 6400 images, which end up being pretty much a waste of time, at least for me.