Thought I'd share this with other Pentax users who might be pondering an upgrade from a K-5 to a K-3 like I did. I ended up taking the plunge, and I'm very happy I did. I pre-ordered a K-5 back when they were first announced over 3 years ago. I went through 2 bad ones with the sensor staining issue, then finally got a good one which I immediately sold to buy a silver K-5 when those became available. I've had that silver K-5 since March 2011, and I've gotten VERY used to the way it works. Before that I had a K-7 from around the time when they became available for sale. I skipped over the K-5ii(s).
Please keep in mind, these observations pertain to the way *I* shoot, they may not relate to you or your own habits.
First things first, the stuff I love about the new K-3:
- dual SD cards! I've been wanting dual SD cards since the K-7, and I was very disappointed when the K-5 didn't have that feature. It's finally here, and it's awesome. I can shoot 24 RAW+ shots at 8,3fps. I tried a few scenarios using a pair of older 45MB/s cards. Writing time seems to be the same whether I write to both cards simultaneously or just to one card. But the ability to split up the two is incredibly useful.
- faster processing! I spend a lot less time waiting. There's still some delay in getting the rear LCD to display anything after a long burst of photos, but otherwise the experience is way more pleasant.
- more AF points! One of my biggest issues with the old AF sensor was getting the right focus spot centered over the precise location I needed to focus on.
- faster FPS for longer bursts! Makes it easier to get that perfect shot of a moving subject, like a jogger or a dog running. It gives me more choices of limb position. This is especially useful for sports photography.
- actual AF tracking that seems to work for real! Again, a great help for sports photography.
- focus peaking in Live View! I've seen focus peaking on other cameras before, but this is the first time I get to use it as a tool in my own photography. It's not perfect for critical focusing, but it's great for quick work.
- enhanced AF modes! And accessing those modes is easier than ever. I look forward to taking advantage of these new modes for sports photography.
- MANUAL FLASH CONTROL!!!! This is a HUGE one for me! From full power to 1/128. I've been desperate for manual on-camera flash control for endless years, and finally having this option is like a dream come true. I do lots of flash work with manual optical slaves, and it's a great relief to finally be able to use the camera's flash as "just another flash" rather than trying to work around its P-TTL quirks (sometimes pre-flash, sometimes not, sometimes the flash contributes, sometimes not, blablabla). I don't know if this was available on the K-5ii, but it definitely was not on my K-5, and it's a wondrous thing.
- selectable low-pass filter. This is a neat feature and seems to work very well. I love being able to select between max detail vs less interference. For the most part, I've found that pictures with and without the simulated low-pass sharpen equally well in post-processing, but the ones without low-pass require less sharpening which means I get fewer noise artifacts in the final product. However the sound caused by the simulated low pass filter is disconcerting. It's like a bizarre beep with each shot, and surprisingly noticeable. It also significantly slows down the FPS capability.
Now for some of the things I don't like. Remember, I've had my way of doing things for many, many years using cameras that worked essentially the same way during all that time, so some slight changes can be an annoying inconvenience for me.
- my beloved ISO 80 is gone
There's no more expanded sensitivity setting in the custom menu. ISO now goes from 100 to 51,200. I used to shoot at ISO 80 almost all the time. Its loss is more annoying than I thought it would be. I was actually hoping the minimum available ISO setting would be lower this time, like ISO 50 or something. But no such luck.
- image review functions have changed. This is one of the most annoying changes for me. On the K-5, there was a simple shortcut I used all the time when reviewing images: press the info button once to see the histogram, press the Ok button to get rid of it. Nice and simple, just 2 buttons that worked immediately. On the K-3, pressing the info button now brings up an entire list of the different info screens available, and I have to click more buttons to select the one I want (the basic histogram). The process has gone from pressing one button once, to pressing 3 different buttons a total of 4 times. It may not seem like much, but I'm a big-time chimper. I'm always confirming exposure for pictures I've taken, and the new way of bringing up the histogram annoys me greatly. I assume this change was made to make it easier on newbies who may not know what all the info screens do during review, but I find no benefit to it at all, just annoyance.
- the new grip isn't as comfortable. While everyone else has mentioned that the grip on the K-3 is a positive redesign from the one on the K-5, my experience has been the other way. I have a first-generation silver K-5, which was unique in that it had a chunkier grip than the regular K-5. it was the only model to ever have it, and this chunky grip is superior in my opinion. It fits better in my hand and allows my fingers to sink in a bit more because it's more padded.
(K-3 on left, chunky grip K-5 on right)
- K-3 requires a new battery grip. This isn't such a big deal in my case since I got a silver K-3 which included a battery grip. But comparing my old D-BG4 to my new D-BG5, it seems to me like Ricoh purposely forced a minor change to the battery grip just to sell more of them. It's a rip-off.
That's about it! Notice I made no mention of the new imaging sensor. I haven't found any great benefit in image quality with this new sensor. The sensor in my K-5 is outstanding, and the one in this K-3 is equally outstanding. I have a full complement of DA and FA Limited lenses, some of which have been rebuilt by C.R.I.S. to ensure perfect element alignment. Neither sensor seems to do any better or worse with those lenses. Sure, the new 24mp pictures are BIGGER (in every sense of the way), but when they get printed in 24x16 or 8x10 or whatever, there's no noticeable difference between 24mp and 16mp. Both look excellent. This surprised me a bit since my K-5 has a low-pass filter and this K-3 does not. Maybe I just need to find the right kind of picture to really take advantage of the lack of a low-pass filter. I'll be experimenting with it some more in the near future to see what the differences really are and how they might benefit my photography.
Hope this helps someone!
Last edited by GoremanX; 11-11-2013 at 02:16 PM.