[Michail_P]

I'm sure it will happen, but when may depend on how well the K3iii sells. If they can recoup the development costs of the new tech in good time, resources for K1iii development within Ricoh may flow more freely.

Yes , of course. But the FF development should be a whole other matter for any brand. The K-1 does need a few improvements, as many here would suggest. A K-3iii tech in a nice KP -like body with a 40 mp sensor would make a great new camera. And I’d expect a ff to sell, whatever point the sales of the aps-c would reach.

[ffking]

The K-3iii suggests to me that there is a further move towards differentiation into a FF 'field' camera and an APS-C action camera rather than essentially two general purpose cameras in different formats- so I would expect (hope) that the FF will continue to have the features that make it great for what it does, which include the articulating rear screen and (for me) integrated GPS. On top of this there should be more developments like touch screen new prism glass, more FPS, 4K video etc just because the work has been done already - and they should push the Mp to competitive levels without sacrificing DR - Hand held Pixel shift? I wonder - it didn't take the world by storm in the K-1ii, and needs more work, but if they try to improve IBIS, there might be spin-offs that improve this.

[One3rdEV]

Early media material and comments released by Pentax also lead me to believe that they intend to increase differentiation between APS-C and FF. With the smaller format (or at least the K3iii in particular) with its crop factor reach and reduced mechanical inertia is aimed toward mechanically robust hand-held field action and possibly sports or street related photography with enhanced in-camera responsiveness and image processing (JPEG).

I believe that Pentax shared their vision for the K3iii when they released an earlier video. The video illustrated a Japanese photographer walking around in the field taking hand-held photographs of the moody atmospheric landscape with the camera carried at his hip. It implied that he could quickly draw and compose his desired image. But more significant emphasis seemed to be directed toward the fact that he could quickly process images in-camera that perfectly captured the mood that he wanted to portray.

I believe that FF will target a bias more toward field, portraiture, still life and studio like applications where a somewhat slower response and more meticulous mentality is applied with emphasis leaning toward maintaining intentional control for maximum image quality (vs pure responsiveness). Or perhaps FF will be targeted as the most versatile and well-rounded go-between given APS-C advantages in responsiveness and reach vs Medium Format obvious advantage in providing the fullest extent for the most demanding of methodical applications and highest image quality.

[biz-engineer]

According to my requirements the K1 II successor will have:
- Tilt back display same as in K1/K1II
- 62Mpixels (or 90Mpixels) sensor
- Full time electronic shutter including for exposure bracketing, burst mode, hdr and multi-exposure composite
- Fast writing in memory cards (UHS-II or CFexpress)
- 5 stops SR
- ETTR exposure mode
- High light blinkie indicator in OVF
- Focus bracketing (method using set focus point A and focus point B in LV mode + number of frames to shoot between A and B).
- CDAF points in LV covering 100% of the frame

Optional:
- Video
- Touch screen
- >5 frames per second
- 101 AF points not needed

[leekil]

I believe that Pentax shared their vision for the K3iii when they released an earlier video. The video illustrated a Japanese photographer walking around in the field taking hand-held photographs of the moody atmospheric landscape with the camera carried at his hip. It implied that he could quickly draw and compose his desired image. But more significant emphasis seemed to be directed toward the fact that he could quickly process images in-camera that perfectly captured the mood that he wanted to portray.

That sounds like a "field camera" to me, with moody landscape.

The card-writing for the K-1 successor will surely be faster -- the writing speed of the K-1 was an intermediate step between the K-5 and K-3 -- but the real question is, will it be fast enough? It seems possible, but the FF data will be significantly larger than the APS-C data, especially if they increase the resolution for the FF.

Switching to ARM would explain why it took so long to come out with a new camera, perhaps, if they were using a whole new processor.

[normhead]

Thanks for all your input....

I'm still on the fence... K-3iii or K-1iii.
But my final decision is likely to be made when I have performance reviews of both, unless one of my cameras dies. I really would like to get down to one camera body, and a performance jump in the K-1 series would probably give me what I want, if in fact Pentax is planning one.

[stevebrot]

I believe it will have tech migrated from the FF GRIV, if and about a year after that camera is ever produced.


Steve

[gaweidert]

Since I already have the Pentax GPS model, not having it on a new K1 does not bother me any. Having the sturdier flash mount is more important. The flippy screen is more useful than I thought it would be but not having it on the K3-III does not bother me. Touch screen does nothing for me.


A bit better autofocus, faster buffer clearing, no shutter shake and maybe a 50mp sensor and I am good to go. Flippy screen stays too.

[SirTomster]

Why have 2 memory slots.

1) to save to both to ensure you do not lose pictures.

Then why have one slot at UHS II and one at UHS I. That alone annoys me.

Both memory slots should have the same type of hardware.

[Paul the Sunman]

Why have 2 memory slots.

1) to save to both to ensure you do not lose pictures.

Then why have one slot at UHS II and one at UHS I. That alone annoys me.

Both memory slots should have the same type of hardware.

Cost. And because perhaps the most common use of the second slot (apart from sequential saving where it rarely gets used) is Raw+JPEG. The JPEG files are much smaller and can be easily saved quickly to the UHS-I slot.

[Nayu]

I hope the AF is improved in live view for the K3iii and gets carried over -- the K1ii screen is useful because I can frame the shot from a lot of angles, but there's no point if I can't focus on anything in a reasonable amount of time. I usually have to focus manually in the end.

[wed7]

Transferring the K-3ii tech to a K-1iii.

As I've said, many times, my problem with the K-3iii is the lack of a tilting back screen.
A K-1 with the same tech would be 101 focus points, 8 frame per second AF-s, 7 APS-c assuming the bottle neck is the through put speed of the bus.

Those are acceptable specs to me. But I'm guessing including that tech would vastly increase the price of the K-1 to D850 levels.

So will Pentax go that route for an FF action camera?
Or will he K-3iii be the action offering, and the K-1 line continue to be useful mostly for landscape and portraits?

Pentax has never had this kind of decision before they always used their best tech in every model.... what say you?

Most definitely! We have seen Pentax (Ricoh) did transfer its tech to most of its camera lines. (From, SR, WR and PS) With the incremental improvement of AF speed and accuracy. Their K-1 lines could use good tracking and an increase in buffer too.