[reh321]

The purpose of the changes to the af system and the 55-300, by what I know are just for LV, or trough sensor, which I don't care, the Af system remains the same old 11 sensors 9 cross type, has far has I know

AF speed depends on two factors:
(1) how fast the body makes decisions
(2) how fast the lens responds.

I believe, but cannot prove, that KAF4 exists to improve (2)
{and, frankly, even if it weren't faster, I would want this one because it will be quieter}

If people did not believe it to be a superior lens, there wouldn't be so many complaints from K-3 owners.

[Nuno Almeida]

AF speed depends on two factors:
(1) how fast the body makes decisions
(2) how fast the lens responds.

I believe, but cannot prove, that KAF4 exists to improve (2)
{and, frankly, even if it weren't faster, I would want this one because it will be quieter}

If people did not believe it to be a superior lens, there wouldn't be so many complaints from K-3 owners.

I truly hope so, has I want a upgrade, but what I really want is that, I want a AF that can quickly and decisively focus, so I won't miss those fast opportunity shots.

[djseeram]

If you don't already have them, I would spend the money on a fast prime and an external flash. You will get awesome indoor portraits, while your son is still young to move too fast. You will need really fast AF in a couple of years anyway. Who knows how much AF technology will improve by then. Just my 2cents.

[Racerdew]

I think the K 70 sounds like the best way to go and the price is great for what you get. My only disappointment is the battery. It does not compare to what is in the K-5, K-3 and the K-1. It is the K-r battery and it doesn't last as long. That may be why the price is so good. AFter that, it sounds like a great camera at a surprisingly low price. It might be the one for me too.

[reh321]

Something to be aware of is that the K-70 continues Pentax's consumer line. It will not be as robust as, have the endurance of, a professional camera, such as the K-3ii.

[niceshot]

Something to be aware of is that the K-70 continues Pentax's consumer line. It will not be as robust as, have the endurance of, a professional camera, such as the K-3ii.

I agree with you, better parts in the k-3

[Racerdew]

Yes you are probably right about the 3 IIs having the better parts for the long haul. The 70 does pack some nice features for the price. I have the K-5 IIs and I use it almost daily for my work and it is dependable. I also have a K-r that I don't use much any more but it is still in great shape. The only think that went wrong is that the lens removable button popped off and I have a piece of tape holding in on. It still works great.

[anu l]

I think the K 70 sounds like the best way to go and the price is great for what you get. My only disappointment is the battery. It does not compare to what is in the K-5, K-3 and the K-1. It is the K-r battery and it doesn't last as long. That may be why the price is so good. AFter that, it sounds like a great camera at a surprisingly low price. It might be the one for me too.

For me, one of the biggest differentiation between the K-3 II and K-70 is the no of AF points (should have been a little larger), and separate AF & AE lock button for K-3 II. Makes a large difference.

[g.e.lewis]

I have been struggeling with this question for some time. But, I have other issues effecting my ultimate decision. I am wheelchair bound due to a left side below the knee amputation. This ultimately made my ultimate decision to retire K20 and replace it with the K-70 largely because of the articulated viewscreen. Shooting from a wheelchair is challenging and I expect this articulated viewscreen to make my shooting somewhat easier. The K-3(ii) was a strong contender but ulitimately the articulated viewscreen made my decision. The video is meaningless to me, wish I could opt out it.


Addendum; Pulled the trigger today and ordered the K-70 body. Hope it gives me the same quality service as my K20. Does any one know if my split image focusing screen on the K20 will work in the k-70?

[Ginnipe]

Forgive me if someone else has already mentioned this as I combed through the comments though not meticulously. Can the K-70 operate the AF on the older F and FA screw drive lenses?

I would assume it can, though I am spoiled with my K1 (my first Pentax, coming from Nikon) and wouldn't be 100% surprised if this was a feature kept for the flagship models. This would be a big deal breaker for me if it couldn't, as right now I currently have like 5 lenses that would require screw drive operation.

[gelokrol]

As far as I know all pentax mounts are backward compatible

[Nicolas06]

Hi,
What I think I will be using (but I might be wrong)

• Fast AF - Children / Nature / Birds / Sports => Only K3 and K3 have that. K70 AF is the same old module as K5-II without any real tracking.
  
• High ISO - Indor and evening shots => To be checked. Likely only a difference for JPEG, raw should be similar. Not a factor.
• Crop might be required - Children / Nature => Same possibilities. The limiting factor would be 55-300 that is not that sharp at 300mm.
  
• Articulated screen - Macro / Children => KS2 / K70
• Image quality - will there be any visible? => No.But the better AF will mean more keepers so better chances to get the actual shoot you want.
  
• Wi-Fi - mostly for child photo in home? => KS2 / K70

Main differences that I take into comparison - You might have some others:

• ISO - up to 100k for K-70=> Doesn't change anything, this is pure marketing. You'll never use 100K iso and what count is how it actually work in iso setting you'll actually use.
• AF - 27 vs 11 for K-3 => K3 & K3-II AF is night and day vs the old one. K3 AF much faster, precise, do tracking. The old 11 point AF are too big so when you focus on the eyes it might as well focus on the nose or the ear...
• Prime M II vs Prime II - should I count this as difference? will I see any diference while using both bodies? => That just marketing name. You should care of actual results/performance.
• Articulated screen - for K-70 => Clearly a K70/KS2 feature.
• Dust removal - shake vs ultrasonic for K-3 => My father with the K30 had much more often dust on the sensor than me while he change lens far less often. the K3 is better for that.
  
• Size and weight - a little + for K-70 => This can make a difference at time !

K70 is very expensive right now and doesn't justify the price. It is a KS2 basically for all intents and purpose. 20MP vs 24MP doesn't change anything in practice and the hybrid AF sensor is only interresting for video/live view. If you always shoot in live view, there no point buying a reflex. Buy a mirrorless instead. You'd get something lighter/smaller as a bonus.

The K3 is by far the supperior camera. Much better build quality, made to last (there far less issues with K3 than with K30/K50 for example and K3 is designed for 200K actualtions). It comes with pro features like high quality AF and tracking, more accurate exposure. there also more direct controls, twice the battery autonomy, support for 2 SD cards

The only real downside is if you plan to buy future lenses (not yet released) is that it lack KAF4 support. There only 1 lens available that does need KAF4 today and there the equivalent in KAF3. And basically you already have the equivalent lens: The 55-300. So no real reason to buy another one.

[Nicolas06]

Why are you so certain that AF has not improved in speed and/or precision??
{I believe that is the primary purpose for the new 55-300mm lens}

Because it is the same as the K5-II AF module for the body. The same module that has huge off center AF point that are not very precise. Because the mettering sensor is 77point and black and white only while K3 has 80K+ color metering that allow to recognize shapes and colors for tracking of objects.

K70 might do a good job in live view, but using the OVF it is a KS2.

As for the lens... KAF4 isn't about speed but electronic apperture control for smooth apperture change in video.

Only a consummer collapsible lens has KAF4 right now and not all the recently released pro level DFA lenses: DFA15-30 f/2.8, DFA24-70 f/2.8, DFA28-105 f/2.8, DFA70-200 f2.8 and DFA150-450 f/4-5.6. As they knew for some time KAF4 was to be there (it is supported by K3-II, KS2 or K1) they would have made the new pro lenses use that technology if it allowed them to perform better. While consumer lenses change often (look the HD was released maybe 3 years ago max) the high quality pro lenses stay for a long time, something like 10 years. They could miss a key feature and be already outdated if it was one.

The problem is not the already KAF3 capable lenses in the wild, the problem is if Sigma/Tamron/Tokina/Zeiss/Laowa/Samyang/Voigtlander/Irix introduce new lenses is very likely they come in KAF4 Mount, as is going to be cheaper to produce than the mechanical aperture and can be more easy to service warranty and possible more convienent as they only will have change the mount beetween camera brands

They'll do that only when all the potential buyer have a KAF4 capable body. For now many buyer still have K5, K5-II & K3, K30, K50... It would take a few years for that. Sigma/tamron and the other don't release new lenses for Pentax because the market too small. They have no issue with Nikon for example.

[gelokrol]

@Nicolas06
I already made my mind to buy K-70 when I saw your post, and this made me read a lot more stuff about k-3 (II) and k-70 while I should be working :P and a lot more thinking and a decision to be made once again...
You are right with most of the points, but thinking my decision through I will stay with K-70, and if I regret it.. in few years I will but the successor of K-3 II which most probably will have EVERYTHING by the time

At this moment it is the best decision for me because:
1. I am not a professional and if I fail some shots due to exposure of focus, I'll live or fix it in PS/lightroom and still print it for my family in size 10x15. They will not notice
2. Wi-fi for indoor shots and live view of results on PC - should be great
3. pixel-shift should make fine results with flowers and/or in-home still objects
4. build in flash - as I will not drag external flash to my walks etc.. at this moment I just put camera with one lens (usually DA 55-300) into anything I take with myself, like bag, backapack etc..
5. it is lighter and smaller
6. tilt sreen will be great especially as after motorbike accident my knees are no longer as good as they were :P
7. 4,5 stops of shake reduction will be nice - have You seen the 1/13 hand held from japanees commerscials? looks great!
8. I will take new one from shop on invoice and put it as a cost to my bussines - so I will pay less taxes

What I might regret/miss?
- better battery? probably not as I rarely make more than 200 shots a day. I just prefer to take less photos and probably spend a little more time on them than other way around. And I always can take an extra battery
- top screen - ok.. this is a minus as I see the bonus having it and would like to have it but.. I\ll come with tilt screen and in live view info
- two sd cards? not really.. I'll just switch cards more often and rarely use burst mode. I usually convert to jpeg in lightroom with some additional post processing.
- better build quality? I like the k-x quality and additional wetaher resitance will already be bonus
- lower max shutter count - should not be a problems as I will not reach it anyway :P

any thoughts on what else I should consider?

[Nicolas06]

@Nicolas06
I already made my mind to buy K-70 when I saw your post, and this made me read a lot more stuff about k-3 (II) and k-70 while I should be working :P and a lot more thinking and a decision to be made once again...
You are right with most of the points, but thinking my decision through I will stay with K-70, and if I regret it.. in few years I will but the successor of K-3 II which most probably will have EVERYTHING by the time

At this moment it is the best decision for me because:
1. I am not a professional and if I fail some shots due to exposure of focus, I'll live or fix it in PS/lightroom and still print it for my family in size 10x15. They will not notice
What ever happen hopefully, you'll live Underexposure can be fixed easily. Moderate overexposure too. Missed focus photo is for the trash. From experience, it is always anoying when you trash the only pictures of a scene you wanted to keep but that highly depend of the difficulty to shoot the scene, the lens and training... With K5 most of my shallow dof shots where off because the camera would always focus on the eyes or the ear instead of the eyes (AF points too big) but for action in day light I just used f/8 or f/11 to facilitate the AF work and got great results. But for occasions like ice rink the keeper was more like 0%
2. Wi-fi for indoor shots and live view of results on PC - should be great
I agree. I never do that. But many pro do that on studio shots, you can also show your pictures on a tablet. Myself I just take the SD card, I never even connected the camera to the computer !!! I must be a dinosaur !
3. pixel-shift should make fine results with flowers and/or in-home still objects
Yep for 30x40" print shots when you take a magnifying glass And only for still subjects on a tripod. And K3-II has that too.
4. build in flash - as I will not drag external flash to my walks etc.. at this moment I just put camera with one lens (usually DA 55-300) into anything I take with myself, like bag, backapack etc..
K3 has built-in flash.
5. it is lighter and smaller
Yep, key for me at least. Too bad K3 so heavy
6. tilt sreen will be great especially as after motorbike accident my knees are no longer as good as they were :P
Yep tilt screen might be quite usefull at time.
7. 4,5 stops of shake reduction will be nice - have You seen the 1/13 hand held from japanees commerscials? looks great!
I shot 1/5s with my K3 or even K5 But I admit under 1/10 this become challenging. K3-II has that too.
8. I will take new one from shop on invoice and put it as a cost to my bussines - so I will pay less taxes
This apply to all theses cameras. K3 & K70 are same price new anyway.

What I might regret/miss?
- better battery? probably not as I rarely make more than 200 shots a day. I just prefer to take less photos and probably spend a little more time on them than other way around. And I always can take an extra battery
- top screen - ok.. this is a minus as I see the bonus having it and would like to have it but.. I\ll come with tilt screen and in live view info
- two sd cards? not really.. I'll just switch cards more often and rarely use burst mode. I usually convert to jpeg in lightroom with some additional post processing.
- better build quality? I like the k-x quality and additional wetaher resitance will already be bonus
- lower max shutter count - should not be a problems as I will not reach it anyway :P
=> more direct access controls.
=> frustration when AF fail.

any thoughts on what else I should consider?

Yep this is really a question of taste/use case. Myself didn't trust it before trying but I found AF performance really key. It affect the feeling of the camera and its responsiveness all the time. With all K5 I had to MF for shallow dof, AF wasn't working well at all in low light (low light AF is fixed in K70) and many lenses struggled and were slow FA50, DA50-135. The lenses got much faster/better/responsives and that changed the way I could approach photography or shalldow dof.

But for everybody this is different. This might be the articulated screen that see lot of use or wifi. I never tether from my computer honestly and almost never shoot small objects in my home but I understand that somebody working on small still subjects on a macro lens would have very different approach.

If interrested, a few more remarks inside your post.

What is important in the end is you are happy with the decision !!! The reality is any camera can do the job. A better camera only compensate (and only partially) for the photographer. Myself I hate MF, so AF is key. i make the camera compensate for me. You that would be the articulated screen.