[Garthgoyle]

I doubt they make another camera after the K3.iii.

Their decision to stay DSLR will cost them. Only existing users with many lenses and fanboys would get into a new Pentax. Add the chips shortage.

They'll probably keep recycling their current cameras into "new" special editions. Like the K3.iii in all black, which I was able to hold in my hands last week in Shinjuku and dang it looks good! Tho I put it right back where it was when the staff at Pentax told me the camera would be ¥300,000 ($3,000) body only. So yeah. A fanboys camera company.

[wadge22]

Tho I put it right back where it was when the staff at Pentax told me the camera would be ¥300,000 ($3,000) body only.

Except that 300,000 yen is actually 2,350 usd. And that price is for the K3iii with the 20-40 (the only way it's available). Perhaps the staff at Pentax wasn't that well informed?

[clackers]

Not liking the larger format K3iii body I wonder if Pentax will release a smaller bodied camera along the lines of the KP? If you are listening Pentax please do consider it as not everyone likes larger camera bodies. Just saying.

Aren't they the same size, Grcolts?

[donaldslevine]

I spent 2000 for a new K3Mkiii. I also have a Leica X-Vario. I bought a demo KP on a whim and like it better than the K3Mkiii. It's nifty, smaller and easy. The Leica of course has an incredible if rather slow lens and while it can be played with is basically my point and shoot. My decision now is whether to sell the K3Mkiii because I prefer using the KP.

[RobA_Oz]

I spent 2000 for a new K3Mkiii. I also have a Leica X-Vario. I bought a demo KP on a whim and like it better than the K3Mkiii. It's nifty, smaller and easy. The Leica of course has an incredible if rather slow lens and while it can be played with is basically my point and shoot. My decision now is whether to sell the K3Mkiii because I prefer using the KP.

Where does the output come into your decision-making? I can live with something that is ergonomically less appealing if it gives me what I deem to be better results. However, a camera (as with just about everything I own) has to appeal to me sufficiently that I actually want to use it, and that appeal is multi-faceted (ie simplified as input, process and output).

[RobA_Oz]

Not liking the larger format K3iii body I wonder if Pentax will release a smaller bodied camera along the lines of the KP? If you are listening Pentax please do consider it as not everyone likes larger camera bodies. Just saying.

Aren't they the same size, Grcolts?

Very similar, although the KP avoids the "shoulder hunch" of the K-3iii, and the K-3iii is noticeably heavier. What surprised me with this comparison is that the body thickness of the K-3iii (excluding protrusions, as the comparison says) is actually slimmer than that of the KP.

[reh321]

I doubt they make another camera after the K3.iii.

Their decision to stay DSLR will cost them. Only existing users with many lenses and fanboys would get into a new Pentax. Add the chips shortage.

They'll probably keep recycling their current cameras into "new" special editions. Like the K3.iii in all black, which I was able to hold in my hands last week in Shinjuku and dang it looks good! Tho I put it right back where it was when the staff at Pentax told me the camera would be ¥300,000 ($3,000) body only. So yeah. A fanboys camera company.

At an age of around 71 when I purchased my KP, I expected that it was the last camera I would ever purchase ….. then came the K-3iii!!!!!
It is too much for me, but it does seem to improve on the KP’s focusing, so put its focusing into a K-70 and I would happily send more money Pentax’s way.

On the other hand, I have zero interest in spending my money on a camera that is merely a cosmetic variation on a camera that had previously existed.

I am interested in what a camera can do - not in how it looks.

[clackers]

Very similar, although the KP avoids the "shoulder hunch" of the K-3iii, and the K-3iii is noticeably heavier. What surprised me with this comparison is that the body thickness of the K-3iii (excluding protrusions, as the comparison says) is actually slimmer than that of the KP.

Yeah, and it's only 100g at that.

'Larger format' and 'smaller bodied' were big claims by the OP!

We're talking, four ounces?

[SFX]

I agree. Between my K1/K5IIS, my KP is the absolute favorite. For example, the 50 1.4 goes on the KP (lighter and narrower) and the 85 1.4 on the K1 (heavier and larger, but best optical results). I think that for practical reasons K3III is the successor of KP (which was unfairly criticized by us as users). No experience with K3 III yet.

---------- Post added 04-27-22 at 07:18 AM ----------

i own k1 II , k3 III , but kp it's my favorite one .

I agree. Between my K1/K5IIS, my KP is the absolute favorite. For example, the 50 1.4 goes on the KP (lighter and narrower) and the 85 1.4 on the K1 (heavier and larger, but best optical results). I think that for practical reasons K3III is the successor of KP (which was unfairly criticized by us as users). No experience with K3 III yet.

[Garthgoyle]

Except that 300,000 yen is actually 2,350 usd. And that price is for the K3iii with the 20-40 (the only way it's available). Perhaps the staff at Pentax wasn't that well informed?

2,350USD only if you're exchanging currencies from one country to another. But if your money's in yenes... :'(

[gatorguy]

Very similar, although the KP avoids the "shoulder hunch" of the K-3iii, and the K-3iii is noticeably heavier. What surprised me with this comparison is that the body thickness of the K-3iii (excluding protrusions, as the comparison says) is actually slimmer than that of the KP.

Thanks for that Rob. Also apparent in your comparison images is how better the controls are placed on the K3III. Such a small difference in weight and size but a huge improvement in ergonomics IMO. More secure in hand and the controls far easier to operate, particularly so on those rare days when it's been necessary to wear light gloves. Buttons and dials are in just the right places with room to maneuver. Anyone who is under the impression the K3III is a much larger camera should find an opportunity to hold one in hand. It is not IMO. I'm sure there's reason to love the KP, but being a lot smaller and more "mirrorless-like" in size is not one of them. And yes I was a KP owner. As it turned out it just wasn't a camera I ever connected with, the only Pentax I ever bought that wasn't for me, and I really did want to love it.

So I don't think there will ever be another Pentax camera designed like the KP, and if there was it will be north of $1300 IMO anyway and come with truncated features and crippled performance compared to the K3III which is regularly available at less than $2000 US. Pentax fans are doing themselves a disservice if they think the size of the K3III makes it a non-starter as a substitute. For most intents it's the same size as the KP, which is factually even larger than the K-70.

[reh321]

Thanks for that Rob. Also apparent in your comparison images is how better the controls are placed on the K3III. Such a small difference in weight and size but a huge improvement in ergonomics IMO. More secure in hand and the controls far easier to operate, particularly so on those rare days when it's been necessary to wear light gloves. Buttons and dials are in just the right places with room to maneuver. Anyone who is under the impression the K3III is a much larger camera should find an opportunity to hold one in hand. It is not IMO. I'm sure there's reason to love the KP, but being a lot smaller and more "mirrorless-like" in size is not one of them. And yes I was a KP owner. As it turned out it just wasn't a camera I ever connected with, the only Pentax I ever bought that wasn't for me, and I really did want to love it.

So I don't think there will ever be another Pentax camera designed like the KP, and if there was it will be north of $1300 IMO anyway and come with truncated features and crippled performance compared to the K3III which is regularly available at less than $2000 US. Pentax fans are doing themselves a disservice if they think the size of the K3III makes it a non-starter as a substitute. For most intents it's the same size as the KP, which is factually even larger than the K-70.

For me, the price of the K-3iii is what makes it a non-starter.
The KP is a great camera for me.

[Aqvilla]

Not liking the larger format K3iii body I wonder if Pentax will release a smaller bodied camera along the lines of the KP? If you are listening Pentax please do consider it as not everyone likes larger camera bodies. Just saying.

I would say it depends on how big hands you have. To my large hands it fits perfect and I can handle the camera with my largest zoom-lens with one hand, if necessary. To other user it can surely be too heavy. Thats why it is important to visit a physical photoshop, or an owner, to try it firat.

[gatorguy]

For me, the price of the K-3iii is what makes it a non-starter.

Yes I completely understand that you're sensitive to pricing, as are a large number of standalone would-be and current camera owners. Would you buy a new KPII for $1500?

Just know that the days of cheap mid-range cameras is over. You will never be buying a new one if waiting for that old KP pricing. The closest in size and layout to a KP that I'm aware of is the Fuji X-T4 and that's a $1700 camera. There is no longer a large enough base to take full advantage of economy of scale, so your market is going to be limited to used (and lots of very good and carefully used DSLR's out there if you're looking to upgrade) or none at all.

For anyone looking for a hugely capable and ergonomic new camera you won't find a better bargain than the $600 K-70 from any manufacturer. It's essentially a mid-range stills camera masquerading as an entry-level one. Anything more capable for stills will come in twice the price, and still won't have the proven design, control layout, and menu structure of the Pentax line. IMHO for a new highly capable, twin card WR and dust-proof camera competing with full-framers, the K3III is not over-priced at under $2K and that's including a battery-grip. New cameras are not for the budget-minded anymore.

[dudu]

It really is a beautiful device. When you start using it more seriously, however, you notice its shortcomings, beautiful and small in any way.
1. For the sake of the attachments attached to the body, space is lost for the battery.
2. The D Li-90 battery does not fit and is replaced by a much weaker DLi-109 that does not cope with KP's overpowering machinery. It should be added here that the battery grip does not have a tray for AA batteries. These, together with the fact that the D Li - 109 battery is the most expensive in the range, make the power supply part extremely inefficient.
3. Due to the otherwise pleasant size of the device, the navigation buttons are positioned too close to the right edge of the device, and it often happens to me that when I hold it only with my right hand, it presses without to realize, on the right navigation button and it was found that I shoot in a burst or that I overlap two images. It's not really bad for the landscape, but everything is lost on the street.
Otherwise, the device is OK. I don't think I'll change it long enough.