[aslyfox]

equipment + knowledge + skill

I've seen some great photos posted here using " obsolete " equipment

posted by those with knowledge and skill

and I have taken photos with good/great equipment

that didn't work out well

but what do I know

I am no photographic expert, just someone who posts a lot

[dmjjr]

Focusing speed using screw drive lenses? I own three Ltd’s & a lot more older lenses-how does it perform?

[Larrymc]

Focusing speed using screw drive lenses? I own three Ltd’s & a lot more older lenses-how does it perform?

The bulk of my lenses are screw driven lens and they are much more precise using the Mk III. My Ltd's are a joy to use all are very snappy!!!

[Cerebum]

Honestly that depends - what if you already own the good glass? What if the frame rate and autofocus is the difference between a few almost perfect shots and award winning shots? I can't fault people for buying this camera if they need or want it - it's their money - but I (like both of you) couldn't justify it on top of what I already had - I couldn't even "justify" the KP over my aging K-3 - but I bought one when it was on sale and I am glad I did.

That is very true. Club competition season is upon us again. Also several photographic society members are attempting to get accreditation from national bodies. If I was pushing hard, a K3iii would be a necessity but my entries tend to be street, urban, character portraits etc. for which my KP is doing a cracking job the K3iii is a wonderful thing and I am happy when my friends buy one because it means I can enjoy it through their work

Re. Moving up from the K3 to the KP. As soon as I started shooting I saw a step up in IQ. This gave me a real fillip. I began to work on my technique which in turn made the results from the K3 better. I now often can't tell them apart I am a relative noob and getting a new camera moved me up a level, purely to make the most of what the camera could do, another good reason to upgrade. Did you get the same boost? I know you were a film shooter so your technique is probably already spot on I, on the other hand, am doing things backwards, having just discovered the joy of film (which will hopefully give my technique another boost)

[UncleVanya]

That is very true. Club competition season is upon us again. Also several photographic society members are attempting to get accreditation from national bodies. If I was pushing hard, a K3iii would be a necessity but my entries tend to be street, urban, character portraits etc. for which my KP is doing a cracking job the K3iii is a wonderful thing and I am happy when my friends buy one because it means I can enjoy it through their work

Re. Moving up from the K3 to the KP. As soon as I started shooting I saw a step up in IQ. This gave me a real fillip. I began to work on my technique which in turn made the results from the K3 better. I now often can't tell them apart I am a relative noob and getting a new camera moved me up a level, purely to make the most of what the camera could do, another good reason to upgrade. Did you get the same boost? I know you were a film shooter so your technique is probably already spot on I, on the other hand, am doing things backwards, having just discovered the joy of film (which will hopefully give my technique another boost)

That’s a great question. I personally shot a LOT of film because my dad was in the industry. I got a lot of education and breaks in the area of photography because of his connections. I think my technique in general is adaptive and I use so many types of gear that mostly I concentrate on the basic operations and composition since this generally translates across most gear.

For me I mainly saw benefits at high iso when I switched to the KP.

[jersey]

Nice review.

I agree that this is not the best camera out there and frankly I suppose it would be more reasonable to buy K-70 and lots of good photography books to learn stuff then K-3 Mk III but it still is great piece of equipment. If you walue ergonomics and quality build plus best hardware on Pentax side of photography this is a camera to get and I think it is worth every cent from those 2000 bucks.

[sebberry]

Thanks for the review! Interesting comments on the eye tracking focus. When using it in Live View, does it use a different focus system or does it perform the same?

[jacobja]

Nice video and great review. I own a K3 for 7 years and a K1 for 3 years. Both great camera's. I bought a K3-III and yes, it is expensive, but I have been using it now for a couple of months and I'm very happy with this camera,especially the autofocus.

I live in a small town and we have an International moto-cross track and when there are no races, the track is used for training purposes and as a photographer, you can go-in for free and take some pictures from the pilots training for there next race. You have a lot of pilots from all over Europe that come to this place since this track has a very good reputation.
Now with the K3, I get max 4 shots out of 10 that are in focus, the K1 is a little bit better but no more than 6, but the K3-III, it is a just amazing how fast the autofocus works. In some cases I get 10 out of 10 in focus.
So is it worth the 2K euro, for me yes, is 2K a lot, yes, but some people buy a mobile phone and pay more than 1K and they have to replace after 2 or 3 years.
Check for yourself, see link for the pictures, all shots taken with the 70-200 lens in jpg. no photoshop used, just straight out of the camera.


K3-III - Google Photos

[NZ_Ross]

I tried to be as absolutely objective and open as possible which made this much harder to do than I first thought. But it's out there now.

Thanks for this review Kobie. I enjoyed your thoughts and observations. I used your previous K-3 III comparison videos with the K-3 to help my decision making a few months back to upgrade to the K-3 III.

I had my K-3 for 7 years, dragged it all around the world, and found it completely reliable. I just sold the K-3 a week ago and it has cost me USD$130 per year to own (purchase less sale price), which I don't think is too bad an annual cost for a hobby.

I am expecting the K-3 III to cost me about USD$200 per year over an anticipated 10 year ownership, which is still ok for my hobby.

Lenses of course are a different story

Thanks again for all the work on your Youtube channel that you have done to evaluate and test the K-3 III, I have really appreciated your thoroughness and honesty.

Ross

[kypfer]

Nice to listen to a straight-talking enthusiast who knows what he's talking about and has used the camera sufficiently to have formed a useful opinion, with no histrionics
I can't disagree with anything he said, I have no experience of Nikon or Canon so can't comment there, but would have liked to seen/heard at least a mention of the wonderous backward compatibility with all K-mount lenses, got to be a feature worth celebrating!
I'm thrilled with my K-3iii, the ergonomics and configurability make it so easy to use that my K-70 and KP have almost been retired since it arrived!

[mtkeller]

Focusing speed using screw drive lenses? I own three Ltd’s & a lot more older lenses-how does it perform?

AF.C works great on my Tamron 70–200 f/2.8, both with and without the HD DA 1.4x TC.

[Larrymc]

Nice video and great review. I own a K3 for 7 years and a K1 for 3 years. Both great camera's. I bought a K3-III and yes, it is expensive, but I have been using it now for a couple of months and I'm very happy with this camera,especially the autofocus.

I live in a small town and we have an International moto-cross track and when there are no races, the track is used for training purposes and as a photographer, you can go-in for free and take some pictures from the pilots training for there next race. You have a lot of pilots from all over Europe that come to this place since this track has a very good reputation.
Now with the K3, I get max 4 shots out of 10 that are in focus, the K1 is a little bit better but no more than 6, but the K3-III, it is a just amazing how fast the autofocus works. In some cases I get 10 out of 10 in focus.
So is it worth the 2K euro, for me yes, is 2K a lot, yes, but some people buy a mobile phone and pay more than 1K and they have to replace after 2 or 3 years.
Check for yourself, see link for the pictures, all shots taken with the 70-200 lens in jpg. no photoshop used, just straight out of the camera.


K3-III - Google Photos

Nice action shots, I see you were using 1/80 sec shutter speed with good results.

[Kobie]

Thanks for the review! Interesting comments on the eye tracking focus. When using it in Live View, does it use a different focus system or does it perform the same?

Completely different focus system
In Live view it's using contrast detect AF directly from the image sensor. It's faster than previous Pentax cameras by a large margin but snail slow compared to phase difference AF when using the viewfinder.

---------- Post added 10-09-21 at 09:39 PM ----------

Thanks for this review Kobie. I enjoyed your thoughts and observations. I used your previous K-3 III comparison videos with the K-3 to help my decision making a few months back to upgrade to the K-3 III.

I had my K-3 for 7 years, dragged it all around the world, and found it completely reliable. I just sold the K-3 a week ago and it has cost me USD$130 per year to own (purchase less sale price), which I don't think is too bad an annual cost for a hobby.

I am expecting the K-3 III to cost me about USD$200 per year over an anticipated 10 year ownership, which is still ok for my hobby.

Lenses of course are a different story

Thanks again for all the work on your Youtube channel that you have done to evaluate and test the K-3 III, I have really appreciated your thoroughness and honesty.

Ross

Thank you so much!

---------- Post added 10-09-21 at 09:44 PM ----------

Nice to listen to a straight-talking enthusiast who knows what he's talking about and has used the camera sufficiently to have formed a useful opinion, with no histrionics
I can't disagree with anything he said, I have no experience of Nikon or Canon so can't comment there, but would have liked to seen/heard at least a mention of the wonderous backward compatibility with all K-mount lenses, got to be a feature worth celebrating!
I'm thrilled with my K-3iii, the ergonomics and configurability make it so easy to use that my K-70 and KP have almost been retired since it arrived!

Fair point. I could have mentioned the backwards compatibility and the new ability to dial in manual lens aperture as well.

[Larrymc]

Excellent review, Kobie, its nice to see and hear a review like yours. Very honest with no embellishments, Kudos!!

[Kobie]

Excellent review, Kobie, its nice to see and hear a review like yours. Very honest with no embellishments, Kudos!!

Thank you!