[cdw2000]

I took advantage of the current sale and purchased the K-3 III. It arrived last Friday. Here are my 1st impressions as a K-70 owner/user who was looking to upgrade (just using the camera in my back yard over the weekend):

1. The viewfinder - WOW! Noticeably brighter and I like the slight magnification. I like the configurable overlays and the amount of information available. It makes the K-70 viewfinder look primitive by comparison. No cons whatsoever.

2. Focusing - Also WOW! Noticeably faster and more precise when using either my HD DA 16-85mm DC lens or my HD DA 55-300mm PLM lens. This is with mostly static targets. I need to do more testing with moving subjects.

3. Menu system - Different, but not noticeably difficult to adapt to. The Pentax support site provides a downloadable K-70 to K3 III menu translation reference sheet.

4. Shutter/Mirror action - seems quieter and better damped with less vibration from mirror slap. This might also be a side-effect of the more robust feeling, heavier body.

5. Weight - it definitely feels heavier than the K-70, but feels more balanced with the two lens I used.

6. Rear display - Lots of information available. Live View focusing seems a little better. Live View manual focus is about the same as the K-70. Alas, still no ability to change the highlight color for the Focus Peaking function.

Some room for improvement:

1. As mentioned above, provide for user selectable highlight color for Focus Peaking function.

2. Sp. Function Button - make a menu option where the button can be configured to toggle through all the Sp. Function menus instead of using the rear dial. This was how I initially though it would work and had to go back to the user manual to see that it didn't work this way.

3. Display the user assigned name to user settings U1-U5 when selected. I see this has been mentioned in other threads.

All in all, I'm happy with the new camera and do not regret my purchase.

[gatorguy]

Congrats and welcome to the flock.
Lots of info on your camera in the K3III subforum in case you hadn't noted it.

[BryantCP]

I took advantage of the current sale and purchased the K-3 III. It arrived last Friday. Here are my 1st impressions as a K-70 owner/user who was looking to upgrade (just using the camera in my back yard over the weekend):

1. The viewfinder - WOW! Noticeably brighter and I like the slight magnification. I like the configurable overlays and the amount of information available. It makes the K-70 viewfinder look primitive by comparison. No cons whatsoever.

2. Focusing - Also WOW! Noticeably faster and more precise when using either my HD DA 16-85mm DC lens or my HD DA 55-300mm PLM lens. This is with mostly static targets. I need to do more testing with moving subjects.

3. Menu system - Different, but not noticeably difficult to adapt to. The Pentax support site provides a downloadable K-70 to K3 III menu translation reference sheet.

4. Shutter/Mirror action - seems quieter and better damped with less vibration from mirror slap. This might also be a side-effect of the more robust feeling, heavier body.

5. Weight - it definitely feels heavier than the K-70, but feels more balanced with the two lens I used.

6. Rear display - Lots of information available. Live View focusing seems a little better. Live View manual focus is about the same as the K-70. Alas, still no ability to change the highlight color for the Focus Peaking function.

Some room for improvement:

1. As mentioned above, provide for user selectable highlight color for Focus Peaking function.

2. Sp. Function Button - make a menu option where the button can be configured to toggle through all the Sp. Function menus instead of using the rear dial. This was how I initially though it would work and had to go back to the user manual to see that it didn't work this way.

3. Display the user assigned name to user settings U1-U5 when selected. I see this has been mentioned in other threads.

All in all, I'm happy with the new camera and do not regret my purchase.

I also ordered one at the new sale price. I pretty much agree with your assessment, though I haven't delved into the various menu options & settings sufficiently to draw any conclusions yet as to concerns or criticisms. As much as I like my K5 & K3, this camera feels much more refined & premium. Even at default settings the output form this camera is stunning. Auto focus with lens such as the DA 18-135 is noticeably improved. Its very likely that the K3 Mk III will become my favorite camera yet, regardless of brand!

[bhbrake]

Just got My new K-3iii yesterday as well along with the DA* 11-18mm 2.8. I have been shooting with the K-3 for years this is definitely a more refined camera. Great viewfinder and great screen, but still has the familiar K-3 feel. Have only had time to tool around the neighborhood after work so far, but will be doing a mountain trip this weekend to break it in.

[kshapero]

Looking to get with new discount price.

[simon_199]

Just got a K-3iii, had only the opportunity to try it briefly around the house. I'd like some general impressions and a question and opening a new thread seemed overkill so forgive me for replying to this one on the same topic.

What I liked immediately:
1) The new shutter button mechanism: fantastic, feels incredibly premium and smooth, greatly facilitates steady handheld shooting for me. The shutter and mirror mechanism is also very well dampened.
2) IBIS is a vast improvement over the original K-3. I think it is not stressed enough in reviews. Managed several 1/20 handheld shots at 100mm with no problems, I even went down to 1/8 with decent keeper rate. Will greatly reduce the need for high-iso indoors for static subjects. It's probably not at the level of the supposedly magic Olympus IBIS+OIS, but it's certainly up to 2022 standards.
4) AF joystick. No comment needed
5) An AF module that finally works. Keeper rate vastly improved in difficult conditions. The off-center AF points are decently accurate whereas they where virtually unusable on my K-3 (unless in perfect conditions with lots of light and small apertures). It breathes new life in old screw-driven lenses that don't do that "micro-hunting" anymore and are perfectly viable (still, I much prefer DC and PLM...).
6) Top notch viewfinder with customizable overlays and lots of info, clear and bright. I admit that I was somewhat expecting more. Perhaps the K-3 OVF was "good enough" for me. I mean, it's nice to look at, but for instance I don't find manual focus any easier.

Not convinced:
1) High-iso rendering. I always shoot raw and use best available NR software (DxO DeepPrime) in my experience this kind of NR engine does not couple well with cameras that apply aggressive preprocessing to the RAW files (they all do to some extent, but Pentax is very aggressive). Or at least, it's very hit-and-miss. The in-camera algorithms for certain subjects, especially if the lens is not particularly sharp, tends to smear way more detail than it should. Whereas some shots with different subjects, lens, lighting even at very high-iso are perfectly fine and come out well from DxO. I have done some ISO 12800 test shots that are great and some terrible ISO 3200, which I used with no problem on the K-3. Will need to make a comparison in controlled conditions.


There is one thing that bugs me: i notice that the bottom/rear of the camera tends to become moderately warm, is it normal ? I am even use it with the back LCD permanently off unless for picture review.
I just did some shooting, no long burst, no video. It just seems to run hotter than my K-3 with which I have never had that feeling of the camera warming up.

[Lloyd_Christmas]

There is one thing that bugs me: i notice that the bottom/rear of the camera tends to become moderately warm, is it normal ? I am even use it with the back LCD permanently off unless for picture review.
I just did some shooting, no long burst, no video. It just seems to run hotter than my K-3 with which I have never had that feeling of the camera warming up.

Can't say I've ever had an issue with mine getting too hot. However, I'm a real power scrooge. I tend to turn the camera off/on a lot when out shooting.

[c.a.m]

There is one thing that bugs me: i notice that the bottom/rear of the camera tends to become moderately warm, is it normal ?

Yes, I have noticed the same thing with my K-3 Mark III. I wouldn't say the camera gets 'hot', but it runs warmer than my previous Pentax cameras. The hottest day on which I've been outside shooting was in the high 20's C, but I've also noticed the heating on cooler days. I haven't experienced any 'over-heating' issues, however.


- Craig

[simon_199]

Ok, thanks for the info. So it's likely not a problem in my unit. It's noticeably warmer than previous cameras. Doesn't seem like it's overheating but I was a bit worried as I was at home indoors. Very hot 29-30 °C, but no direct sunlight.

[Kobie]

Mine runs warm and in sun does get hot but it's never reached thermal shutdown temps.
Everything inside the camera is very tightly packaged which causes less heat dissipation per component.

[simon_199]

Thanks for the feedback. Today I did some further testing and didn't notice the head. It's a few degrees colder than yestergay...

Another thing I noticed (but perhaps I should open a dedicated thread) is that out of my lenses there is one, the DFA 50mm macro, that has malfunctioning AF on the K-3iii. It works fine on the K-3. On the new camera 50% of the times it locks focus normally (and does not seem to abnormally front/back focus), 50% of the times it hunts forever, the green diamond never lights up. AF-C is flat-out not working, drives the lens in this continuous micro back-and-forth movement without ever locking on anything. I tried to do obvious things like cleaning the contacts to no avail...
All my other lenses, screwdrive, DC and PLM work perfectly.

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Thanks for the feedback. Today I did some further testing and didn't notice the head. It's a few degrees colder than yestergay...

Another thing I noticed (but perhaps I should open a dedicated thread) is that out of my lenses there is one, the DFA 50mm macro, that has malfunctioning AF on the K-3iii. It works fine on the K-3. On the new camera 50% of the times it locks focus normally (and does not seem to abnormally front/back focus), 50% of the times it hunts forever, the green diamond never lights up. AF-C is flat-out not working, drives the lens in this continuous micro back-and-forth movement without ever locking on anything. I tried to do obvious things like cleaning the contacts to no avail...
All my other lenses, screwdrive, DC and PLM work perfectly.

What firmware version are you running? Have you updated to the latest firmware?

[simon_199]

FW 1.41, the one the camera shipped with. I might try to upgrade to 1.50 even if no bug fixes of this sort are mentioned. Maybe it falls under the "stability and general performance" category. It's a legacy lens with aperture ring, don't know why it shouldn't be supported but who knows.

[BGT24]

Could someone tell me if there is a noticeable improvement in image quality from the K-70? I am happy with my K-70 as I am primarily a landscape photographer and shoot static subjects, but I am considering an upgrade now that the K-3 III is only $1,600 new.

[jgnfld]

Could someone tell me if there is a noticeable improvement in image quality from the K-70? I am happy with my K-70 as I am primarily a landscape photographer and shoot static subjects, but I am considering an upgrade now that the K-3 III is only $1,600 new.

It would help if you would list what lenses you own before people can give their best advice. Given your stated needs, I suspect the K-70 is just fine with a sensor not at all markedly inferior to the K3-iii and autofocus perfectly good for static subjects. That would mean you'd want to look to lenses. But that's only a guess without further information.