[Kiddo70]

As a general comment, don’t knock an EVF until you have really tried them. The refresh rates in the Panasonic G9 and the Olympus M1 mark III is 120 frames per second and there is no blackout during exposure. I like OVFs but I can use EVFs just as well for wildlife photography. And as a final comment, you might as well learn to use EVFs since the major manufacturers are tending in that direction. I’m keeping my K3iii but it’s not my only camera system.

[UncleVanya]

As a general comment, don’t knock an EVF until you have really tried them. The refresh rates in the Panasonic G9 and the Olympus M1 mark III is 120 frames per second and there is no blackout during exposure. I like OVFs but I can use EVFs just as well for wildlife photography. And as a final comment, you might as well learn to use EVFs since the major manufacturers are tending in that direction. I’m keeping my K3iii but it’s not my only camera system.

EVF/OVF is very personal. I have used enough that I don't find EVF difficult. However neither of these cameras has an EVF... so maybe there's a better place to hash this out?

[cls]

Oh, and one interesting observation just before I left for the day. In good light and the bird positioned right the K3III's zone-select AF very often went to the bird's eye. I don't know if I'd seen this before, but I have tweaked some settings in the past 2 weeks.

Would you humour me by sharing your setting tweaks? I read Kobie's post and have messed around with settings a bit but haven't found anything magic, yet. I continue to experiment, but definitely appreciate others' insights as well: I take Kobie's general point that the camera does best when settings are used intentionally for the shooting/subject conditions. I need to have a quick reference card!

[biz-engineer]

The D500 subject recognition failed in this specific case and focused on the wrong subject. Missed the shot. The K3III was successful. Nice clean and focused, did not miss the shot.

If you selected the AF coverage and framed the shot to have the D500 fail, obviously it failed. But I can't call this a fully objective test. Come on, focusing on a static subjects like these is extremely easy task for a D500, of course if you place the D500 AF point on foliage it couldn't focus on the bird.

[Sandy Hancock]

If you selected the AF coverage and framed the shot to have the D500 fail, obviously it failed. But I can't call this a fully objective test. Come on, focusing on a static subjects like these is extremely easy task for a D500, of course if you place the D500 AF point on foliage it couldn't focus on the bird.

Perhaps you could give gatorguy the benefit of assuming he knows what he's doing. After all, he managed to point the AF point on the K-3 III in the right place. Consistently.

He is, however, new to the D500, and by his own admission is on a learning curve.

[gatorguy]

You can choose anywhere between 1 and 9 fps for CL in Menu > Custom Setting > d. Shooting/display > a1.

Thanks RollsUp. Found it.

[Kobie]

If you selected the AF coverage and framed the shot to have the D500 fail, obviously it failed. But I can't call this a fully objective test. Come on, focusing on a static subjects like these is extremely easy task for a D500, of course if you place the D500 AF point on foliage it couldn't focus on the bird.

I don't think he used spot focus so there is no "place the AF point on foliage". It's a Zone focus array which is multiple AF points that are being used in a more concentrated grid which allows the camera to detect a subject without being distracted by other potential subjects within the field of view. Given the K-3 III's subject recognition, it should have (and did) lock onto the bird and ignore the random foliage.
The K-3 III does not act like the previous generation Pentax cameras which would have focused on the closest "thing" to the camera. Turning the subject recognition off would have the K-3 III behave more in line with previous generation Pentax cameras. That's why subject recognition ONLY works in full auto AF (entire AF array), or Zone (more condensed AF array) and does not work in any other AF mode (spot, or any of the SEL modes).

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Last edited by Kobie; 08-04-2022 at 07:48 AM.

[biz-engineer]

The K-3 III does not act like the previous generation Pentax cameras which would have focused on the closest "thing" to the camera.

If the K3III, a DSLR, can recognize a subject reliably, I am very impressed. I've seen an eye AF of the K3 III demo, and I wasn't impressed however (not accurate IMO).

[Kobie]

If the K3III, a DSLR, can recognize a subject reliably, I am very impressed. I've seen an eye AF of the K3 III demo, and I wasn't impressed however (not accurate IMO).

A lot has changed (improved) as of firmware 1.41

[Rondec]

If the K3III, a DSLR, can recognize a subject reliably, I am very impressed. I've seen an eye AF of the K3 III demo, and I wasn't impressed however (not accurate IMO).

My experience with zone auto focus is that you are selecting a block of focus points and then it will focus on the eye. I do not shoot wildlife but it has worked like a treat with photos of my kids.

I just got the K-3 III a month ago, but my understanding is, as Kobie says, that the initial firmware wasn't great but that it is better now. Certainly my experience is good with it.

[gatorguy]

Yay, it's Friday!

That means I'll be out tomorrow morning trying to wrap up the 55-300 comparisons and hopefully get a few Nikkor 16-80 2.8E VR/D500 and Pentax 16-50 2.8 PLM/K3III combo shots in too. I'm expecting those smaller zooms on the two bodies to perform more closely alike than the two 55-300's have so far.

[gatorguy]

Hey guys, if you're not commenting on either the D500 or K3III, or one of the lenses used for the comparison, please move it to a different and more appropriate thread, or start one if you wish. Not here. There are more than a few members specifically interested in how the K3III compares to the best DSLR AF available up until now.

An entire page of comments taking a left hand turn have been trimmed.

[gatorguy]

Okay, I've had a better thought. And this one's far more forum member friendly. �� I'm going to restore all those posts but move them into a new thread.

Several of you had put a fair amount of time into replies and discussion and I don't want anyone disappointed that it's gone now.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/173-general-photography/445071-general-evf-discussion.html

[Larrymc]

Hey guys, if you're not commenting on either the D500 or K3III, or one of the lenses used for the comparison, please move it to a different and more appropriate thread, or start one if you wish. Not here. There are more than a few members specifically interested in how the K3III compares to the best DSLR AF available up until now.

An entire page of comments taking a left hand turn have been trimmed.

@gatorguy,Thank you so much for doing this. I had written a "take it elsewhere" post earlier but decided not to post it. My post would have probably offended a few members so I checked if any moderator had taken care of the direction the posts were headed that were unrelated to the Mk III. It seems that certain members are always the ones who either knowingly or otherwise hijack threads to push their agenda.

[gatorguy]

I had an unplanned early morning opportunity today to shoot the 14 and under portion of the wakeboarding national championships, and initially took only the D500 with Tamron 150-600 (bootin' and shootin'). It performed great, far better than the 55-300/Nikon combo

A couple of hours after returning home I went back with the K3III and 150-450. It too performed great. But that 600mm range was a definite advantage for the Nikon. I wished I could have filled the frame a bit more with the Pentax when the boarders were at the farthest end of the course.

Not having my 1.7 TC with me I can't say for 100% it might not have been just as good optically at an effective 630mm with it, but I suspect not. If I can get out tomorrow morning I plan to confirm that. But at the moment that used sub-$1000 Tamron has exceeded expectations and I'd recommend it if you're on a budget. Even if you're NOT on a budget for that matter.