[moray-eel-bite]

Hi all.
For the digital age I had a k7 followed by a k3 and just today received the k3-iii and all I can say is I wish I had bought it when it first came out. The autofocus is so vastly better that it’s a very different experience. And being able to control the camera from my phone makes me not care about a tilting screen. Haven’t attached a plm lens yet (tomorrow I’ll try a few others) and even still am loving it. Glad I didn’t dump Pentax for Sony after all. If you’ve been on the fence for a few years like me don’t hesitate. It’s a much better experience in my opinion. I was very close to tossing in the towel for better autofocus. I’ve yet to see what it’ll do for birds but so far I’m very happy.

[Michaelina2]

Good decision... the K-3iii is the real deal.

For maximum goodness, be sure to update the firmware to the most recent version.

Cheers... M

[moray-eel-bite]

Good decision... the K-3iii is the real deal.

For maximum goodness, be sure to update the firmware to the most recent version.

Cheers... M

Yes, almost the first thing I did. It was shipped with 1.21.

[biz-engineer]

Before you were waiting for the camera after you pressed buttons. Now the camera processor is overclocked, nervously waiting for you to do something, most of the time.

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Last edited by biz-engineer; 01-25-2023 at 04:22 AM.

[moray-eel-bite]

Before you were waiting for the camera after you pressed buttons. Now the camera processor is overclocked, nervously waiting for you to do something, most of the time.

Yes. I agree. I will say I was okay with the k3 in pretty much all respects except the autofocus. Having two small kids even the plm lenses just couldn’t quite cope unless they were still (so never).
It’s going to take a while to figure out the menu system, but other than that I like everything about the k3-iii. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the phone control works. Taking the odd family portrait will be so much easier now. All things considered I should have bought it at launch. I’ve been using my iPhone for most photos lately, but now I can confidently take them on the camera.

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Yes. I agree. I will say I was okay with the k3 in pretty much all respects except the autofocus. Having two small kids even the plm lenses just couldn’t quite cope unless they were still (so never).
It’s going to take a while to figure out the menu system, but other than that I like everything about the k3-iii. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the phone control works. Taking the odd family portrait will be so much easier now. All things considered I should have bought it at launch. I’ve been using my iPhone for most photos lately, but now I can confidently take them on the camera.

Glad you like it. I sure like mine.
Also, I went from K-3...which isn't bad.

Besides phone control, I like the "Live view" with electronic shutter. I can tap screen where I want it to focus and shoot. It's silent!

[GaryM]

Glad you like it. I sure like mine.
Also, I went from K-3...which isn't bad.

Besides phone control, I like the "Live view" with electronic shutter. I can tap screen where I want it to focus and shoot. It's silent!

These are the features that I want for the next K-1, including the joystick. That's all I really want, everything else will be a bonus.

[titrisol]

The k3-iii was a quantum leap for me (from the k5) and yes, it is a beauty

[Pentax4me]

For me, there was a big jump from the K-5 to the K-3. Usually, I have all 6 of the lens corrections applied (shadow, highlight, distortion, vignetting, diffraction, and lateral chromatic aberration) turned on, since I shoot JPEG and like to do as little editing as possible. With the K-5, it would take the camera a second or two to save to memory after each shot, which meant waiting after every shot for the camera to catch up, which would keep interrupting a series of shots, particularly when working with a model.

With the K-3, the camera’s computer is quick enough to process the corrections in the blink of an eye, so I could shoot without any interruptions. Next month, I’ll be doing my first model shoot with the K-3 III, and it will be great to get sharper images even at ISO 6400. What a change from shooting film, when 800-speed Fuji film would give me the slight degree of softness that I wanted, but was the highest speed that would give acceptable results.

I’m also looking forward to shooting birds with the k-3 III, because its improved autofocus speed over the K-3 should be very helpful.

[moray-eel-bite]

So I’ve had a chance to use it on many lenses now and the camera has definitely breathed new life into several lenses. In particular my sigma 70-200 hsm nails focus now and it was hit and miss on the k3. Same with the bigma. Very happy with the autofocus.

[tonyzoc]

Just a warning... After you buy the 55-300 PLM you will want the 16-50 2.8 PLM... Actually you'll want all lenses to be PLM.