Originally posted by BrianR I'd rather have an unobtrusive feature included
See that's the thing, one the K5, it was out of the way but now on the K3 it is using some real estate on the back of the body. Video mode has its own dedicated switch, which is used for nothing else. Shooting video requires the same amount if not more commitment as shooting stills; lighting is more important, being stable is more important. So in a way, shooting video requires more work and more preparation than shooting stills so the speed at which you can get to the video mode probably doesn't matter all that much.
Anyone heading out to do some serious video work will do just that; go out and shoot a movie. The rest of us who may want to shoot a short clip here and there could probably live with turning the mode dial and have the switch on the back perform another duty.
I'm sure that most videographer would rather have the option to quickly shoot stills while doing video (which is still not possible with Pentax) than having a dedicated switch for video on the back.
As a photographer, I can think of a few things this switch could do which would be more useful than engage the video mode. Stuff I actually change several times a day when shooting; SR and AA filter comes to mind. And I do miss the dedicated switch for AF mode of the K5, which I could change without looking.
---------- Post added 08-17-14 at 10:57 ----------
Originally posted by vonBaloney Play it on the tv and anything "frozen" like sensor dust or hot pixel will stick out like a sore thumb...
Well that is clever, kudos for creative use of the video mode