[devouges]

Hi everyone,

Now that the dust is settling on the K1, I am wondering, what do you think the next APSC ( k3ii upgrade) look like ? Any rumors put there ? Will it have a flippable screen ? More Pixels ? Faster AF ? etc..... Prophet are comments welcome....

[bobmaxja]

Probably already dozen of thread started on this subject

[Paul the Sunman]

Flip out screen though probably not the full K1 war-of-the-worlds structure, wifi, improved SR, improved pixel shift, possibly GPS. However, the sensor is a greater mystery. There has to be a sensible limit to how many pixels you can pack on an APS-C sensor and still retain IQ credibility.

[pathdoc]

The dust won't be settled until all the early pre-order people have their unboxing videos on YouTube.

That being said, I think we will probably see K-3 guts in a slightly shrunken K-1 body, so we get the benefits of the new control system. Crop mode of course will vanish (no need). What will be interesting is how they implement the new SR system; there may or may not be problems with shrinking the full frame system down to fit around & work with a crop sensor, but I'm sure that their experience will help them implement 5-axis IBIS on the crop sensor eventually. We may be waiting a year or two for them to get it absolutely perfect, though, so don't hold your breath. You might yet see an interim camera with K-1 type controls, screen, SAFOX-12 and some of the other goodies (note that all the focus points are inside the crop zone, so I reckon it could be ported to crop easily), but standard 3-axis IBIS for the initial model.

I think if Pentax admitted outright the complexities involved with shrinking the 5-axis system down, the Pentax community would be tolerant of it.

[Blacknight659]

Flip out screen though probably not the full K1 war-of-the-worlds structure, wifi, improved SR, improved pixel shift, possibly GPS. However, the sensor is a greater mystery. There has to be a sensible limit to how many pixels you can pack on an APS-C sensor and still retain IQ credibility.

Agreed, there has to be a limit. I know M43 used be limited to 16mp and they are now up to 20ish. If they use the same design for APS-C there has to be a few more pixels they can cram in there with today's technology. Personally, 16mp of the K-5iis hasn't held me back, but I understand we all want the next best thing.

[totsmuyco]

One thing for sure, some of the characteristics of the k-1 will be used in the next k-3 successor. But I certainly don't want it to be the size of the k-1. I still wish for better AF and better noise for high ISO at low light. I also wish we could have noise free output at 3200 at the very least.

[Na Horuk]

Dunno. Just look at the Nikon APSC flagship; Pentax usually makes something similar, with the same Sony sensor, a couple months, maybe a year, after Nikon does. What is it, D7100? D7200?
I'm only wondering about Flash vs. GPS; and whether the tilt screen will be exactly like on the K-1 or something different

[Sandy Hancock]

AF sensors to the edge of the frame (i.e. the same system as the K-1)
>10 fps in burst mode, with a deep buffer
24Mp is plenty
WiFi, GPS, flippy screen, etc

Then there will be the cool stuff.

[FantasticMrFox]

I'd assume they will keep the K3's body, or keep it very similar. No need to make it as big as the K-1.

My prediction is an articulating screen (K-S2 style), the K-1's AF system, Wi-Fi, improved SR, an improved 24 MP sensor with better dynamic range and high ISO performance and ... that's it. Maybe 1080/60p video instead of 1080/30p, and the better flash sync speed. The 8.3 fps burst rate is plenty and still excellent, maybe just work on reducing the slow down in AF.C. Maybe a touchscreen? The D500 has one, and it appears to be quite useful.

That's what I think will happen, here's what I would like to happen:

I would like to see a more improved AF system, with a wider coverage of the frame. If they add a row/column of AF points on all sides for a total of 49 points rather than the current 27 while keeping the spacing the same, we get a nice, wide coverage of the viewfinder. Not as great as the D500, but somewhere on the level of the Nikon D7200 (51 AF points) or Canon 80D (45 AF points). The K3 II was only a marginal update of the K3, so it's time for a larger one. It's AF system was a massive improvement over the K5's one, upping the AF points from 11 to 27, so we should expect a similar numerical improvement in a new K?. I also think Ricoh needs to make the jump some time from their current two-step "rough focus, stop, fine focus" method to a quicker and more precise continuous focus method found in Canon und Nikon cameras.

But can Pentax introduce a much improved AF system in an APS-C DSLR while their recent, more expensive FF flagship only gets a minor improvement? I guess it depends on when the K3 successor will be introduced. If it is only in mid-2017 and the K-1 II is already in the pipeline, they might pull it off.

Something else that I find intriguing is what Nikon did in their D500 - the camera automatically calibrates PDAF for any lens you mount. No more lengthy Siemens star shots to find out the right amount of micro adjustment. If that stuff works with various focal lengths and subject distances, it would be amazing. This feature will definitely be found in most DSLRs in the future, but can Pentax already put in in the K3 successor? Probably not, but we can dream

[VoiceOfReason]

K mount...

[totsmuyco]

Just an additional thought came to me. Maybe it should just have a little modification from the k-3/II bodies. Probably a flip screen. Then there shouldn't be any changes with the battery and the battery grip.

[mille19]

I hope the next APSC will be aimed more towards the Sports/Wildlife photogs.
16 or 24mp, better high ISO, faster focussing and higher frame rate would make me happy :-)

[Bophoto]

The question are, are Pentax going to have 2 or 3 APS DSLR cameras. With 3 Aps cameras a K3III are a K1 in APS format. But this K3III take buyers from K1. My guess is 2 APS cameras, so it can be a KS-3 that looks like KS-2 and don´t have all things from K1. But perhaps some (or many) K5 or K3 ( other brands too) users think K1 are to expensive but don´t want a simpler camera.

But if Pentax now have more engineers so that they have time to make a new K-02, a mirrorless instep camera, they can make a update to KS-2 and K3 and leave the instep to mirrorless. It make more sense, but i don´t think Pentax have enough with engineers for that.

[pathdoc]

I would like to see a more improved AF system, with a wider coverage of the frame

If you look at the crop area of the K-1's viewfinder, I think all 33 focus points are within it. So porting over the SAFOX-12 system shouldn't be a problem from that regard. So far it hasn't been tested in the field with production firmware, so I'm regarding the jury as "out" with regards to current standards of Pentax AF performance.

Something else that I find intriguing is what Nikon did in their D500 - the camera automatically calibrates PDAF for any lens you mount.

Pentax being able to do this depends on knowing more or less exactly what's done and how, and either being willing to pay a licence fee for the technology (unlikely) or finding a way to do it that doesn't infringe on the existing patent - otherwise it will be Minolta vs Honeywell all over again and Pentax really will be doomed.

I think your predictions of what WILL happen are more than likely correct.

[FantasticMrFox]

If you look at the crop area of the K-1's viewfinder, I think all 33 focus points are within it.

Yes, but they don't cover a particularly wide area. And if they did, they would be spaced pretty far apart.

So porting over the SAFOX-12 system shouldn't be a problem from that regard.

It just seems it's time for a larger upgrade. The K5 II was only a minor update of the K5 AF wise (no additional AF points), the K3 was a major update over the K5 II (almost twice the number of AF points), the K3 II was a minor update (no additional AF points), and now it's time for a larger update again. And it would be a) useful, because a wider coverage is never wrong (sometimes 'more' does actually equal 'better'), and b) the competitors (D7200 and 80D) already have about twice the number of AF points the K3 II has. We know AF is not Pentax' strong point, and probably not something they want to compete on, but they do need to at least not let the gap widen.

Pentax being able to do this depends on knowing more or less exactly what's done and how, and either being willing to pay a licence fee for the technology (unlikely) or finding a way to do it that doesn't infringe on the existing patent - otherwise it will be Minolta vs Honeywell all over again and Pentax really will be doomed.

True. I don't expect it to be copied very soon, but in a couple of years it will probably be common place in DSLRs (provided DSLRs are still a thing then).