Testmessage please ignore.
---------- Post added 09-27-18 at 01:56 AM ----------
First, thanks for all the input! Second, for some reason the forum blocks me when trying to post my reply with a lot of quotes, so sorry for the delay.
So I'll try to post this step by step.
My collected thoughts:
This is/was my kit:
Samyang 8mm f3.5 --> hand-held group-ie photo fun
Pentax DA 35mm f2.8 --> workhorse while traveling (doesn't really warrant need for higher sensor resolution than the K30 offered I think)
Pentax M 50mm f1.7 --> workhorse walk-around
Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 --> too big, will look for 200mm prime to replace this
Samyang 500mm f6.3 --> so so much fun, looking for the 800mm variety
Things that are important to me:
- Center point AF (both K3/70 have the better AF motor)
- Very good JPG performance, I like pictures to be "done" when they come out of the camera.
- As a consequence, good white balance and metering (I think K3 has the upper hand with the 86k RPG sensor)
- MF-focus performance i.e. focus peaking in live-view would be nice. However as with the K30, center-spot AF confirmation usually does the trick for me.
- Bulb mode for at least 15 min. (I think K3/70/5 all have it)
- Ability to set minimum exposure time for manual lenses. Basically I want to set shutter speed to 1/500 or faster and ISO to maximum ~6400 while using the mirror lenses. K30 couldn't do it and I'm not sure if either K3/70/5 can do it.
- Good battery life is nice
- Good On-Camera display
KS2: I somehow can't arrange myself with the KS2, price-wise it's too close to the K5II/K3 and offers nothing really important for me.
K70 600€ new, not available used. Really tempting IQ wise, however the K3 should be a step up from the K30 anyway so it's not that big of a deal. However I really like the mirror lenses and they benefit hugely from high ISO performance which the K70 can do really well.
K3 520€ used good condition (or down to 400€ with scratches and around 20k shuttercount). Very appealing for it's long battery life, non-swivel screen and pro feature-set, also general sturdiness and great ergonomics.
K5II 300€ used around 30k shuttercount (or 400€ with <10k). I think I have to dig into the in-depth review again to get a better feel for this one, although price seems a bit high for it's age. (The K5IIs is just not available).
In general I think I might benefit from the K3 functionality more than from the added IQ of the K70. Also its quite a bit cheaper.
---------- Post added 09-27-18 at 01:57 AM ----------
Originally posted by Adam If you loved the K-30, the K-70 is basically a K-30 on steroids, so you might really enjoy it.
I somehow misremembered the K70 IQ section when I read the review way back. This is really impressive IQ, I never thought the K70 would outperform the K3. This makesthe choice a bittougher. Still not loving the screen though...
Originally posted by pres589 K-5 II and IIs are nice for low light, only bettered on that list by the K-70 and KP. K-5 II has a better battery than those two cameras. It's not perfect and it's not compatible with some of the latest lenses from Pentax but I would consider it strongly if the KP isn't your cup of tea. And the cost basis is crazy; no way would I consider a KP to be three times the camera that a K-5 II is.
I took a closer look at the availability of the K5iis and it's pretty rare and costs nearly the same as the k3 with a reasonable shuttercount.
Originally posted by shardulm Sorry for some reason I was thinking you already owned a K-1ii and needed a backup.
I wish! But battery life of the K70 is a bit on the short side, but with batteries pretty cheap I try not to worry about it. Also I don't have any old batteries lying around.
---------- Post added 09-27-18 at 02:15 AM ----------
It seems some forms of quotes or even @ username breaks the forum for me, getting my IP blocked. Resulting in a 404 error when trying to post and subsequently beingunable to access pentaxforums.com at all.