[wibbly]

hi all, been gone a while.



i have a trip to new zealand coming next year, and i'd love to have a camera with me pretty much the whole time, however the k3 kit is pretty bulky. is the kp a much more compact package? or would there be very little between a gripless k3 and the kp (practically, think body with da15 attached). i LOVE my k3, and would want something with very similar performance, hence the kp questions. or should i just buy a small fixed lens point and click for the trip?


secondly, if i decide to move away from the k3, do you think the k3 prestige carries more value than a regular k3 these days? mine has about 20k clicks on it (will have to double check), but is pretty well immaculate with everything it came with from new. box, caps, documents, strap, grip, batteries, absolutely every single little thing that it came with new would be included.

[RonHendriks1966]

K-3 and KP are about the same. No idea why people talk about KP being smaller all the time.

Compare camera dimensions side by side


Compact camera's mostly don't have the wide angle reach the da 15mm will give you. Considder a GRII or GRIII.

[Adam]

secondly, if i decide to move away from the k3, do you think the k3 prestige carries more value than a regular k3 these days? mine has about 20k clicks on it (will have to double check), but is pretty well immaculate with everything it came with from new. box, caps, documents, strap, grip, batteries, absolutely every single little thing that it came with new would be included.

I'd say you can get a slight premium, but nothing too crazy.

[robiles]

K-3 and KP are about the same. No idea why people talk about KP being smaller all the time.

Compare camera dimensions side by side


Compact camera's mostly don't have the wide angle reach the da 15mm will give you. Considder a GRII or GRIII.

On paper they are almost the same, but if you have the small grip installed on the KP, it takes a lot less space in the camera bag (at least in my configuration), the aprox 2cm that are spared, make the difference between taking an extra lens or not. If interested in more detail i will try to explain it with pics when i get hom.

[tokyoscape]

KP body is 703g vs 800g on K3.
100 grams doesn’t look like much on paper but when hold in in hand, KP definitely feels a lot lighter and will be a lot easier to carry for long hour. But K3 is heavy for a good reason; it is a solid magnesium alloy body.

[jpipg]

Have never used a K3, but I used to have a K5 which I believe is smaller than the K3. Now I use a KP, and it is far smaller and more compact than the K5. The dimensions don't really describe the size of the camera as the camera is not a box. For DLSR, the box around the camera is pretty fixed in its depth due to the mirror box, sensor and screen, and the length is pretty fixed due to the mount diameter plus an ergonomic grip.

If you look at the link posted above, you can see all the areas where there is something on the K3 filling the imaginary dimensional box that is not there on the KP. This is especially evident from the top down comparison

It is much smaller in the hand because it's physical volume is reduced. That is to say that if you were so inclined to try it, the KP would displace far less water than the K3 if you immersed them in a bucket (not recommended)

[wl02356427]

Hi Widdly, I have never use K-3, but I have a KP in my hands. I can say with certitude that you may consider the capacity of Kp's battery. K-3 is D-LI90, Kp is L-I109. You probably don't want to have a battery grip on hand, because it would be heavier then k-3. If you often use live view, then the battery would dissipate so quickly. My suggestion is that you could search on Flickr to seek what lenses are often used and focal length. Carrying a wide lens is for sure. And like RonHendriks1966 said that GR series is really lightened.
ps: if you use continuous shooting a lot, you probably don't want to switch from K-3 to Kp. But, Kp's quality is better than K-3 is for sure.

---

Last edited by wl02356427; 10-09-2018 at 03:09 AM.

[JohnX]

If the trip to NZ is principally for photography, great, you'll come back with a lot of great shots I'm sure.

BUT, if it's not principally for photography you might want to consider buying a high-end bridge camera to avoid lens changes, weight, etc.

That's what I did, (accepting that the results might not have been up to Pentax IQ), had a great time and didn't have to think about 'which lens', etc.

Buy good used and you'll probably get most of your money back selling it on your return.

[runswithsizzers]

I own a K-3, and I would not consider it to be a good choice for a travel camera you want to carry with you every day, all the time. Too big, too heavy and too conspicuous. I have not handled a KP, but based on it's weight and size specifications, the minor improvements over the K-3 would probably not justify the expense for me.

Sad fact of the matter is, there is no APS-C camera in the current Pentax line which is acceptably small and light enough for me to carry every day, all the time.

But there is a lot of territory between a K-3/K-P and 'a small fixed lens point and click' - most micro 4/3 and many mirrorless APS-C cameras, with the right lens, can deliver very good image quality without the weight and bulk of a Pentax dSLR.

When I was trying to find a travel camera, my approach was to define my lens requirements first. From long-time experience, I knew I would not be happy with a single focal length, nor I did not want to lug around a bag full of primes and spend my travel time swapping out lenses. So I wanted a zoom, but I wanted better quality than most "kit" zooms. But I wanted to avoid the enormous size and weight of most top-shelf zooms.

My search lead me to Fuji because their XF 18-55mm F2.8-4 zoom is a significant step up from most kit zooms, yet is affordable (expecially if bundled with a new Fuji body) and not too big and heavy. For a month long walking tour of France, I carried Fuji's XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6, which is even lighter than the XF 18-55 (and cheaper), but has the same image quality.

A comparison of the K-3 with the basic 18-55mm kit zoom and a Fuji with the XF 18-55mm F2.8-4 <here>

The Fuji combo, camera and lens, weighs less than the K-3 body alone.

[wibbly]

i was hoping to stay with pentax mostly for familiarity. also if the kp were the right choice, i'd sell the k3 and buy a kp. i wouldn't have both. i don't shoot nearly as much as i should. for a travel kit i'd only take the 15, 43, and 50-135, and i suspect the zoom would stay in the bag mostly. i suspect most shooting will be landscapes. the small battery in the kp will certainly be cause for concern as i like to do long exposure and do use live view fairly often (mostly at wide apertures because the k3 never reliably nails its focus with phase detection)


maybe the best option is to just take the k3 and leave the grip at home, or sell some glass and buy an m4/3.


thanks for the advice, defitely something to stew over.

[normhead]

i was hoping to stay with pentax mostly for familiarity. also if the kp were the right choice, i'd sell the k3 and buy a kp. i wouldn't have both. i don't shoot nearly as much as i should. for a travel kit i'd only take the 15, 43, and 50-135, and i suspect the zoom would stay in the bag mostly. i suspect most shooting will be landscapes. the small battery in the kp will certainly be cause for concern as i like to do long exposure and do use live view fairly often (mostly at wide apertures because the k3 never reliably nails its focus with phase detection)


maybe the best option is to just take the k3 and leave the grip at home, or sell some glass and buy an m4/3.


thanks for the advice, defitely something to stew over.

Sounds like a plan. Using a K-1 much of the time, the K-3 is my lightweight option. You have to carry a pile of lenses to match the K-3 with the Da 18-135 on a K-1 system.

Maybe you want a Q. We don't use ours a lot but it's a great lightweight kit for when that's the important thing. From what I've heard, 4/3 is just not much cheaper than APs-c.

[c.a.m]

for a travel kit i'd only take the 15, 43, and 50-135, and i suspect the zoom would stay in the bag mostly.

My wife and I took a 2-week vacation in Newfoundland in August. Although it wasn't intended to be a 'photography trip', we knew we would see plenty of fantastic sights, which begged for a high-quality versatile camera kit.

I took my K-3 II, DA 21, DA 35 Ltd, 50-135, and DA* 300 (specifically for a planned whale/bird watching cruise). Except for the cruise day, I used the 50-135 extensively (the most-used lens on the trip) and the DA 21 frequently. I bought a small backpack for the trip -- a Lowepro Flipside 200 AW II, which accommodated all the gear perfectly. Total mass, including cleaning supplies and a couple of filters, was just under 4.5 kg. I deliberately left the battery grip at home (last minute decision before departure), without remorse. Totally happy with the resulting images -- several have been printed at 16x20 and 20x30, and look great on our walls.

Glad I brought the selected gear. Another option was my DA 18-135mm and one prime; however, I opted for the more diverse and higher-quality set.

I carried most of the gear on most days, but left the DA 300 behind except for a couple of day outings. I never felt encumbered by the weight, and the Flipside is a nice compact bag that worked really well.

On previous business trips to Australia and the UK (mostly city-bound), I carried a K-5 II, DA 50-135mm (or F 35-70mm) and a couple of primes without any problem. Very happy with the images.

- Craig

[wibbly]

c.a.m i like your thought process. leave the accessories and bring a small selection. i won't need any FL longer than 135 so far as i can foresee, and i'm not interested in dragging around my 60-250. no way.

i too have a flip side, which should fit everything easily.

[MrB1]

If you want to stay with Pentax, is there a particular reason you (and others) are not mentioning the K-70 as a travel option? It is significantly lighter and less in every dimension, and significantly more in image potential, than the K-3. Include the 18-135 WR and a couple of spare (non-OEM) D-Li109's and it should cover any day's shooting wherever you go.

[wibbly]

I know nothing about the k70. Maybe I should have a look.