[stevejo]

I just wish manufacturers would actually standardize on the specs for USB-C. My Samsung phone will charge with an apple cable but my wife's iphone or our ipads will not charge with the Samsung's cable. The chargers work with either. Its not as if the Samsung cable is feeble, it is twice as thick as the Apple one and needless to say about a third of the cost.

[JPT]

If you already have the adapter part that comes with the K-3 III kit, the only part you need to get the fast charging outside the camera is the D-BC177, which is 80 euros. I'm afraid it's more expensive in Europe than the same part in Japan.
Buy BATTERY CHARGER D-BC177, for ?100.00! | Ricoh Imaging EU

You only need the full K-BC177E kit at 130 euros if you want to buy the whole lot, including the adapter, to be used with an older camera. However, you could decide to use any USB-C charger you already have that is powerful enough and use that with the aforementioned D-BC177. I guess the charge speed in this case is something Ricoh cannot commit to, but they seem to be advocating using the charger with other adapters on the product page, "Battery charger without AC adapter for use with your own USB-C cable and AC adapter.".

[pid]

11 $ Dual USB Charger works fine for D-Li90 from Pentax and is very small:
Dual USB Charger for Panasonic DMW-BLF19, DMC-GH3/GH4 – Newmowa

[RobA_Oz]

I just wish manufacturers would actually standardize on the specs for USB-C. My Samsung phone will charge with an apple cable but my wife's iphone or our ipads will not charge with the Samsung's cable. The chargers work with either. Its not as if the Samsung cable is feeble, it is twice as thick as the Apple one and needless to say about a third of the cost.

The USB specifications have always been fairly broad. I understand that Apple's "Thunderbolt" version allows for faster data transfer than most. How that affects charging baffles me, but there's obviously a further difference. The Apple cable that came with my MacBook Pro works with my K-3iii.

[MrB1]

Long ago I obtained small, slim USB chargers for Pentax D-Li90 and D-Li109 batteries, available from Amazon or eBay for only a few GBP, so only one mains USB charge unit or the USB socket in the car is needed for cameras and phone when away from home. I haven't found any problems - one of my Pentax D-Li109 batteries (from a K-r) is dated 2011 and still works well after many years of USB charging.

Philip

[Rondec]

You know, Pentax has kept the same style battery since the K-5 was released. I don't even bother getting new chargers out of the box, but continue to use the old ones. I have one for my K-1, K-1 II, K-01, and K-3. I can't imagine if I had all of those out of the boxes and floating around.

The fast charger is more expensive and from what JPT says, the USB cable charges faster in camera than the slow charger does out of camera.

I don't own a K-3 III, but if I did, I would take the USB cable with me on trips and just top the battery off in camera, while at home, I would swap batteries out and use one of my old chargers as I have done for the last ten plus years.

[ThorSanchez]

The 129€ is for the quickcharger. If you buy the normal one it is about 70€

The quickcharger is 129€, the normal one 70€, including one in the box with a K-3 Mark III would have been subtracting the wholesale cost of a charger from the profits made on the camera.

So they can sell this with the semi-plausible case that it's better for the environment and Pentax mostly sells to current Pentaxians so they already have a charger. But the driver was mostly that it is fiscally advantageous for Pentax.

[jersey]

Two days ago I received my new K3 mark 3 the camera so far has proved to be worth the price.. I wondered when I unpacked my camera why Pentax has gotten away from a out of Camera battery charger replacing it with charging via a USB C cord into the camera. Now I always have extra batteries for my Pentax camera which I have charged and ready to go at all times. I would never leave an unattended camera charging that could be a disaster ( falls, spills, pets ect. ) what were they thinking at Pentax.

I do not see how changing the charger is a cost saving it is just weird

Every penny in mass production counts. Besides I am really happy that Pentax added USB-C charging. Yesterday I went out and forgot to change battery, ended up with drained one and no ability to shot (at night you really need battery). I could get back to my car, plug-in USB-C I use for Android Auto connection into K-3/3, start engine, wait for few minutes and I had battery charged enough to get the shot. And before I got to next shooting point camera was charging and I ended up with half battery of juice.


I do use old charger if I want to, but I bless whoever got the idea of using USB-C as primary charging.

[Wheatfield]

I just wish manufacturers would actually standardize on the specs for USB-C. My Samsung phone will charge with an apple cable but my wife's iphone or our ipads will not charge with the Samsung's cable. The chargers work with either. Its not as if the Samsung cable is feeble, it is twice as thick as the Apple one and needless to say about a third of the cost.

Count on Apple to try to tie their users to their overpriced junk. My wife has an iPhone and it's the same story. They crow about how user friendly and corporately responsible they are, but they really don't walk their talk.
To the OPs concern, Pentax users have been asking for in camera charging for some time, now they have it. If someone is concerned about their camera getting broken while charging via the methods listed, my suggestion would be to exercise a little discipline within their household. If one is that worried about their camera getting wrecked by a spill or a dog jumping on a desk and knocking it off, they have a problem that an external charger isn't going to solve.

[reh321]

I just wish manufacturers would actually standardize on the specs for USB-C. My Samsung phone will charge with an apple cable but my wife's iphone or our ipads will not charge with the Samsung's cable. The chargers work with either. Its not as if the Samsung cable is feeble, it is twice as thick as the Apple one and needless to say about a third of the cost.

USB is a standard. but Apple 'marches to their own drummer'.
On Nov 2016 I rode the train to California to serve as our daughter's co-driver as she returned to Indiana; because of the reason for my trip I packed as lightly as I could.
I took my Q-7 and iPhone, but took a generic "block" which could charge either device. The "block" which came with the iPhone will not work with the Q-7 charger.

[MossyRocks]

Personally I like have USB-C for charging. I may have missed it and haven't had a chance to test it but can you externally power the camera over USB-C as that would solve some of the cold/long night shooting problems.

[Alex645]

I wondered when I unpacked my camera why Pentax has gotten away from a out of Camera battery charger replacing it with charging via a USB C cord into the camera. Now I always have extra batteries for my Pentax camera which I have charged and ready to go at all times. I would never leave an unattended camera charging that could be a disaster ( falls, spills, pets ect. ) what were they thinking at Pentax.

Pentax does cut corners on accessories. I remember dealing with ordering lens hoods that didn't come with a 2 lens kit bundle.

I do think it is a benefit to have the option of not needing an off camera charger, but for those of us that need to charge batteries while shooting, it forces you to buy an external charger, or pre-charge spare batteries, or to use the battery pack which is sometimes bundled with the K3iii.

[Paul the Sunman]

I don't mind not having a 4th identical charger.

[C_Jones]

I also have chargers from my three digital Pentax cameras (K-5 IIs, K-3 II, and K-1 II) that were made before the K-3 III.

[mikesbike]

Two days ago I received my new K3 mark 3 the camera so far has proved to be worth the price.. I wondered when I unpacked my camera why Pentax has gotten away from a out of Camera battery charger replacing it with charging via a USB C cord into the camera. Now I always have extra batteries for my Pentax camera which I have charged and ready to go at all times. I would never leave an unattended camera charging that could be a disaster ( falls, spills, pets ect. ) what were they thinking at Pentax.

I do not see how changing the charger is a cost saving it is just weird

Well, for one thing, (1) Pentax does not count on having new customers, especially those interested in such an advanced camera as the K-3 III, only old ones who already have chargers from their previous models that will work just fine anyway. And if that customer will be selling their old camera, let the 2nd-hand buyer get their own charger. (2) Nor do they expect old customers having only smaller, amateur-oriented Pentax DSLRs using smaller D-Li109 batteries and corresponding chargers, to be upgrading, because they are so satisfied with their smaller cameras they don't need to upgrade. (3) And, anyone who can afford a USD $2,000 APS-C camera can certainly afford to buy their own battery charger. Makes sense to me.

As to myself, I use both battery sizes and carry a corresponding-sized spare battery to the camera I am using along with me, and I have a 3rd battery being charged back at the hotel while I am out and about with the camera. So I never would consider charging a battery in the camera.

But that is just the way I work. In case I have really become muddle-headed in dealing with my travels, and forgot to charge up batteries, I often have my K-5 IIs along with its battery grip, which can take off-the-shelf AA lithiums- plenty good until I can get a battery charged up. After getting my K-S2 back in 2016 for its great upgrades over my lightweight model K-r, I gave the K-r to friends along with a couple of kit lenses, and included its battery charger. So they are all set.

I use no USB for the cameras. The only USB I sometimes use is for my flip-phone while I am driving, with a very cheap plug-in cord, as I have a USB port in the car and can handle phone use via the car's info system.