Originally posted by Rondec I think the DFA 21 is coming, I just have learned that Pentax is trying to teach us all patience. But I really do expect the DFA 21 and the DFA 70-300 by some time next year.
I think with the A1, it is a small number of photographers who really need its features. Just considering Sony models, what percent of photographers would be satisfied with an A7 III, or A7r IV, or A9 and how many would need the specific features the A1 offers? Considering what sort of frame rates we got buy with up till about five years ago, I am guessing that most photographers could get by with a cheaper model of camera. I suppose if they have the money it is no big deal, but I just feel as though we have gotten into pretty rarefied air here.
I can see the A1 being worth it for professional sports photographers who will be using the smartphone attached and uploading shots in realtime to editors at high frame rates to get more chances for a great shot. But as you said for normal people, I think the new K3-3, D500, Z6ii R6 would probably be fine for fast moving stuff in general. Or if you just are photographing joggers or trotting dogs or whatever most anything recent will work for those subjects.
That A1 and the R5 as well are kinda niche bleeding edge if your profession depends on it or you have loads of money to burn.
With my Pentax’s I really just had a couple situations that drove me crazy, this is the with the K-3, I haven’t used the KP or K-1’s so I don’t know if they greatly improved. One was my dogs at full sprint, I would get some but a ton of out of focus as the AF-C was pretty inconsistent. I actually relied more on anticipating where they were going and what i wanted and then prefocusing on that location iand getting a burst as they went though. Same for birds. In comparison my Nikon D750 with 3D tracking or the Z5 in AF-C setup similarly just gets keepers as you track along. But for everything else the K-3 gets the job done. I think I had a compounded amount of irritation going from K-7, K-5, K-3 with constant promises of improved AF-C and while watching Nikon’s system get drastically better when the K-1 came along and I needed to buy all new lenses for full frame coverage, plus the want for a 150-600 that was affordable, that crossed the threshold to get into Nikon gear for me.
I know different people have different needs/demands on cameras but that was the specific circumstances that got me drifting away from Pentax. Had the K-1 or KP had D-750 level AF-C I would have bought them.
I’m very curious if the K-3 iii AF-C actually makes a leap and is on par with something like the D-500, I’m very doubtful but I hope so. If it gets to D-750 level with that frame rate it’ll be an excellent camera though and really you won’t need anything more if the lens motors can keep up in the lenses you choose.