Originally posted by snake It was introduced shortly after the D7100, so why is it "long, long overdue" here? Because it's Pentax? We're (thankfully) not on these 1 year or 3/4 year release schedules anymore and the equipment development has slowed down due to technology approaching a wall and needing to be rethought. We're seeing the same with the 5DII/III, D700, and on and on and on.
Ideally, the K-3 should have been here 12 months ago to be right on time, because the K-5 was introduced in 2010 and was due for an update in 2012 indeed. However, unlike Nikon or Canon, Pentax doesn't have an FF line, or a vast variety of camera models that overlap in specifications to apply a more relaxed approach in updates. So any comparison with D700/800 or 5D/II/III alone makes no sense. The FF in general didn't sell so well before, so those lines were updated at a slower pace.
But Nikon wants to make investors happy, counteract declining DSLR camera sales with newer offers that give more value for $$ (at lest what customers believe), and the entire market now experiences more constant FF updates — and an addition of an all new body philosophy as well. Retro DSLR style.
However, despite all that, times are very confusing too. For example, everyone was hoping for D400, and Nikon releases retro FF. On the other other hand, everyone was expecting Pentax to release a retro DSLR, and they released a D400.