A really well laid out review covering the exact points I wanted to know about the K3iii. I think your spot on in saying that this is a camera that you can grow with as it has so many features to keep you glued to trying out new shots, styles & just photography in general. Who knows maybe Pentax actually knew what they were doing by going all in on the DSLR! Top job mate.
It's a really solid follow-up to the K-3, which is really all I wanted. :) We'll see how things turn out for Pentax in the next 5-10 years. It's hard to say!
Well I have a K-3iii,am impressed with it,especially that it now uses UHS-ii cards,gives longer bursts & higher frame rate. I use mine for wildlife & motor racing. I am a hardcore Pentaxian,I have 2 K-1s,a 645Z & my latest acquisition a Pentax 67ii,that I'm slowly getting used to. My toys for my retirement.
I have owned several cameras of different brands, but Pentax has always been my preferred brand, and I really love my K3 mark III ! I currently have a Canon and an Olympus mirrorless cameras, but neither one of those can give me the picture quality that I get from my Pentax, as well as the possibility to easily and accurately focus manually with a great OVF.
Agreed, focusing with a good ovf is so much easier and reliable than with evfs, even the focusing aids I do better without them. I kinda regret having invested so much in canon glass. At the time they didnt even spoke about mirrorless. But I ended up following the trend when the r5 came out and later bought an rf l lens. I already ceased my investiment on the rf mount and thinking moving to pentax since they keep discontinuing ef lenses. I'm just waiting for a k1 with the option to remove the noise reduction in raw files, and I'l be part of the family
@@snappiness I just got spammed by a bot pretending to be you, on a previous video. ruclips.net/video/97JUbU_jwr0/видео.html&lc=UgzsGqm5WaFkm0U8yqx4AaABAg.9c7UYMq6oyu9d3XOQkLwM6
When I installed the latest firmware - K70 version 1.3 - my autofocus improved dramatically. Keep the K3 III, which has good AF now, and when they update the firmware, it will be even better.
Good review. I was quite hesitant to buy the K3 iii but ordered it anyway and regrettet the purchase until the camera arrived. After a year of shooting with it, I could not be more satisfied. It’s a gem. As to af, I fully agree that af speed should not be a substitute for technique. Never had problems with Pentax af either K1 or KP or K01
Thanks for posting this video. I too am a Pentaxian. My first DSLR was a GX-10 (Samsung-branded K10D), and my most recent one was a Pentax KP. Due to various reasons, I ended up selling the system. I am now on the Z mount (Nikon) with a Z fc paired with a few 1.4 primes from Viltrox. I might get a K10D again, and a WR lens to match it with. It was a DSLR that was built like a tank and many of my favourite photos were taken right in the rain!
Thank you for a very fair review. I have had my K3 III for a while now and really enjoy using it. Upgraded to the 55-300 PLM and really notice the focus speed difference. Sold my K3 original after a while as the K3 III is that much better.
I think a lot of us want a KP revival in the future. The KP is so capable and had that more vintage style and compact design. Would be nice to have that middle ground model between the entry and the K-3III high end model too.
Everything that you have said sounds just like the camera I would love. A photographers camera. Just like my K-3 before I sold it to buy my K-1. An ergonomic delight. Video is superfluous for me. I do have a couple of lovely FujiFilm cameras and a range of lenses as well Olympus but these are fun curiosities compare to the way any of my Pentax cameras feel to photograph with.
I bought it over a year ago new with a sensible discount from the shop. Best camera of all times. Use it for macro, sport and portrait - not professional work. Have also the plm lens up to 300mm.
Pentax makes such great cameras that they do not have to defend themselves.I have other cameras that are mirrorless, yet for image quality, nOTHING NEW can overtake Pentax. Now if you listen to SCAMS on RUclips about gear, then you will believe anything tossed at you.I have the Pentax K1 mk2 and for critical work and ultimate composition in camera,it's excellent. If you're going to fix it with software anyway, just get anything...
6:25 - the difference between KP and K3iii is marginal. Certainly there is NO difference is noise / ISO because both cameras already uses same processing. The difference is only in sensor itself, which can put out slightly better color rendering, mostly seen in red channel where K3iii can distinguish subtle nuances in red or orange color better, and KP just make same, more truncated red. That might get help with portrait. I did not test, but only per what I can compare online (imaging-resource). With K-r, K5ii and K3ii, I see constant struggle with skin on faces. It's too red and fixing is problem with simple slider because redness of skin is similar hue as lips or other stuff and face skin I always fix by masking. Maybe with K3iii there would be possible to more fine separate oranges from reds. But for wildlife I can't see a difference since blue and green are both exactly alike. Also new sensor allows 4K video and much faster readings -> FPS. Never tech. But ISO is what it is and all manufacturers faced same limitation using this sensor. Comparing Fuji, exact ISO response, so they started to make other trickery. One is just using much larger megapixel sensor and than noise reduction comes at much finer level where our desired details are not harmed. It is funny as we think that more megapixel means more noise, but in fact it is opposite. It might be like it back in the days, but today manufacturer cope with moire, noise and aliasing with just making more pixel inside. At 12 MP sensor we loved tiny details and NR removed some of them. With 48 megapixels same detail get oversampled by 4-times and we can put hefty NR on that and provide perfectly clean 12 MPx perceivable details. I studied many camera models (imaging-resource and other charts) to see a pattern here. Newer cameras are MUCH cleaner but they do not provide more resolved details in final image. Maybe in ideal lighting. That there is lens limiting factor. 35 mm film was thought it provides of equivalent of 24 megapixels of information at max possible with lowest ISO / chart resolving power. But that was 12 MPx of real life max resolving power, compared to digital. I reckon 48 is ideal digital sensor to cope with all digital issues and provide true to analog experience if reduced to 12 MPx. Or 100 MPx as absolute overkill, just as 24-bit /196 KHz sound sampling.
Used to be a Pentax shooter for a lot of years and just got tired of the limited 3rd party lenses, slow releases, and appearance at least of being smoked by the competition. But it was the only camera I have been in a sudden monsoon rain storm with too and never worried for a second about my gear getting drenched! Also liked being the odd rebel in a sea of nikon and canon shooters. kind of miss them.
Thank you for the video. I commend Pentax first for their firm stance to stick to DSLRs. Second, I know Pentax is great renowned camera brand that produced fantastic film SLRs, now producing great DSLRs. I am a DSLR fan and user, hobbyist like you. Convinced that SLRs/DSLRs are real cameras. Mirrorless cameras seem like toys to me especially, that EVF is just a synthetic piece of viewing medium that cuts me off from reality. I'm retaining all my Canon DSLR bodies and the lenses. Will definitely migrate to Pentax when these equipment systems reach the end of their service lives. Thanks again.
What an excellent video! I like your style of presentation; your calm voice and narrative pace. I was once a devoted Pentaxian and still have my trusty K1000. I use Fujifilm cameras and enjoy the experience. Please keep up the good work and thank you for such an informative and interesting video.
Still using my new mark 3. Still also using my original k3, as I am still so in tune with the original. One thing I miss in the new camera is the lighted focus points. In darker scenes, it is harder to see them at times. But, I am excited to learn all the tricks this new one has.
I bought this camera almost a year ago, i sometimes had regrets, but then i discovered the advance modes, the technology behind it all, glad i kept it, i haven't owned a camera in the past but i feel this one is for power users that like to play around with settings ....i love it. Great video, and beautiful photos. Hope to see a second part , thanks.
I have a K10D that does focus conformation with vintage lenses. I bought a K10D in 2007 and used it until 2014 when I moved to a Sony A7 because I wanted a full frame camera that I could use old Canon FD lenses via an adapter. I recently bought a K10D because I had a nostalgic moment and I had bought a few m42 lenses. The beep was turned on when the camera arrived and the first time I mounted an m42 lens and started focusing the beeper went off accompanied by a green dot at the bottom of the viewfinder. I had always had the beep turned off on my original camera and never knew it would do that.
Sold KP and K3ii 2 months ago to get K3mk III. Never thought that huge progress will be in that body in every aspect. Ergonomy, AF , body layout, OVF !!! The more I shot the more I can be sure, the I am glad not moving to mirrorless stuff. Ps - I remember as you said you will not go for k3mkiii. Now? See you completely in :)
I'm a Pentax lifer, been shooting with their manuals since mid 1980s. Got a K-10D in late 2006 and still use it regularly, and it holds its ground for what I do. I know there are SLRs out there with better video than Pentax currently has, such as the Fukifilm X series, but I just can't take that dive since I know it's about ecosystems which break down to creature comforts like rugged builds, interchangeability of lenses, etc, to me. If Pentax had to dvi-out to a separate box in order to match or surpass the video quality of its peers I would be fully into that. I don't want to wait forever for any stills centric ''camera'' to put the best of both worlds into a single package. It just doesn't make sense to me that Ricoh would double-down on that sad hill to die on. Hopefully, they figure that out soon because I think a large percentage of their base users are like me - willing to hold on to bodies and lenses forever letting model after model come out without reinvesting. That's not good for the brand, in the long run.
re dvi, hdmi, ethernet, firehose, bucket brigade of dwarves, whatever, just get it out to a separate box that can free-up the body to go full-on balls out.
Beautiful film. I loved everything about it. I loved what you had to say about the camera. I like the music I like to your personable chatty style. Just excellent. I hope you make a good go of this and you can make this your profession, because you are truly excellent at it. I’ve seen much worse videos by the big camera companies themselves. Pentax would be lucky to have you aboard. Thank you for this.
I was happy to move to full frame because I don't often shoot extreme telephoto. I miss my K-3 because of it's lighter weight and smaller size, but I like being able to shoot without a crop factor.
I was a diehard pentax fan, I still own the 645z and many lenses. However, I had to painfully switch over to Canon and Nikon because autofocus was definitely not up to scratch with the bodies I owned. It is such a shame that these brilliantly built, ergonomic cameras have such a major flaw. I am glad I got to experience the joy of using the K10d, K-3 and the 645z none the less.
With the major camera manufacturers walking away from DSLR's, I think it would be brilliant if Pentax would offer DSLR's in Nikon F mount or Canon EF mount to draw in those with existing lenses that aren't interested in going mirrorless. Sort of carve out their own niche.
That's an interesting thought. There's some sort of time limit on when people can reuse mounts (based on patent law I assume). I do wish we had more third party options. Practically speaking that's one of the draws of buying an older Nikon, for example, is the available of loads of great wildlife lens options for cheap. I do think Pentaxians are particularly fond of the lenses we do have though, so it'd be a question of whether or not that would draw in new people.
Yep, 9mins will barely scrape the surface for this camera, it is quite advanced (some might say too advanced for their demographic!). I'll give my 2 cents FWIW for your sections; 1. Autofocus. I'd actually say its worse than some other Pentax cameras, and I say this with confidence. LV mode see's not a single advancement over the 2016 K-1. OVF AF is worse with certain lenses (specifically the FA Ltds which cannot even be Fine Adjusted easily due to an issue I won't get into here). Autofocus is a huge topic and we could discuss it and it alone for easily over 9mins. I would just say that there are many whom are mistaking the boost to fps and buffer (which in turns assists with catching up to the Pentax AF system) as to being 'improved AF'. It is the boost in fps and buffer which gives us more keepers and more success, but the autofocus itself feels very much the same as K-1 or KP. If either the K-1 or KP got the same boost in fps and buffer I think we'd see very similar results, maybe even better. PLM lenses definitely improved results, lenses will always impact the AF system more than users give credit, K3III is meant to be paired with a PLM, then things really start to shine and play to the strengths of the K3III system. 2. Handling. It is utterly fantastic. Nothing else to say, it's even better than the K-1. The only gripe is lack of flip screen, but it's not all bad, that rear LCD is actually huge and high res and is far nicer screen to review than many other modern flippy screens *cough Fuji XT4 cough* (another point I feel many skip over). 3. No GPS. Yeh not a biggy for me and they came through with a new Astrotracer. I only wish they had all this sorted initially, it would have really damage controlled things for the brand! Ah Pentax! You do it to yourselves! 4. High ISO Performance & IQ. I'm glad to hear you say you can't tell much difference between K3III and KP files, I feel the same. I would actually say the KP ones are higher IQ as the built in NR feels quite a lot more aggressive on the K3III. But the baked in NR might be a welcome for those that like to post process a little less than others. 5. Video. Yeh, this is a bit of a joke, Pentax should prolly just drop video now, its getting pretty embarrassing. It's such a limited tool compared to other brands and suitable for such limited applications. We could go on about 4k crop factor, 8min run times... but let's not. It exists as a desperate tool for limited applications and leave it at that. 6. Viewfinder. I actually think it's great! When I had a KP and K-1 I often reached for the K-1 and it wasn't always because it was the better camera, i just felt claustrophobic with the KP viewfinder. K3III resolved that and I do not think they get enough credit. But at what costs, it seemed to really impact overall development of this camera... I wonder what the price and feature difference would be with a normal APS-C viewfinder in the K3III... Glad you're happy with it. Mine sits collecting dust mostly, it comes out for a play now and then but really it's the last camera I reach for (K-1, 645D, XT4 and XT30II sitting around tempt me more).
I own a 645z and K1 which both are preety capable of shooting perfectly focused birds in flight . As someone who started his photographic journey many years ago shooting volleyball matches with a Nikon F2AS, the whole doscussion about Pentax af is exaggerated. Yes, I understand the argument that the aim of technology is to make our lives easier but full automation takes fun out of photography. I’m one of those perverts who gets a thrill out of using skill when shooting pictures and getting 1 our of 10 gives far more satisfaction that 10 out of 10. Although, I understand why the latter is so important for commercial photographers.
@@tomcat1132 I feel similarly. Like you I shoot a K-1 and 645D (the D is even harder to use so the feeling of joy when you get a good shot is really great!). For most people however it's not about 'making lives easier', it's about competition. Many photographers are fighting for work, so if they can have a rich portfolio of moments captured then that helps with their promotion and securing the next job. It's why I have switched to Fuji primarily for my event work and leave Pentax to the more controlled slower paced stuff (landscape etc). I think when money is being exchanged you do owe it to the client to deliver, it's not about you and how you feel when you get a nice 1/10 image, you actually need to give 10/10 even if you feel disconnected somewhat from the process.
Great review! A long-time Pentax fan, my first camera was a MeSuper (showing my age), have been a fanboy ever since. Was about to pull the trigger on a new Canon, but you got me thinking hard about going back to Pentax as my primary shooter. I notice that the K-1 Mii is similar in price, will have to compare, a tough choice.
3:20 Exactly! Only better with better lenses. Lenses are bigger upgrade in every aspect than upgrading camera. I compared good old K5ii with Pentax 70-200 and Nikon D810 in low light and Pentax won hands down in single shot and tracking. Not so when I put old Tamron 70-200 on my K5ii. But interestingly enough, K5ii and D610 were similar in performance, but D810 refused to lock focus without AF beam. That low light was there. I can't say what results would be in good light, but low light performance at ISO6400/f2.8 at 1/250s from K5ii was remarkable when using Pentax *-lens, and mediocre when using Tamron lens - regarding autofocus. I learned that even K5ii is OK if not good regarding AF only if modern capable lens is used. Same goes for rebranded "tamron" DFA15-30 I also tested.
Like many others here, I'm lucky enough to have both an original K-3 and a MkIII, and I 100% agree with you. The AF is really good : the AF points are small enough not to be disturbed by, let's say, a blade of grass in a macro shot or a branch next to a bird, and the response time is way shorter than on the original K-3. The new 16-50 works very well with it (compared with my old Tamron 17-50 it's night and day!) The high ISO capabilities seems great on the jpeg files, but my copy of Lightroom 6 doesn't seems like the raw files, and leaves a lot of noise. The one point I'm not a big fan of is the new mechanism of the shutter button: I preferred (or I'm more used to) the old one.
I am a K3 fanatic too. I have dragged mine all over hall and back. When an accident happened on my part that ended its life I got another K3. If I can really get birds in flight I'll consider the K3 III some day. Low ISO would be great too, something with less noise at say 64000. But I do love the K3. For macro work I too would like a tilt screen.
The tilt screen would make it pretty much perfect, in my eyes. Can't have it all I guess! The KP may be your bet then for the upgraded ISO performance and tilt screen.
@@snappiness yeah, but it uses a different battery. I really don't want to invest or have carry multiple kinds of batteries. I like that the K1 uses the same ones
Good! Am glad the K-3 III is significantly better... all the new features... all that. I would probably buy one IF it had an onboard flash, like my older K-5 IIs and K-70. Over the years, that flash has really helped with my small town news photography, pix of friends, occasional landscape lighting, and backlit scenes. So... will wait for what, a K-4? With an even better lowlight sensor, and hopefully a flash. Cameras!
5:13 - I never used GPS on K3ii. Actually I was angry quite some time because it changes time settings and time was off regarding to K5ii camera I also use.
Excellent video Snaps! Been a Pentaxian since the I bought my K10D back in 2007! Retired the K10D, now exclusively use a Q and a KP. I agree Pentax is a photographer centric camera, video has always been sadly left behind, but just short clips it can be helpful. Awesome channel!
One of these days I should make a video introducing non-pentaxians to Pentax camera. Because you're right, there's just a lot going on here that is really cool but wouldn't make it on a specs sheet.
Thanks! I know my videos aren't the most professional but I am trying to get a little bit better with it incrementally. Who knows, maybe in a few years it won't look half bad 🤣
thanks for your video！I am still using my original k3. I am excited to see the new camera ,but it is too expensive for me now... hope i can afford it soon .I am totally agree with your opinion about the screen,it could be better, like k1. Great video!
Exactly! K3 iii seems to be a perfect camera (meantime, as almost all Pentax cameras like k10d, k5iis, k3, k1, kp, k-01) but! The price for the crop .. omg. Even nikon d500 with genial AF and developed lenses choice is cheaper. But let us remember, Pentax is not Nikon and I would pay more for Pentax;). Well but why full frame costs the same price? I would go for K1 for the same money, rather than buy crop ... And if I understood rightly, k3iii doesnt have gps? My k3ii has it.
I contemplated getting the d500 for a long time... The reasons are too lengthy to discuss here, but I think the d500 with one of the many affordable used telephoto lenses would make one of, if not the best wildlife setup on a budget right now. I stuck with Pentax because I was fortunate to have the funds and bought one cheap, but I sympathize with the price. It's very costly.
Yeah no GPS in k3iii even though K3ii has GPS. I've seen used K-1's go for $700 lately. If you don't need the speed or crop for telephoto stuff, I highly highly recommend the K-1. Such a joy with vintage lenses too.
@@snappiness thank you for your comments. Where did you see the k1 for 700$? And where would you recommend to search used Pentax k1? I live in Canada so I guess we have more or less the same sites sources of buying.. thanx in advance
I love Pentax DSLR, been a,Pentaxian for some 30 years. However, they no longer have the lens selection. So about 12 years ago I switched systems and went with Canon.
This is my next camera. I have the recent DA* 16-50mm f/2.8 PLM & the DA 55-300mm PLM lenses. They're pretty fast on my K-3II, but I figure that they would work a lot better & more accurately on the K-3III. I'm hoping that Ricoh releases more fast focusing APS-C PLM lenses in the future. I'm waiting on the DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 PLM that Ricoh is supposedly working on & I hope they revamp the whole DA* lineup with newer faster focusing AF motors like the PLM or new SDM version.
That sounds like a really great setup between those two lenses. Covers pretty much everything you'd want to do besides edge cases. I agree a revised 50-135 with plm would be an exciting lens. I am still on the fence about picking up a 55-300 plm to test, but now all these comments are really.making me want to. I'm just really curious how it performs.
A bit late comment, Some of the heavier DFA* lens like 50 mm and 85mm are too heavy and needed a different type of heavy torque motor. They might not be suited for PLM from what i understand.
It’s between this and a Panasonic camera. I only have four thirds lenses but mirrorless cameras got no soul. It’s the pop music of cameras. Film slr is the funk and soul of cameras. Dslr is the in between. Chunky nice cameras that are more fun to use but still take good photos like mirrorless.
Iʻm sure you tried the FA series lenses. Those lenses are my favorite lenses of all time. Iʻve only owned the FA77 because it was the only one i could afford at the time. One day iʻll go back to a k100d and grab those FA lenses!
Wow, I didn't realise the modern Pentax bodies were compatible with vintage K glass! I love the old lenses, now if they could just put some old school dials on there it'd be perfect!
I really think Pentax should have already capitalized on the SLR-esque camera styling with shutter speeds dials and the like. Like what Fuji has done. Or even a full-frame retro designed DSLR one like the Nikon Df. Would be really cool.
@@snappiness definitely! I have the xt3 but if i want to use my pentax glass i have to put a big ugly adapter on the front. Such a shame we can't have the best of both worlds!
I never had problems with AF speed with Pentax K100D nor K-7, but FF/BF problems with different lenses was a pain in the ...., so I moved to mirrorles.
i wonder how it compares to old canon dslrs like 5Ds or 1DIV in terms of pure joy of use. ricoch can make a beautiful colors and it looks like pentax delivers as well
I've missed my Pentax k70 since I sold it. There is just something about those saturated colors. I'm also excited to hear about those new FA registered lenses.
hey guys, so I don't really have money for camera but one day at a yard sale, I saw a Pentax k20d not second hand, but 3-rd hand with a sigma ex f1.4 30mm+the kit 16-45mm f4 lens, and other stuff like 2 chargers for some reason, 1gb SD card and a SD to usb-a reader. I know, it's old but for 50 bucks... I do use mostly the prime because of the bokeh and premium feeling focusing ring. I only use manual focus and shoot at iso higher than 1000 only in Black and White. What do you think guys, was this a good deal?
Hi. I would like to get myself in to digital Pentax system and I wonder if K3 M3 is the one I should start with. I though K1 M2 is the one I should choose, but looks like the K3 M3 is the best to buy today. My wishes to Pentax: 1. At least one APS-H sensor camera 2. Pentax 645 MarkII 3. True 6x7 digital Pentax medium format camera.
Nice! So: 1. Will you still use your K-1 now that you have the K-3 III? Is the FF bokeh potential, FF resolution and tilty screen enough to want to make significant use of the K-1? 2. Does the K-1 high ISO still offer a benefit over the K-3 III - or is to just too close? I do love the tilting screen on the K-1, and thats coming from a person who actually use to think an articulating screen was just a liability! How wrong I was.
The K-3III is smaller, lighter, faster (in every way) and has the crop factor that benefits my wildlife work. For everything else, I prefer the K-1. It's not that the K-3 III can't also be an excellent portrait/landscape/whatever camera, it's just I prefer the way the K-1 makes my old glass shine, the tilt screen, that resolution etc. K-1 is a powerful camera.
@@snappinessI have a k5 and a decent number of FF lenses (31mm ltd, 77mm ltd, M135, FA50mm...).. do you think K-1 or k3-iii would be better ? K1ii is so old at this point... Wondering if the k3 would be better. I want to do more indoor shots and the crop sensor is annoying for indoor studio type shots. Anyway been on the fence . K5 going strong but it's over 14 yrs old now and am itching for something new
Given that I'm still exploring features of my original K-3 after nearly a decade of ownership, I don't doubt that the mkIII will give plenty of room for growth. Oddly, the lack of tilt screen is one of the things still pushing me in the direction of making the leap to a K-1 instead for my next upgrade.
My heart always beat for Pentax - the 100D was my first DSLR and still have milady K20D i use vintage lenses on. (Don't tell anybody it's actually a GX-20 ;) )
@@snappiness It's weird, this thing reads Samsung but screams Pentax :D And getting a battery grip for it is next to impossible. Anyway, good to see new and exiting Pentax content, thanks for the video. I will upgrade to the K3 classic in the next years, looking forward to it! :D
Autofocus? We don’ need no steenkin’ aurofocus. I have an old K-10D and newer K-1 full-frame with an 18-55 and a 70-300, noticeably missing that sweet portrait range in between. Not to worry - I bought a good Nikon-to-Pentax adapter and use a 1985 Nikon 28-to-80 from my film days. The FM-2 I used from the late 80s to the early 00s is still operational. If only I could afford to shoot film!
Pentax actually makes very fine cameras, and in particular the lenses. The basic problem with Pentax is that they design cameras like dinosaurs. Not very "newfangled" but otherwise quite good. I salute Pentax's nod for a single lens reflex design, rather than mirror-less. Mirror-less isn't everything. Mirror-less is nice if you want a small design, or even close to tiny. But some of us prefer having the feel of a full sized camera and lens in our hands.
I didn't dive into it in this video (but a few previous ones) but I don't mind the dinosaur video features, or the not as good AF performance compared to modern competition (or terrible AF if you consider live view AF, which I never use so didn't cover either.) But I do think it was priced much too high on release. I got my used for a big discount. But what drew me to Pentax years ago was the 1.) experience, 2.) IQ, and 3.) value for money. I think they nailed the first two with this camera, but the value for money really wasn't there until I got this one nearly half off the listing price.
@@snappiness - Years ago, I had a Ricoh XR-1 camera which I loved. Designed kind of like a cheapie Nikon, great for a kid to buy after getting enough money by mowing laws all summer long. Kind of interesting how, if I'm not mistaken, Ricoh has now been incorporated inside the Pentax company. I once considered getting a Pentax K-1000 camera, which in reality might have been a considerably better choice. But at least my Ricoh used the Penkax K mount.
So... this video made me kinda sad and confirmed what I was thinking already. My Pentax K-1 dropped on the ground, wouldn't read lenses after. Its at Precision Camera now under the knife. I had drooled over the K3 Mkiii, especially the monochrome. Decided on the color model. Had it maybe a week, shot on it almost every day, and returned it. For some reason, I was initially disappointed with the overall IQ of the body. Used the FA77, 40 1.8, the DA 300 4.0 lenses. It was hard to justify financing $1,800 for a camera which at the time seemed like a step back from the cheaper full frame K-1. Fast forward a few weeks, looked back on those photos, and said "what the heck were you thinking?" the quality was superb esp for a crop sensor. So yeah very nice body, wish I still had it, and that precision camera would get me my K-1 back asap. Cheers Pentaxian
I haven't done much digital photography, I haven't done much photography recently, about 20 years ago I was really into photography but obviously only with tradition film. One limit of traditional film was that there was that the difference between total black and total white was about 7 f-stops. If you had more f-stops between total black and total white then it would make life easier with getting workable exposures. The stereo typical example is taking a photo in doors with a nice view out the window then you have a different exposure reading on the inside of the room verses the outside view. So you want to have a film with enough f-stops between total black and total white to get some detail and then when you develop you can dodge and burn so that the exposure of the print is perfect. So with these digital cameras how many stops are there between total black and total white?
I'm a bit rusty on the film stops, but digital is vastly superior to film, and it happened between 10 to 20 years ago. Everything is now on the computer using image editing software. Digital camera sensors clearly outperform film IMO in terms of low light performance. Film needs light, and sensors do too, but nowhere near as badly as film needs light. The latest camera sensors are now ISO invariant, which takes it to a whole other level. I'll explain this later. Cameras have built in metering so you do not need a separate light meter. The in-built light meter meters for 18% gray. They also sense for White balance which determines color, and Pentax has the best or one of the best White Balance sensing - but this is for color. Some other camera brands White Balance for "Magic Hour" every time of the day. So you can take a phot at midday and it looks like magic hour, which is off putting. Some will do it even in night scene photography and its never "What you see is what you get". Pentax and Canon have the best White Balance. Nikon seems to create muted tones. But this can all be manipulated on the computer in image editing software. So the answer to the question is that most cameras, including the different sized sensor today have 14 stops of what they call "Dynamic Range" - between black and white, but I'm not really explaining right. The Dynamic Range works like this: You can under expose an image by 10 or 11 stops, and then raise the exposure in the software and recover all the detail. But if you OVER EXPOSE your shot by 4 or 5 stops you'll be lucky to recover detail. So some people drastically under expose their images so they can pull it back in post on their computer. Now most image sensors today from micro 4/3rds, APSC, Full Frame and Medium Format (Crop) can do 14 stops of dynamic range. Some Medium Format (crop) and Medium Format (Full Frame 645) can do 16 stops of dynamic range. Some are brilliant at recovering over exposed highlights........... So basically you do not have to worry about exposure with digital, as long as you do not over expose your images. There are tools for instance with Pentax, that when you take a picture and the image shows on the back screen the over exposed regions on the image are flashing red to show that you've cooked it. So then you can make your adjustments and take a better image. In post you can pull up and recover the dark regions easily. Works for Black and white too. ISO invariant sensors are a new generation of sensor that are two stage or two phase. So at ISO 100 the image is real clean, but gets dirtier by the time you get to ISO 800, and then the sensor at ISO 1600 is the 2nd phase, and the noise at 1600 is as bad as IS400. Take a look at the link below from Photons to Photos website where you can see the charts of ISO performance versus image noise/grain. On the menu on the right select a Pentax K-3 and you can see that the noise/grain goes up as the ISO goes up. Then select the Pentax K-P and you can see the sensor is ISO invariant, and the noise/grain goes up and down like steps, and gets pulled back down because of phasing. What this means is that you can take under exposed images in difficult light and pull up details even more so. Its another leap ahead of Film. But don't get me wrong, film is great, but digital is instant and correcting mistakes is quick and easy. The earliest digital slr's had image noise similar film. By the time they got to 10 mega pixels in apsc it had surpassed film grain. By 16 mega pixels it was well ahead. It went a bit backwards at 20 mega pixels and 24 mega pixels, but todays 24 and 26 ISO invariant sensors just blow it all out of the water. Regards! photonstophotos.net/Charts/RN_ADU.htm
Nice review. It was not my first option camera since I tested it for portrait and street photography. I am considering it now seriously. Just one question : how is it to use the K3 III with old glasses?
In 2008, when I was shopping for my first DSLR, I did online research and read all the photo magazines. I settled on a Pentax. But when I went into the local camera shop, they didn't have any Pentax cameras, though I was told they could order one for me. They were pushing the latest Canons and Nikons and they mentioned Olympus as well. I ended up buying a Canon, and eventually replaced the first Canon with another Canon. But I will always wonder if I should have bought a Pentax....
I guess there is no need to wonder. - somehow because the "choice" for a DSLR thechnolog is already a flawed one to begin with. Pentax and its aficionados I feel are somehow culpable of "pushing" this bliss of ignorance. (Mani brands (Minolta: XM, CLE, ..Topcon, Rolleiflex, Alpa, etc) had their glorious attitudes and (under-recognized) achievements and everyone is prone to feel needy to belong to a group of chose select few who are in the right club. Pentax undouptadly is one of them. )
@@tomjanowski8584 I apologize for something: Your text that inspired ("pretexted") me : ..I did not register that you are narrating 2008. (I was triggered by the fact that this video (I don't know that channel) never mentioned the camera in today's context of 'existence' of mirrorless. For me, in this context (knowing uneducated amateurs can stumble on this video and feel informed) - that is inexcusable lack of respect.
@@AR-vf7vg I wasn't just talking about 2008. I just replaced my 2008 DSLR last year with a new DSLR. I think your issue is thinking you know what other people should be doing.
@@tomjanowski8584 Your issue seems to be You do not see the altruistic idea behind my 'contributions' here : that one owes to take the responsibility to adress context (dslr's today: in the current market now with mirrorless' - that many lovely and diserving newcommers still ignore) when creating YT content (influencer). Thank you to have given me still another oportunity to voice this ;-) (And sorry for my lack of empathy by not reading between your lines what you where thinking beyond 2008. ;-) Please dont think to know that I feel that you owe to be happier with mirrorless. That would not be fair. It is even forbidden to think that of me (#45b, section 22,opus XI).
I am thinking of buying this exact setup, K-3 III + 300mm f/4, as a budget setup for casual wildlife, pets, and aviation photography. I say budget because this lens is priced $400 less than the Nikon equivalent. I don't currently own any Pentax gear or a telephoto lens. Curious, have you ever used this setup to photograph fighter jets at an air show? How about something like coyotes at night?
I shoot owls in low light (example pictures shown here are almost always before sunrise). The AF does a good job in that situation, much better than my older bodies, High ISO performance is very nice. I have not taken it to an air show yet, but in those situations I think it would perform just fine. You just may want a longer lens for that (maybe you know more about air show setups than me). But I would say if you don't own any Pentax gear and are buying a setup from scratch, I probably wouldn't get the K-3 III for that sole purpose. It's a great camera and system, but sport/wildlife isn't its strong suit, even if it's capable. A used D500 will be much cheaper and from what I've researched still performs better AF/FPS/buffer wise. Plus, if you decide the 300/f4 is too limiting or too bulky, Nikon has zoom options and third party options, whereas Pentax has next to nothing in that telephoto space. My two cents, hope it helps!
I own a Tomato Red K-50 ( which most people think is a toy camera 😂 )and am about to snare a brand new K-70 along with a brand new 40mm lens. All of this for $400AUD….. An absolute BARGAIN 👊💥👊 I am a pretty sh*t photographer truth be told but like the quirky madness than is Pentax I may actually do a basic course so I can get an odea of wtf I am doing 😂 Great review btw
I was considering one but jumped on a a7iii instead as i for one wanted FF and do more video. i gotta say i love that camera for its abilities (+the silent shutter) BUT its far away from the feel a Pentax body gives you and i also would not abuse it as much. If they would stuff a FF sensor in that body i might consider it one day... when my wallet has recovered^^
just discovered your channel! amazing, to the point, not repetitive and fairly short videos! well done quick question, i want to replace my K-5. ideally i want the K3 III but i cannot find a used one and €2.000 price tag is not easy to shallow. i found a k3 II with 1500 clicks like new for about €700. what's your opinion? is the viewfinder and AF improvements worth the double price?
I have never actually used the K-3ii, but I used the K-3 a lot. The K-3 original is a good enough jump from the K-5, and not much more, that even that move would be worth it. Spend the extra on nice glass. The difference between the K-3 and K-3ii is small enough that I wouldn't do it unless it was about the same price. If you don't mind switching body types and losing certain features, but gaining the best IQ for the buck, the Pentax KP is a great camera. The noise performance over the original K-3 is very good. But noise reduction software is also getting very, very good. So here we are back at the original K-3 😆 Hopefully that was helpful
thank you for replying! Believe it or not image quality is not the reason I want to update from K5. Lack of f2.8 autofocus points is. My fast lenses are not focusing that good in low light with k5. I prioritize construction over iq, so k3 is my preference. Here in Greece we don't have a lot of options in used cameras so you take what you find... Differences between mk1 and mk2 are minimal only the Astro tracer is it Worthy addition so I'm happy with either of them Love from Greece!
I mountain bike for exercise a few times a week and bring the camera. I spotted one by accident once and that started my obsession with studying their habits and local sightings. They usually have their hunting area they hang out at, and when they nest of course they hang around the nest. So sometimes for months I know whereabout they hangout. Right now I can't find them anymore, but I'll find them again :)
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I'm so stoked to have this cool camera! And to finally share more of it with you. Thanks for the support.
Thanks for posting... I've been waiting
Lame there are bot accounts responding to your comments. Asking people to respond on Telegram.
Enjoy using it! Great piece of kit
Thanks for the review. I have the K-50 as i scored ot for a excellent deal. Getting better with it. And the f- series glass works great on it.
A really well laid out review covering the exact points I wanted to know about the K3iii. I think your spot on in saying that this is a camera that you can grow with as it has so many features to keep you glued to trying out new shots, styles & just photography in general. Who knows maybe Pentax actually knew what they were doing by going all in on the DSLR! Top job mate.
It's a really solid follow-up to the K-3, which is really all I wanted. :) We'll see how things turn out for Pentax in the next 5-10 years. It's hard to say!
Well I have a K-3iii,am impressed with it,especially that it now uses UHS-ii cards,gives longer bursts & higher frame rate. I use mine for wildlife & motor racing.
I am a hardcore Pentaxian,I have 2 K-1s,a 645Z & my latest acquisition a Pentax 67ii,that I'm slowly getting used to.
My toys for my retirement.
I love the down to earth, relaxing tone of your videos. Quite a refreshing change from the usual super energetic and hyped style in fashion today.
Sometimes less is more. :)
Now I really want a Pentax with video!
Canon R6 mkii owner here... I gotta say I love Pentax glass on my Canon! As long as its not radioactive (I have one of those out in my shed).
I started with ME Super, then MX, SFXn, *ist DS, Kx and K1. One of the reasons I follow Your channels. Just keep on...
I have owned several cameras of different brands, but Pentax has always been my preferred brand, and I really love my K3 mark III ! I currently have a Canon and an Olympus mirrorless cameras, but neither one of those can give me the picture quality that I get from my Pentax, as well as the possibility to easily and accurately focus manually with a great OVF.
So sad they wont convert to mirrorless!
Agreed, focusing with a good ovf is so much easier and reliable than with evfs, even the focusing aids I do better without them.
I kinda regret having invested so much in canon glass. At the time they didnt even spoke about mirrorless. But I ended up following the trend when the r5 came out and later bought an rf l lens. I already ceased my investiment on the rf mount and thinking moving to pentax since they keep discontinuing ef lenses. I'm just waiting for a k1 with the option to remove the noise reduction in raw files, and I'l be part of the family
Aaaaand we're back with another Snappiness video when I should be working. Thank you for the smooth vibes and pleasantly informative interruptions 😁
Hehe, happy to help. Now get back to work 😄
@@snappiness I just got spammed by a bot pretending to be you, on a previous video. ruclips.net/video/97JUbU_jwr0/видео.html&lc=UgzsGqm5WaFkm0U8yqx4AaABAg.9c7UYMq6oyu9d3XOQkLwM6
When I installed the latest firmware - K70 version 1.3 - my autofocus improved dramatically. Keep the K3 III, which has good AF now, and when they update the firmware, it will be even better.
Great! I am optimistic with the firmware updates it has received so far. I hope they keep pushing some cool stuff :)
Grab the new firmware for the k70 1.4
I bought the K-3 III Monochrome, and it's amazing and fun to use. Sadly, it's about $400-$500 USD more expensive than the color K-3 III camera is.
Good review. I was quite hesitant to buy the K3 iii but ordered it anyway and regrettet the purchase until the camera arrived. After a year of shooting with it, I could not be more satisfied. It’s a gem. As to af, I fully agree that af speed should not be a substitute for technique. Never had problems with Pentax af either K1 or KP or K01
Thanks for posting this video. I too am a Pentaxian. My first DSLR was a GX-10 (Samsung-branded K10D), and my most recent one was a Pentax KP. Due to various reasons, I ended up selling the system. I am now on the Z mount (Nikon) with a Z fc paired with a few 1.4 primes from Viltrox. I might get a K10D again, and a WR lens to match it with. It was a DSLR that was built like a tank and many of my favourite photos were taken right in the rain!
Thank you for a very fair review. I have had my K3 III for a while now and really enjoy using it. Upgraded to the 55-300 PLM and really notice the focus speed difference. Sold my K3 original after a while as the K3 III is that much better.
One of these days I'll try out that PLM! :)
Your pics speak for themselves. Incredible pics. The bird shots and Astro shot were epic.
I've been wanting to buy it, thank you so much for your practical review, I've decided to buy it!
Cool! It's a great camera, enjoy! :)
It looks wonderful! That m-series lens looks right at home! It’s a camera on my wish list. I hope they revive KP with some K3 added goodness.
I think a lot of us want a KP revival in the future. The KP is so capable and had that more vintage style and compact design. Would be nice to have that middle ground model between the entry and the K-3III high end model too.
Everything that you have said sounds just like the camera I would love. A photographers camera. Just like my K-3 before I sold it to buy my K-1. An ergonomic delight. Video is superfluous for me. I do have a couple of lovely FujiFilm cameras and a range of lenses as well Olympus but these are fun curiosities compare to the way any of my Pentax cameras feel to photograph with.
I bought it over a year ago new with a sensible discount from the shop. Best camera of all times. Use it for macro, sport and portrait - not professional work. Have also the plm lens up to 300mm.
Pentax makes such great cameras that they do not have to defend themselves.I have other cameras that are mirrorless, yet for image quality, nOTHING NEW can overtake Pentax. Now if you listen to SCAMS on RUclips about gear, then you will believe anything tossed at you.I have the Pentax K1 mk2 and for critical work and ultimate composition in camera,it's excellent. If you're going to fix it with software anyway, just get anything...
6:25 - the difference between KP and K3iii is marginal. Certainly there is NO difference is noise / ISO because both cameras already uses same processing. The difference is only in sensor itself, which can put out slightly better color rendering, mostly seen in red channel where K3iii can distinguish subtle nuances in red or orange color better, and KP just make same, more truncated red. That might get help with portrait. I did not test, but only per what I can compare online (imaging-resource). With K-r, K5ii and K3ii, I see constant struggle with skin on faces. It's too red and fixing is problem with simple slider because redness of skin is similar hue as lips or other stuff and face skin I always fix by masking. Maybe with K3iii there would be possible to more fine separate oranges from reds. But for wildlife I can't see a difference since blue and green are both exactly alike. Also new sensor allows 4K video and much faster readings -> FPS. Never tech. But ISO is what it is and all manufacturers faced same limitation using this sensor. Comparing Fuji, exact ISO response, so they started to make other trickery. One is just using much larger megapixel sensor and than noise reduction comes at much finer level where our desired details are not harmed. It is funny as we think that more megapixel means more noise, but in fact it is opposite. It might be like it back in the days, but today manufacturer cope with moire, noise and aliasing with just making more pixel inside. At 12 MP sensor we loved tiny details and NR removed some of them. With 48 megapixels same detail get oversampled by 4-times and we can put hefty NR on that and provide perfectly clean 12 MPx perceivable details. I studied many camera models (imaging-resource and other charts) to see a pattern here. Newer cameras are MUCH cleaner but they do not provide more resolved details in final image. Maybe in ideal lighting. That there is lens limiting factor. 35 mm film was thought it provides of equivalent of 24 megapixels of information at max possible with lowest ISO / chart resolving power. But that was 12 MPx of real life max resolving power, compared to digital. I reckon 48 is ideal digital sensor to cope with all digital issues and provide true to analog experience if reduced to 12 MPx. Or 100 MPx as absolute overkill, just as 24-bit /196 KHz sound sampling.
Used to be a Pentax shooter for a lot of years and just got tired of the limited 3rd party lenses, slow releases, and appearance at least of being smoked by the competition. But it was the only camera I have been in a sudden monsoon rain storm with too and never worried for a second about my gear getting drenched! Also liked being the odd rebel in a sea of nikon and canon shooters. kind of miss them.
Thank you for the video.
I commend Pentax first for their firm stance to stick to DSLRs. Second, I know Pentax is great renowned camera brand that produced fantastic film SLRs, now producing great DSLRs.
I am a DSLR fan and user, hobbyist like you. Convinced that SLRs/DSLRs are real cameras. Mirrorless cameras seem like toys to me especially, that EVF is just a synthetic piece of viewing medium that cuts me off from reality.
I'm retaining all my Canon DSLR bodies and the lenses. Will definitely migrate to Pentax when these equipment systems reach the end of their service lives.
Thanks again.
What an excellent video! I like your style of presentation; your calm voice and narrative pace. I was once a devoted Pentaxian and still have my trusty K1000. I use Fujifilm cameras and enjoy the experience. Please keep up the good work and thank you for such an informative and interesting video.
Still using my new mark 3. Still also using my original k3, as I am still so in tune with the original. One thing I miss in the new camera is the lighted focus points. In darker scenes, it is harder to see them at times. But, I am excited to learn all the tricks this new one has.
I bought this camera almost a year ago, i sometimes had regrets, but then i discovered the advance modes, the technology behind it all, glad i kept it, i haven't owned a camera in the past but i feel this one is for power users that like to play around with settings ....i love it. Great video, and beautiful photos. Hope to see a second part , thanks.
I have a K10D that does focus conformation with vintage lenses. I bought a K10D in 2007 and used it until 2014 when I moved to a Sony A7 because I wanted a full frame camera that I could use old Canon FD lenses via an adapter. I recently bought a K10D because I had a nostalgic moment and I had bought a few m42 lenses. The beep was turned on when the camera arrived and the first time I mounted an m42 lens and started focusing the beeper went off accompanied by a green dot at the bottom of the viewfinder. I had always had the beep turned off on my original camera and never knew it would do that.
Wow the slight details are very endearing
actually I'm always waiting for more K3 III reviews. Thanks
I like that pentax finally shifted to Ricoh gr style menu, wich is mo modern and cleaner looking
Sold KP and K3ii 2 months ago to get K3mk III. Never thought that huge progress will be in that body in every aspect. Ergonomy, AF , body layout, OVF !!! The more I shot the more I can be sure, the I am glad not moving to mirrorless stuff. Ps - I remember as you said you will not go for k3mkiii. Now? See you completely in :)
I'm a Pentax lifer, been shooting with their manuals since mid 1980s. Got a K-10D in late 2006 and still use it regularly, and it holds its ground for what I do. I know there are SLRs out there with better video than Pentax currently has, such as the Fukifilm X series, but I just can't take that dive since I know it's about ecosystems which break down to creature comforts like rugged builds, interchangeability of lenses, etc, to me. If Pentax had to dvi-out to a separate box in order to match or surpass the video quality of its peers I would be fully into that. I don't want to wait forever for any stills centric ''camera'' to put the best of both worlds into a single package. It just doesn't make sense to me that Ricoh would double-down on that sad hill to die on. Hopefully, they figure that out soon because I think a large percentage of their base users are like me - willing to hold on to bodies and lenses forever letting model after model come out without reinvesting. That's not good for the brand, in the long run.
re dvi, hdmi, ethernet, firehose, bucket brigade of dwarves, whatever, just get it out to a separate box that can free-up the body to go full-on balls out.
Beautiful film. I loved everything about it. I loved what you had to say about the camera. I like the music I like to your personable chatty style. Just excellent. I hope you make a good go of this and you can make this your profession, because you are truly excellent at it. I’ve seen much worse videos by the big camera companies themselves. Pentax would be lucky to have you aboard. Thank you for this.
I was happy to move to full frame because I don't often shoot extreme telephoto. I miss my K-3 because of it's lighter weight and smaller size, but I like being able to shoot without a crop factor.
those pictures are just fire wow
I was a diehard pentax fan, I still own the 645z and many lenses. However, I had to painfully switch over to Canon and Nikon because autofocus was definitely not up to scratch with the bodies I owned. It is such a shame that these brilliantly built, ergonomic cameras have such a major flaw.
I am glad I got to experience the joy of using the K10d, K-3 and the 645z none the less.
Glad you came back to this one :)
Of course! Had to! :)
My III arrives tomorrow! 😊
Woohoo! Have fun!
@@snappiness I'm taking the III and D FA 150-450 out tomorrow morning to shoot some birds.
@@steverobinson9801 Holy smokes! What a combination!
With the major camera manufacturers walking away from DSLR's, I think it would be brilliant if Pentax would offer DSLR's in Nikon F mount or Canon EF mount to draw in those with existing lenses that aren't interested in going mirrorless. Sort of carve out their own niche.
That's an interesting thought. There's some sort of time limit on when people can reuse mounts (based on patent law I assume). I do wish we had more third party options. Practically speaking that's one of the draws of buying an older Nikon, for example, is the available of loads of great wildlife lens options for cheap. I do think Pentaxians are particularly fond of the lenses we do have though, so it'd be a question of whether or not that would draw in new people.
Thanks for this review. This will be my next brand new camera
Yep, 9mins will barely scrape the surface for this camera, it is quite advanced (some might say too advanced for their demographic!). I'll give my 2 cents FWIW for your sections;
1. Autofocus.
I'd actually say its worse than some other Pentax cameras, and I say this with confidence. LV mode see's not a single advancement over the 2016 K-1. OVF AF is worse with certain lenses (specifically the FA Ltds which cannot even be Fine Adjusted easily due to an issue I won't get into here). Autofocus is a huge topic and we could discuss it and it alone for easily over 9mins. I would just say that there are many whom are mistaking the boost to fps and buffer (which in turns assists with catching up to the Pentax AF system) as to being 'improved AF'. It is the boost in fps and buffer which gives us more keepers and more success, but the autofocus itself feels very much the same as K-1 or KP. If either the K-1 or KP got the same boost in fps and buffer I think we'd see very similar results, maybe even better. PLM lenses definitely improved results, lenses will always impact the AF system more than users give credit, K3III is meant to be paired with a PLM, then things really start to shine and play to the strengths of the K3III system.
2. Handling.
It is utterly fantastic. Nothing else to say, it's even better than the K-1. The only gripe is lack of flip screen, but it's not all bad, that rear LCD is actually huge and high res and is far nicer screen to review than many other modern flippy screens *cough Fuji XT4 cough* (another point I feel many skip over).
3. No GPS.
Yeh not a biggy for me and they came through with a new Astrotracer. I only wish they had all this sorted initially, it would have really damage controlled things for the brand! Ah Pentax! You do it to yourselves!
4. High ISO Performance & IQ.
I'm glad to hear you say you can't tell much difference between K3III and KP files, I feel the same. I would actually say the KP ones are higher IQ as the built in NR feels quite a lot more aggressive on the K3III. But the baked in NR might be a welcome for those that like to post process a little less than others.
5. Video.
Yeh, this is a bit of a joke, Pentax should prolly just drop video now, its getting pretty embarrassing. It's such a limited tool compared to other brands and suitable for such limited applications. We could go on about 4k crop factor, 8min run times... but let's not. It exists as a desperate tool for limited applications and leave it at that.
6. Viewfinder.
I actually think it's great! When I had a KP and K-1 I often reached for the K-1 and it wasn't always because it was the better camera, i just felt claustrophobic with the KP viewfinder. K3III resolved that and I do not think they get enough credit. But at what costs, it seemed to really impact overall development of this camera... I wonder what the price and feature difference would be with a normal APS-C viewfinder in the K3III...
Glad you're happy with it. Mine sits collecting dust mostly, it comes out for a play now and then but really it's the last camera I reach for (K-1, 645D, XT4 and XT30II sitting around tempt me more).
I own a 645z and K1 which both are preety capable of shooting perfectly focused birds in flight . As someone who started his photographic journey many years ago shooting volleyball matches with a Nikon F2AS, the whole doscussion about Pentax af is exaggerated. Yes, I understand the argument that the aim of technology is to make our lives easier but full automation takes fun out of photography. I’m one of those perverts who gets a thrill out of using skill when shooting pictures and getting 1 our of 10 gives far more satisfaction that 10 out of 10. Although, I understand why the latter is so important for commercial photographers.
@@tomcat1132 I feel similarly. Like you I shoot a K-1 and 645D (the D is even harder to use so the feeling of joy when you get a good shot is really great!). For most people however it's not about 'making lives easier', it's about competition. Many photographers are fighting for work, so if they can have a rich portfolio of moments captured then that helps with their promotion and securing the next job. It's why I have switched to Fuji primarily for my event work and leave Pentax to the more controlled slower paced stuff (landscape etc). I think when money is being exchanged you do owe it to the client to deliver, it's not about you and how you feel when you get a nice 1/10 image, you actually need to give 10/10 even if you feel disconnected somewhat from the process.
Great review! A long-time Pentax fan, my first camera was a MeSuper (showing my age), have been a fanboy ever since. Was about to pull the trigger on a new Canon, but you got me thinking hard about going back to Pentax as my primary shooter. I notice that the K-1 Mii is similar in price, will have to compare, a tough choice.
woah that astro tracer thing is a sick feature. Crazy good Orion Nebula for not having a tracker!
3:20 Exactly! Only better with better lenses. Lenses are bigger upgrade in every aspect than upgrading camera. I compared good old K5ii with Pentax 70-200 and Nikon D810 in low light and Pentax won hands down in single shot and tracking. Not so when I put old Tamron 70-200 on my K5ii. But interestingly enough, K5ii and D610 were similar in performance, but D810 refused to lock focus without AF beam. That low light was there. I can't say what results would be in good light, but low light performance at ISO6400/f2.8 at 1/250s from K5ii was remarkable when using Pentax *-lens, and mediocre when using Tamron lens - regarding autofocus. I learned that even K5ii is OK if not good regarding AF only if modern capable lens is used. Same goes for rebranded "tamron" DFA15-30 I also tested.
Like many others here, I'm lucky enough to have both an original K-3 and a MkIII, and I 100% agree with you. The AF is really good : the AF points are small enough not to be disturbed by, let's say, a blade of grass in a macro shot or a branch next to a bird, and the response time is way shorter than on the original K-3. The new 16-50 works very well with it (compared with my old Tamron 17-50 it's night and day!) The high ISO capabilities seems great on the jpeg files, but my copy of Lightroom 6 doesn't seems like the raw files, and leaves a lot of noise. The one point I'm not a big fan of is the new mechanism of the shutter button: I preferred (or I'm more used to) the old one.
Great review👍
Almost makes me want an excuse to own another pentax as I was so attached to my K1000 in the '70'S😍
I am a K3 fanatic too. I have dragged mine all over hall and back. When an accident happened on my part that ended its life I got another K3. If I can really get birds in flight I'll consider the K3 III some day. Low ISO would be great too, something with less noise at say 64000. But I do love the K3.
For macro work I too would like a tilt screen.
The tilt screen would make it pretty much perfect, in my eyes. Can't have it all I guess! The KP may be your bet then for the upgraded ISO performance and tilt screen.
@@snappiness yeah, but it uses a different battery. I really don't want to invest or have carry multiple kinds of batteries. I like that the K1 uses the same ones
I have the K3-11 and the autofocus on the K3-3 blows away the the K3-11
Good! Am glad the K-3 III is significantly better... all the new features... all that. I would probably buy one IF it had an onboard flash, like my older K-5 IIs and K-70. Over the years, that flash has really helped with my small town news photography, pix of friends, occasional landscape lighting, and backlit scenes. So... will wait for what, a K-4? With an even better lowlight sensor, and hopefully a flash. Cameras!
5:13 - I never used GPS on K3ii. Actually I was angry quite some time because it changes time settings and time was off regarding to K5ii camera I also use.
Excellent video Snaps! Been a Pentaxian since the I bought my K10D back in 2007! Retired the K10D, now exclusively use a Q and a KP. I agree Pentax is a photographer centric camera, video has always been sadly left behind, but just short clips it can be helpful. Awesome channel!
The KP is a superb camera that will become a favorite classic in the Pentax world for sure. Thanks for stopping by as always!
should have watched this before purchasing my first camera!
Good review of this brilliant DSLR; but as you said there is so much more.
One of these days I should make a video introducing non-pentaxians to Pentax camera. Because you're right, there's just a lot going on here that is really cool but wouldn't make it on a specs sheet.
Best cameras ever made
Dude...@2:31 and @6:33 Where'd you see a Crested Caracara? Nice!!!!
I realise in this video it's dominated with a dead center composition and looks wonder.
Great job with the result.
Thanks! I know my videos aren't the most professional but I am trying to get a little bit better with it incrementally. Who knows, maybe in a few years it won't look half bad 🤣
thanks for your video！I am still using my original k3. I am excited to see the new camera ,but it is too expensive for me now... hope i can afford it soon .I am totally agree with your opinion about the screen,it could be better, like k1. Great video!
Exactly! K3 iii seems to be a perfect camera (meantime, as almost all Pentax cameras like k10d, k5iis, k3, k1, kp, k-01) but! The price for the crop .. omg. Even nikon d500 with genial AF and developed lenses choice is cheaper. But let us remember, Pentax is not Nikon and I would pay more for Pentax;). Well but why full frame costs the same price? I would go for K1 for the same money, rather than buy crop ... And if I understood rightly, k3iii doesnt have gps? My k3ii has it.
@@Xitrun Agree! I bought the o-gps for my k-3,so that I am able to take astrophotography. it's the least thing we should miss
I contemplated getting the d500 for a long time... The reasons are too lengthy to discuss here, but I think the d500 with one of the many affordable used telephoto lenses would make one of, if not the best wildlife setup on a budget right now. I stuck with Pentax because I was fortunate to have the funds and bought one cheap, but I sympathize with the price. It's very costly.
Yeah no GPS in k3iii even though K3ii has GPS. I've seen used K-1's go for $700 lately. If you don't need the speed or crop for telephoto stuff, I highly highly recommend the K-1. Such a joy with vintage lenses too.
@@snappiness thank you for your comments. Where did you see the k1 for 700$? And where would you recommend to search used Pentax k1? I live in Canada so I guess we have more or less the same sites sources of buying.. thanx in advance
Another great Pentax video, thanks 😊
Thanks for stopping by, Ian :)
I love Pentax DSLR, been a,Pentaxian for some 30 years. However, they no longer have the lens selection. So about 12 years ago I switched systems and went with Canon.
This is my next camera. I have the recent DA* 16-50mm f/2.8 PLM & the DA 55-300mm PLM lenses. They're pretty fast on my K-3II, but I figure that they would work a lot better & more accurately on the K-3III. I'm hoping that Ricoh releases more fast focusing APS-C PLM lenses in the future. I'm waiting on the DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 PLM that Ricoh is supposedly working on & I hope they revamp the whole DA* lineup with newer faster focusing AF motors like the PLM or new SDM version.
That sounds like a really great setup between those two lenses. Covers pretty much everything you'd want to do besides edge cases. I agree a revised 50-135 with plm would be an exciting lens. I am still on the fence about picking up a 55-300 plm to test, but now all these comments are really.making me want to. I'm just really curious how it performs.
A bit late comment, Some of the heavier DFA* lens like 50 mm and 85mm are too heavy and needed a different type of heavy torque motor. They might not be suited for PLM from what i understand.
It’s between this and a Panasonic camera. I only have four thirds lenses but mirrorless cameras got no soul. It’s the pop music of cameras. Film slr is the funk and soul of cameras. Dslr is the in between. Chunky nice cameras that are more fun to use but still take good photos like mirrorless.
Iʻm sure you tried the FA series lenses. Those lenses are my favorite lenses of all time. Iʻve only owned the FA77 because it was the only one i could afford at the time. One day iʻll go back to a k100d and grab those FA lenses!
I love my FA 77mm limited lens... Remarkably sharp
Wow, I didn't realise the modern Pentax bodies were compatible with vintage K glass! I love the old lenses, now if they could just put some old school dials on there it'd be perfect!
I really think Pentax should have already capitalized on the SLR-esque camera styling with shutter speeds dials and the like. Like what Fuji has done. Or even a full-frame retro designed DSLR one like the Nikon Df. Would be really cool.
@@snappiness definitely! I have the xt3 but if i want to use my pentax glass i have to put a big ugly adapter on the front. Such a shame we can't have the best of both worlds!
I never had problems with AF speed with Pentax K100D nor K-7, but FF/BF problems with different lenses was a pain in the ...., so I moved to mirrorles.
i wonder how it compares to old canon dslrs like 5Ds or 1DIV in terms of pure joy of use. ricoch can make a beautiful colors and it looks like pentax delivers as well
I've missed my Pentax k70 since I sold it. There is just something about those saturated colors. I'm also excited to hear about those new FA registered lenses.
It hard to manual a dslr. I am still trying sell Pentax auto focus lenses. The body is gone. I switched to Sony years ago.
hey guys, so I don't really have money for camera but one day at a yard sale, I saw a Pentax k20d not second hand, but 3-rd hand with a sigma ex f1.4 30mm+the kit 16-45mm f4 lens, and other stuff like 2 chargers for some reason, 1gb SD card and a SD to usb-a reader. I know, it's old but for 50 bucks... I do use mostly the prime because of the bokeh and premium feeling focusing ring. I only use manual focus and shoot at iso higher than 1000 only in Black and White. What do you think guys, was this a good deal?
Hi. I would like to get myself in to digital Pentax system and I wonder if K3 M3 is the one I should start with. I though K1 M2 is the one I should choose, but looks like the K3 M3 is the best to buy today.
My wishes to Pentax:
1. At least one APS-H sensor camera
2. Pentax 645 MarkII
3. True 6x7 digital Pentax medium format camera.
Nice! So:
1. Will you still use your K-1 now that you have the K-3 III? Is the FF bokeh potential, FF resolution and tilty screen enough to want to make significant use of the K-1?
2. Does the K-1 high ISO still offer a benefit over the K-3 III - or is to just too close?
I do love the tilting screen on the K-1, and thats coming from a person who actually use to think an articulating screen was just a liability! How wrong I was.
The K-3III is smaller, lighter, faster (in every way) and has the crop factor that benefits my wildlife work. For everything else, I prefer the K-1. It's not that the K-3 III can't also be an excellent portrait/landscape/whatever camera, it's just I prefer the way the K-1 makes my old glass shine, the tilt screen, that resolution etc. K-1 is a powerful camera.
@@snappinessI have a k5 and a decent number of FF lenses (31mm ltd, 77mm ltd, M135, FA50mm...).. do you think K-1 or k3-iii would be better ? K1ii is so old at this point... Wondering if the k3 would be better. I want to do more indoor shots and the crop sensor is annoying for indoor studio type shots. Anyway been on the fence . K5 going strong but it's over 14 yrs old now and am itching for something new
Given that I'm still exploring features of my original K-3 after nearly a decade of ownership, I don't doubt that the mkIII will give plenty of room for growth. Oddly, the lack of tilt screen is one of the things still pushing me in the direction of making the leap to a K-1 instead for my next upgrade.
The tilt screen makes a lot of shots so much easier. I'm with you there.
My heart always beat for Pentax - the 100D was my first DSLR and still have milady K20D i use vintage lenses on. (Don't tell anybody it's actually a GX-20 ;) )
Haha! I have seen those GX's floating around. Always thought it was kinda cool to have a K10/20D in disguise.
@@snappiness It's weird, this thing reads Samsung but screams Pentax :D And getting a battery grip for it is next to impossible. Anyway, good to see new and exiting Pentax content, thanks for the video. I will upgrade to the K3 classic in the next years, looking forward to it! :D
Great camera, but it is almost as expensive as the K1, would that not be a better option? Except for tele of course.
Autofocus? We don’ need no steenkin’ aurofocus. I have an old K-10D and newer K-1 full-frame with an 18-55 and a 70-300, noticeably missing that sweet portrait range in between. Not to worry - I bought a good Nikon-to-Pentax adapter and use a 1985 Nikon 28-to-80 from my film days. The FM-2 I used from the late 80s to the early 00s is still operational. If only I could afford to shoot film!
Pentax was once before a popular before, but, alias, now is almost forgotten brand.
Pentax actually makes very fine cameras, and in particular the lenses.
The basic problem with Pentax is that they design cameras like dinosaurs. Not very "newfangled" but otherwise quite good.
I salute Pentax's nod for a single lens reflex design, rather than mirror-less. Mirror-less isn't everything.
Mirror-less is nice if you want a small design, or even close to tiny. But some of us prefer having the feel of a full sized camera and lens in our hands.
I didn't dive into it in this video (but a few previous ones) but I don't mind the dinosaur video features, or the not as good AF performance compared to modern competition (or terrible AF if you consider live view AF, which I never use so didn't cover either.) But I do think it was priced much too high on release. I got my used for a big discount. But what drew me to Pentax years ago was the 1.) experience, 2.) IQ, and 3.) value for money. I think they nailed the first two with this camera, but the value for money really wasn't there until I got this one nearly half off the listing price.
@@snappiness - Years ago, I had a Ricoh XR-1 camera which I loved. Designed kind of like a cheapie Nikon, great for a kid to buy after getting enough money by mowing laws all summer long. Kind of interesting how, if I'm not mistaken, Ricoh has now been incorporated inside the Pentax company. I once considered getting a Pentax K-1000 camera, which in reality might have been a considerably better choice. But at least my Ricoh used the Penkax K mount.
Ignorance ignores itself.
I'd love to see a comparison between the k-70 and the kp?
So... this video made me kinda sad and confirmed what I was thinking already. My Pentax K-1 dropped on the ground, wouldn't read lenses after. Its at Precision Camera now under the knife. I had drooled over the K3 Mkiii, especially the monochrome. Decided on the color model. Had it maybe a week, shot on it almost every day, and returned it. For some reason, I was initially disappointed with the overall IQ of the body. Used the FA77, 40 1.8, the DA 300 4.0 lenses. It was hard to justify financing $1,800 for a camera which at the time seemed like a step back from the cheaper full frame K-1. Fast forward a few weeks, looked back on those photos, and said "what the heck were you thinking?" the quality was superb esp for a crop sensor. So yeah very nice body, wish I still had it, and that precision camera would get me my K-1 back asap. Cheers Pentaxian
Thanks for the inspiration, great camera.
Cool, now I want one even more, thanks !!! :)
Really good pictures you have.
Great video some very good shots.
Thank you!
I haven't done much digital photography, I haven't done much photography recently, about 20 years ago I was really into photography but obviously only with tradition film.
One limit of traditional film was that there was that the difference between total black and total white was about 7 f-stops. If you had more f-stops between total black and total white then it would make life easier with getting workable exposures.
The stereo typical example is taking a photo in doors with a nice view out the window then you have a different exposure reading on the inside of the room verses the outside view. So you want to have a film with enough f-stops between total black and total white to get some detail and then when you develop you can dodge and burn so that the exposure of the print is perfect.
So with these digital cameras how many stops are there between total black and total white?
I'm a bit rusty on the film stops, but digital is vastly superior to film, and it happened between 10 to 20 years ago.
Everything is now on the computer using image editing software.
Digital camera sensors clearly outperform film IMO in terms of low light performance. Film needs light, and sensors do too, but nowhere near as badly as film needs light.
The latest camera sensors are now ISO invariant, which takes it to a whole other level. I'll explain this later.
Cameras have built in metering so you do not need a separate light meter. The in-built light meter meters for 18% gray. They also sense for White balance which determines color, and Pentax has the best or one of the best White Balance sensing - but this is for color. Some other camera brands White Balance for "Magic Hour" every time of the day. So you can take a phot at midday and it looks like magic hour, which is off putting. Some will do it even in night scene photography and its never "What you see is what you get". Pentax and Canon have the best White Balance. Nikon seems to create muted tones. But this can all be manipulated on the computer in image editing software.
So the answer to the question is that most cameras, including the different sized sensor today have 14 stops of what they call "Dynamic Range" - between black and white, but I'm not really explaining right. The Dynamic Range works like this: You can under expose an image by 10 or 11 stops, and then raise the exposure in the software and recover all the detail. But if you OVER EXPOSE your shot by 4 or 5 stops you'll be lucky to recover detail. So some people drastically under expose their images so they can pull it back in post on their computer. Now most image sensors today from micro 4/3rds, APSC, Full Frame and Medium Format (Crop) can do 14 stops of dynamic range. Some Medium Format (crop) and Medium Format (Full Frame 645) can do 16 stops of dynamic range. Some are brilliant at recovering over exposed highlights...........
So basically you do not have to worry about exposure with digital, as long as you do not over expose your images. There are tools for instance with Pentax, that when you take a picture and the image shows on the back screen the over exposed regions on the image are flashing red to show that you've cooked it. So then you can make your adjustments and take a better image. In post you can pull up and recover the dark regions easily.
Works for Black and white too.
ISO invariant sensors are a new generation of sensor that are two stage or two phase. So at ISO 100 the image is real clean, but gets dirtier by the time you get to ISO 800, and then the sensor at ISO 1600 is the 2nd phase, and the noise at 1600 is as bad as IS400. Take a look at the link below from Photons to Photos website where you can see the charts of ISO performance versus image noise/grain. On the menu on the right select a Pentax K-3 and you can see that the noise/grain goes up as the ISO goes up. Then select the Pentax K-P and you can see the sensor is ISO invariant, and the noise/grain goes up and down like steps, and gets pulled back down because of phasing. What this means is that you can take under exposed images in difficult light and pull up details even more so. Its another leap ahead of Film.
But don't get me wrong, film is great, but digital is instant and correcting mistakes is quick and easy.
The earliest digital slr's had image noise similar film. By the time they got to 10 mega pixels in apsc it had surpassed film grain. By 16 mega pixels it was well ahead. It went a bit backwards at 20 mega pixels and 24 mega pixels, but todays 24 and 26 ISO invariant sensors just blow it all out of the water.
Regards!
photonstophotos.net/Charts/RN_ADU.htm
Very well presented 👍🏽
Dude, use high pass filter for audio. Please.
I love your video! and your pictures! 🤩 Great Job 👌
Thanks, Robin!
You did not mention the autofocus performance in live view and the face detection tracking. Please test.
Great title.....
Still hoping for some K2 or K3mIV with articulating screen :D
Nice review. It was not my first option camera since I tested it for portrait and street photography. I am considering it now seriously. Just one question : how is it to use the K3 III with old glasses?
In 2008, when I was shopping for my first DSLR, I did online research and read all the photo magazines. I settled on a Pentax. But when I went into the local camera shop, they didn't have any Pentax cameras, though I was told they could order one for me. They were pushing the latest Canons and Nikons and they mentioned Olympus as well. I ended up buying a Canon, and eventually replaced the first Canon with another Canon. But I will always wonder if I should have bought a Pentax....
I guess there is no need to wonder. - somehow because the "choice" for a DSLR thechnolog is already a flawed one to begin with. Pentax and its aficionados I feel are somehow culpable of "pushing" this bliss of ignorance.
(Mani brands (Minolta: XM, CLE, ..Topcon, Rolleiflex, Alpa, etc) had their glorious attitudes and (under-recognized) achievements and everyone is prone to feel needy to belong to a group of chose select few who are in the right club. Pentax undouptadly is one of them. )
@@AR-vf7vg Your thinking is flawed. Because you are not me and I am not you. I would never think I could speak for anyone but myself.
@@tomjanowski8584 I apologize for something: Your text that inspired ("pretexted") me : ..I did not register that you are narrating 2008.
(I was triggered by the fact that this video (I don't know that channel) never mentioned the camera in today's context of 'existence' of mirrorless. For me, in this context (knowing uneducated amateurs can stumble on this video and feel informed) - that is inexcusable lack of respect.
@@AR-vf7vg I wasn't just talking about 2008. I just replaced my 2008 DSLR last year with a new DSLR. I think your issue is thinking you know what other people should be doing.
@@tomjanowski8584 Your issue seems to be You do not see the altruistic idea behind my 'contributions' here : that one owes to take the responsibility to adress context (dslr's today: in the current market now with mirrorless' - that many lovely and diserving newcommers still ignore) when creating YT content (influencer).
Thank you to have given me still another oportunity to voice this ;-)
(And sorry for my lack of empathy by not reading between your lines what you where thinking beyond 2008. ;-)
Please dont think to know that I feel that you owe to be happier with mirrorless.
That would not be fair. It is even forbidden to think that of me (#45b, section 22,opus XI).
I am thinking of buying this exact setup, K-3 III + 300mm f/4, as a budget setup for casual wildlife, pets, and aviation photography. I say budget because this lens is priced $400 less than the Nikon equivalent. I don't currently own any Pentax gear or a telephoto lens. Curious, have you ever used this setup to photograph fighter jets at an air show? How about something like coyotes at night?
I shoot owls in low light (example pictures shown here are almost always before sunrise). The AF does a good job in that situation, much better than my older bodies, High ISO performance is very nice. I have not taken it to an air show yet, but in those situations I think it would perform just fine. You just may want a longer lens for that (maybe you know more about air show setups than me).
But I would say if you don't own any Pentax gear and are buying a setup from scratch, I probably wouldn't get the K-3 III for that sole purpose. It's a great camera and system, but sport/wildlife isn't its strong suit, even if it's capable. A used D500 will be much cheaper and from what I've researched still performs better AF/FPS/buffer wise. Plus, if you decide the 300/f4 is too limiting or too bulky, Nikon has zoom options and third party options, whereas Pentax has next to nothing in that telephoto space.
My two cents, hope it helps!
@@snappiness very helpful, thank you!
I own a Tomato Red K-50 ( which most people think is a toy camera 😂 )and am about to snare a brand new K-70 along with a brand new 40mm lens. All of this for $400AUD….. An absolute BARGAIN 👊💥👊
I am a pretty sh*t photographer truth be told but like the quirky madness than is Pentax
I may actually do a basic course so I can get an odea of wtf I am doing 😂
Great review btw
The K-70 is a great camera. You'll have endless fun and good pictures with it :)
I was considering one but jumped on a a7iii instead as i for one wanted FF and do more video. i gotta say i love that camera for its abilities (+the silent shutter) BUT its far away from the feel a Pentax body gives you and i also would not abuse it as much. If they would stuff a FF sensor in that body i might consider it one day... when my wallet has recovered^^
U should try a Fujifilm XT5
These birds are making your photography veeeeeeery easy. Are you invisible 🤪
just discovered your channel! amazing, to the point, not repetitive and fairly short videos! well done
quick question, i want to replace my K-5. ideally i want the K3 III but i cannot find a used one and €2.000 price tag is not easy to shallow.
i found a k3 II with 1500 clicks like new for about €700. what's your opinion? is the viewfinder and AF improvements worth the double price?
I have never actually used the K-3ii, but I used the K-3 a lot. The K-3 original is a good enough jump from the K-5, and not much more, that even that move would be worth it. Spend the extra on nice glass.
The difference between the K-3 and K-3ii is small enough that I wouldn't do it unless it was about the same price.
If you don't mind switching body types and losing certain features, but gaining the best IQ for the buck, the Pentax KP is a great camera. The noise performance over the original K-3 is very good. But noise reduction software is also getting very, very good. So here we are back at the original K-3 😆
Hopefully that was helpful
thank you for replying! Believe it or not image quality is not the reason I want to update from K5. Lack of f2.8 autofocus points is. My fast lenses are not focusing that good in low light with k5. I prioritize construction over iq, so k3 is my preference. Here in Greece we don't have a lot of options in used cameras so you take what you find... Differences between mk1 and mk2 are minimal only the Astro tracer is it Worthy addition so I'm happy with either of them
Love from Greece!
Great shots
Thank you :)
That was a nice quick, and concise review of the K33 and I agree with your assessment. BtW how do you get so lucky to see so many Owls ?
I mountain bike for exercise a few times a week and bring the camera. I spotted one by accident once and that started my obsession with studying their habits and local sightings. They usually have their hunting area they hang out at, and when they nest of course they hang around the nest. So sometimes for months I know whereabout they hangout. Right now I can't find them anymore, but I'll find them again :)
@@snappiness awesome, nice work.
What is the Pentax lens on your k3? Vintage? I have several Pentax takumar, however, m42 Mount
thank you for sharing !!