pentax k3 top lcd panel color quotation

The K-3"s interface is very similar to that of other current Pentax DSLRs. The K-3 menus are essentially a mix of the K-5 interface and the K-50 interface, with a few new screens and settings as needed.

One key thing we"d like to mention in this section is that the K-3"s larger 3.2" LCD screen is a big upgrade. Even though its resolution (pixel density) could have been higher (it has 1037k dots vs. the K-5"s 921k dots), the key selling point is that the new screen has a 3:2 aspect ratio. This means that the live view image as well as images in playback mode will fill the entire screen! The increased area is of course also a plus.

During the adjustment process, the settings are shown in the viewfinder, on the top LCD, and the rear LCD, if enabled. When the camera reverts to shooting mode the AF mode is only shown on the rear LCD, if enabled.

Having a physical switch for the AF mode settings would have been nice, but it was inevitable, though, that Pentax had to do away with the switch as it would have been hard to accommodate more than 3 focus modes on a physical switch. Still, the new interface for AF does slow things down some. It also introduces a bit of button duplication: for example, the 4-way pad cannot be used to access sub-menus as long as AF SEL mode is highlighted.

Pentax forgot to add an arrow that points at the metering symbol on the top LCD when holding down the metering button (a minor inconsistency, as the arrow is shown for shutter speed, aperture, ISO, memory cards, and AF modes). They got it right on the rear LCD, though.

The K-3"s live view display behaves just like it did on earlier Pentax bodies: it does not offer a real-time preview of the actual exposure. Instead, it always tries to keep the scene properly-exposed and this impacts the utility of the histogram and highlight alert features.

Viewfinder diopter adjustment. On previous Pentax DLSRs this was a sliding switch and somewhat fiddly to use. The new design is an improvement. The adjustment range is -2 to +1.5

Green button: Its main function is to reset various shooting parameters. With legacy lenses with aperture rings but no "A" position, the green button is used for stop-down metering

AF point selection: Enables/disables moving the focus point with the four way pad. In playback mode it toggles between the two SD cards This button is active even if the rear LCD status screen is disabled. This means that you can activate focus point selection and use the viewfinder rather than the LCD to select the desired AF point if desired. After pressing this button, the 4-way pad cannot be used to access the WB, flash, drive mode, and custom image sub-menus until it is pressed a second time, so you must remember to do so after you"ve selected the desired AF point. This confusion could easily be avoided if the rear LCD were automatically enabled while selecting AF points, thus alerting the photographer that the primary function of the 4-way pad is disabled. Pentax could also add a timeout for the button"s effect via a firmware update. An icon is in the viewfinder indicates whenever select mode is active, so this is only an issue when you"re caught off-guard and just want to change some settings.

Status of various shooting settings can be displayed on the rear monitor. Most of what"s shown is a duplication of the information on the top LCD, but it is very useful to have this information on the back when shooting on a tall tripod for example. At other times it is annoying that this screen comes on, but it is easily disabled by hitting INFO twice and selecting it off.

The MENU button exits out of the Control Panel. Or you can hit the INFO button again, allowing you to select whether or not to show the Status Screen in shooting mode, and if so, how much information to include. Additionally, from this screen you have the option to select the electronic level to help vertically and horizontally level your shots (most effective when used while mounted on a tripod), and the final button allows for a compass and coordinate reading. This right-most button will be greyed out and inaccessible unless you have the optional Pentax O-GPS 1 accessory mounted to the hotshoe.

While Pentax was at it, they went all the way! The screen also adjusts to being held upside down as shown here with the electronic level. The electronic level, in addition to allowing you to hold the camera steadily, adds an automatic horizon correction feature that straightens your images when possible.

Images will also rotate in playback mode, but the corresponding metadata does not. This feature from the older Pentax K-7 has finally been brought back!

Overall, you do need to spend a bit of time to get accustomed to the K-3"s facelifted interface. After a while with your camera, finding the right settings becomes second nature, and at that point you can start taking full advantage of Pentax"s intuitive interface.

The playback mode on the K-3 is very similar to what we"ve seen on previous bodies, but a few key changes have been made. First of all, it has become slightly more tedious to switch between various information displays while in playback mode. On older Pentax bodies, the info button simply caused the camera to cycle between the different screens. Now, the info button brings up a pop-up menu, and you must select the desired screen using the 4-way pad or e-dial, and then confirm using the OK button. This adds two extra button presses if you just want to view detailed metadata, for instance.

Zooming out while viewing the whole image lets you access the thumnail view. The K-3 can display 6, 12, 20, 35, or 81 thumbnails at a time (the default is 20). This gives you much more flexibility than on the K-5, but is overwise similar to what we"ve seen in Pentax"s recent entry-level DSLRs like the K-50 or K-500. To change the number of thumbnails shown, press the info button while in the thumbnail view.

The K-3 allows users to adjust the rear screen"s brightness, contrast, and colors. You can also choose one of 12 background colors used throughout various displays. Thanks to these settings, you can set up the screen so that it"s easy for you to read and use.

The K-3"s user interface is well laid out in the usual Pentax way which is intuitive and user friendly. With this particular camera we must say, though, that complexity has gone up and can be a bit overwhelming at first. Switching between playback mode screens has become slightly more tedious, and due to button duplication, you might be caught off-guard when accessing some of the camera"s functions, based on the current context. Overall, though, we"re happy to see that the the K-5"s aging interface has finally been modernized.

The flagship Pentax K-3 is a new semi-professional DSLR camera. Key features of the K-3 include a 24 megapixel APS-C sensor with an anti-aliasing simulator rather than an optical anti-aliasing filter, 27-point Safox XI AF module that remains operational down to -3EV, 86,000 pixel RGB light-metering sensor, ISO range of 100-51,200, Full HD 1080p video at 60fps, 8.3fps continuous shooting, High Dynamic Range mode, and a range of in-built digital filter effects. The K-3 offers a dustproof, weather-resistant and cold-resistant construction, a shutter designed for 200,000 releases, top shutter speed of 1/8000th second, an optical viewfinder with the largest and brightness subject image in its class, a 3.2-inch LCD monitor with 920k dots, built-in dust removal and shake-reduction systems, Dual SD card slots and a USB 3.0 port.

The Pentax K-3 is available in black, body only for £1099.99 / $1299.95, in a kit with the 18-55mm WR lens for £1169.99, with the DA L 18-55mm WR and DA L 50-200mm WR lenses for £1349.99, or with the 18-135mm WR zoom for £1419.99 / $1649.95. The K-3 Silver Limited Edition (2,000 units worldwide) will cost £1399.99 / $1599.95 body-only. Optional accessories include a battery grip, FLU card for wireless LAN connection to a compatible smartphone, and a camera strap.

The Pentax K-3 is outwardly very similar to the cheaper K-5 II camera, sharing a lot of the same external design. It"s fractionally bigger - 100(H) x 131.5(W) x 77.5(D) - and heavier - 715g without the battery or memory card fitted, but you don"t pay too much of a size or weight penalty for choosing the more full-featured K-3.

You can instantly tell that the K-3 is a serious camera as soon as you pick it up for the first time. This is mainly due to the K-3"s stainless-steel alloy frame and lightweight magnesium-steel alloy body, which is a world away from Pentax"s much smaller and lighter entry-level DSLR cameras. The K-3 is dust, cold and water resistant, thanks to a system of 92 special seals used throughout the design, and it can operate at temperatures as low as -10°C. This shows itself most obviously via the battery compartment and the memory card slot. The former is opened via a small rotating latch, which is reassuring but a little fiddly to use if you"re in a hurry.

The K-3 features a shutter unit which provides a fast top shutter speed of 1/8000th second and an incredible 200,000 shutter release life-span, a figure more commonly associated with much more expensive professional SLR cameras. Rather than an optical anti-aliasing filter in the camera, the K-3 has an innovative anti-aliasing simulator instead, which can be turned off (default setting) or on to either the Type1 or Type2 setting, which adjusts the level of the effect.

The smc PENTAX-DA 18-135mm WR F3.5-5.6 ED AL (IF) DC WR lens that we were sent for review along with the K-3 features a simplified weather-resistant construction designed to minimise the intrusion of water and moisture into the lens barrel. There"s also a special coating which repels dust, water and grease and makes it easy to wipe off fingerprints and cosmetics. Consequently it feels well-matched to the K-3, although it"s a rather slow lens at both ends of the focal length (f3.5-5.6).

As it"s aimed at the experienced digital SLR owner, the K-3 is a complex camera in terms of functionality and the number of external controls that it offers, with over 30 in total and a lot of them having more than one function. Despite the presence of so many buttons and switches, the Pentax K-3 doesn"t feel too cluttered or intimidating, although it will certainly take some time to adapt to for people moving up from a cheaper, simpler DSLR.

Departing from the recent trend of ultra-compact SLR models, the K-3 is definitely designed for "normal" hands. The camera has a deep, contoured handgrip on the right-hand side, coated in a rubberized compound to aid grip, that enabled us to use three fingers to hold it and a right forefinger to operate the shutter button. There is a generous contoured area on the rear where your right thumb sits, with the rest of the body finished in a textured matt black. The shutter release action on the Pentax K-3 is very quiet, which makes the K-3 well suited to more candid photography.

On the front of the Pentax K-3 is a RAW / FX button, which instantly sets the image quality to whichever RAW format is selected in the menu system (either Pentax"s PEF format or Adobe DNG), useful if you are shooting in JPEG and want to quickly switch to RAW mode for a particular image. This button can also be customised to optionally control either Exposure Bracketing, Digital Preview, Electronic Level or Composition Adjustment. Located underneath is the Autofocus Mode button, with three available modes (AF-S, AF-A and AF-C), and underneath a switch for changing between manual and auto focusing. Above is a small button for opening the pop-up flash, which extends quite high above the lens to help minimise red-eye.

The Pentax K-3 follows conventional DSLR design in having a shooting mode dial on the top-left of the camera, which allows you to select either one of the advanced mode like Aperture-priority, Shutter-Priority and Manual, or the more point-and-shoot Auto and Program modes. There are no scene modes on this camera, signaling its intent as a serious photographic tool.

In the Shutter & Aperture-Priority mode the camera selects the most appropriate ISO speed for a shutter speed and aperture combination, allowing you to use ISO sensitivity as a third factor in determining the correct exposure. As digital cameras have always offered the unique ability to instantly change the sensitivity, it"s surprising that Pentax are still the only manufacturer to allow you to use ISO in this way. At the base of the shooting mode dial is a switch which locks and unlocks the dial.

On the right-hand side of the top of the K-3 is the small shutter button, surrounded by the on/off switch. This has a third setting, which by default activates the traditional Depth of Field Preview function, stopping down the lens so that you can see the effect of your chosen aperture. Located in front of the shutter button is one of the e-dials, predominately used to change the shutter speed, while behind it are the Exposure Compensation and ISO buttons - these commonly-used functions are ideally located for easy access.

Pentax have retained a traditional top LCD panel which displays quite a comprehensive amount of information about the current camera settings, including the shooting mode, current aperture or shutter speed, flash mode, battery level, number of remaining frames and drive mode. A similar amount of settings are also displayed in the viewfinder. In addition, when you turn the K-3 on or change the shooting mode, a graphical overview of how that mode operates is briefly displayed on the rear LCD screen. The Pentax K-3 does a very good job of providing easily understood information about the settings that it"s using.

The Pentax K-3 has a traditional eye-level optical TTL viewfinder which offers an impressive 100% scene coverage and 0.95x magnification. Being able to see exactly what will be captured means that you can only blame yourself for poor composition and unwanted details creeping into the frame. The viewfinder is bright and free of any distortions or aberrations, making it suitable for both auto and manual focusing. It also features a Natural-Bright-Matte III focusing screen to improve focusing accuracy during manual-focus operation. The in-finder status LCD runs horizontally along the bottom and it shows most of the camera"s key settings.

On the rear of the K-3 is a the large 3.2 inch LCD screen. The K-3"s LCD screen has a very high resolution of 1,037K dots, wide viewing angle and it"s gapless design helps it to remains visible outdoors in all but the brightest of conditions, making it one of the best LCD screens that we"ve seen on a DSLR. The brightness, saturation and colour temperature of the screen can be modified if you think it doesn"t match that of your calibrated computer monitor. The rear screen also doubles as a comprehensive status display, which can be called up by pressing the OK or Info buttons in record mode. If you then press the Info button again, you can also change all the settings right on the screen using a combination of the navigation pad and the rear e-dial. This ingenious solution spares you the pain of having to enter the menu, and makes most setting changes via the LCD screen very simple.

Located above the LCD screen and to the left of the viewfinder are the self-explanatory Play and Delete buttons, the latter doubling up as the Metering mode button. To the right of the viewfinder is the LV button which turns on the K-3"s Live View mode (see below for more details). Alongside this is the rear e-dial, mainly used for changing the aperture, a new AF button which can be used instead of half-pressing the shutter button to set autofocus, and the AE-L button, handily placed for locking the exposure.

Underneath is a rather innocuous looking button with a small green dot that"s unique to Pentax DSLRs. It has two uses - firstly, when shooting in Manual mode, a single push of the green button allows you to instantly set the correct exposure for the subject, as calculated by the camera, useful if you need a starting point for your own exposure. Secondly, the K-3 offers a Hyper Program function which instantly switches to either the Shutter-Priority or Aperture-Priority mode from the Program mode, simply by turning either of the control dials on the grip. Pressing the Green button then returns to the Program mode.

The Pentax K-3 has a new switch for changing between stills and movie recording, with the camera automatically switching to Live View for the latter shooting mode. The K-3 can record 1080 HD footage, recording high-definition video at 1920 x 1280 pixels at 60i/50i/30p/25p/24p or 1280 x 720 pixels at 60p/50p/30p/25p/24p in the Motion JPEG (MOV) format. An innovative interval movie mode captures a series of 4K-resolution movie clips (3840 x 2160 pixels) at a fixed interval. The maximum size of a single video clip is either 4 gigabytes or 25 minutes. There"s a built-in microphone for stereo recording, a socket for connecting an external stereo microphone and a headphone terminal. You can adjust the audio recording level manually and monitor sound levels during microphone recording. It also has an HDMI port for playback on a HD TV, using the industry-standard HDMI mini-out connection, but note that you"ll need to purchase a suitable cable separately. You can also still connect the K-3 to a standard TV set via NTSC/PAL.

To engage Live View for stills, you have to set this switch to the Camera icon, then press the red LV button. You can use the Live View mode to hold the K-3 at arm"s length or mount the camera on a tripod, with a single press of the LV button on the rear displaying the current scene on the LCD screen. Focusing is achieved by pressing the small AF button on the rear of the camera or by half-pressing the shutter-button. Alternatively you can use manual focus in Live View mode, with up to 10x magnification available via the OK button to help you fine-tune the focus (you can also use the OK button to magnify the subject by up to 10x when Auto Focus is on).

In addition to the Info button that we"ve already mentioned, the Pentax K-3 has a new Autofocus Area button which allows you to quickly set the AF point to one of the 27 available. Impressively 25 of these are cross-type sensors positioned in the middle, with the centre sensor and two sensors just above and below it designed to detect the light flux of an F2.8 lens. In Playback mode this allows you to toggle between the dual SD cards.

The Pentax K-3 features a built-in Shake Reduction system. Turn it on via the main menu option and the K-3 automatically compensates for camera shake, which is a slight blurring of the image that typically occurs at slow shutter speeds, providing approximately 3 shutter steps of compensation. As this system is built-into the camera body, it works with almost any lens that you attach to the K-3, providing a significant cost advantage over DSLRs from Canon and Nikon, which use a lens-based image stabilisation system (compatible lenses are the PENTAX K-, KA-, KAF-, KAF2- and KAF3-mount lenses; screw-mounted lenses (with an adapter); and 645- and 67-system lenses (with an adapter)). The K-3 displays a blur icon in the viewfinder to warn you that camera-shake may occur, regardless of whether or not Shake Reduction is on.

If you"ve had a bad experience with DSLRs and dust in the past, then the K-3 offers a Dust Removal mechanism. This automatically shifts the low-pass filter located in front of the CMOS image sensor at very high speed, shaking the dust off the low-pass filter. If you do still notice any dust, there"s a neat feature called Dust Alert which is designed to show exactly where the dust is on the image sensor. A vertically and laterally correct image of the sensor shot at f/16 is shown on the LCD screen, indicate exactly where any stubborn dust particles may be lurking. While this feature won"t prevent dust from getting onto the sensor, it does provide a quick and easy way of checking for it. In addition Dust Removal can be set to activate whenever the camera is turned on, and you can also use the built-in Sensor Cleaning function to lift the mirror and clean the image sensor with a blower brush or third-party cleaning solution.

The Pentax K-3"s High Dynamic Range (HDR) Capture option takes three images with different exposures, with 3 different strengths on offer, and then records a single image that combines the properly exposed parts of each one, expanding its dynamic range. It"s important to always use a tripod to prevent camera shake from blurring the HDR image, and it doesn"t work very well for moving subjects. Similar to Nikon"s D-lighting, Sony"s DRO, and Olympus" Shadow Adjustment Technology, Pentax"s D-Range allows you to correct the highlights (On or Off) and/or the shadows (3 different levels) before taking a JPEG or RAW image. Although this option is always at your disposal, remember that it is meant to be used in strong, contrasty lighting at base ISO. The Pentax K-3 also has a multi-exposure mode that allows you to combine between two and 2,000(!) different JPEG or RAW images into a single photo and a Cross Processing mode with four built-in effects and custom options that replicates the traditional effect of cross-processing film.

Pentax"s Custom Images, similar to Nikon"s Picture Styles and Canon"s Picture Controls, are preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings. You can change the saturation, hue, high/low key, contrast and sharpness for each of the ten options”. The Pentax K-3 additionally offers eight different Digital Filters, which allow you to quickly apply an artistic effect to a photo before taking it (JPEG images only). Note that applying the Digital Filters slows the camera down somewhat, as it has to process the image for a few seconds after it"s taken. The K-3 can also be set to automatically compensate for both distortion and lateral chromatic aberration of any DA- and DFA-series lenses.

The rather innocuous-sounding AF Adjustment custom function will be of particular interest to current Pentax owners. If you have a collection of older Pentax lenses and you"ve never been quite sure how accurate they focus when mounted on a DSLR, this is the function for you. Essentially it allows you to alter the focus of each lens. You can use a focusing target to test if the lens focuses correctly, and if it doesn"t alter it slightly using the AF Adjustment option, then test again until perfect focus is achieved. With most other DSLR systems you"d have to send the camera and lens off for calibration (and maybe even have to pay for it), but with the K-3, you can calibrate all of your lenses in the comfort of your own home.

The start-up time of the Pentax K-3, from turning the camera on to being ready to take a photo, is very quick for at around 1 second. Focusing is much quicker than the older K-5 model even in low-light thanks to the newly developed, highly sensitive SAFOX X AF module and an upgraded AF algorithm. The auto-focus performance of previous Pentax DSLRs has always suffered slightly in comparison with their rivals, but we"re pleased to report that the near-instant focusing of the K-3 should finally dispel those criticisms. Indeed, Pentax claims that the K-3 has the largest working range of any DSLR on the market (-3 EV to +18 EV) and this was certainly borne out in practice, even with the slow 18-55mm kit lens. Note that the 18-55mm lens has an annoyingly loud focusing mechanism though. The powerful AF Assist lamp can be used even if the built-in flash isn"t raised.

It takes about 1 second to store a JPEG image at the highest quality setting with no discernible lockup between taking shots, allowing you to keep shooting as they are being recorded onto the memory card. For RAW images the Pentax K-3 takes about 2 seconds to store an image and again there is no lockup between shots. In the continuous shooting mode you can hold down the shutter button and take 8.3 shots per second for up to 60 JPEGS or 23 RAW files an impressive performance given the large 24 megapixel files that this camera produces. The K-3 does lock up for a few seconds once the maximum number of shots is reached, although you can continue to shoot continuously, just at a much slower rate.

Once you have captured a photo, the Pentax K-3 has a good range of options for playing, reviewing and managing your images. You can instantly scroll through the images that you have taken, view 12 thumbnails, zoom in and out up to a magnification of 16x, and see very detailed information about each image by pressing the Info button. You can also delete, rotate, resize, protect and crop an an image, view a slideshow and set various printing options. There is an extensive range of 19 digital effects available which can be applied to JPEGs plus a Custom option to create your own unique effect. The camera shows you a preview of what the effect will look like when applied, and the effect is applied to a copy of your image, thus preserving the original intact.

The Index option creates an index print from up to 36 images. Save as Manual WB sets the camera"s Manual White Balance setting to the colour balance of the current image and Save Cross Processing saves that specific setting as a favourite. Color Moire Correction reduces colour moire and RAW Development converts a RAW file into a JPEG or TIFF with various conversion parameters available. Movie Edit lets you divide or extract segments from your movies. Importantly the Pentax K-3 offers both a brightness and RGB histogram after taking a photo which is a great help in evaluating the exposure, plus any areas that are over-exposed flash on and off in the LCD preview to show you want you should be compensating for with your next attempt. If you have never used a digital camera before, or you"re upgrading from a more basic model, reading the comprehensive but relatively easy-to-follow manual before you start is a good idea. Thankfully Pentax have chosen to supply it in printed format, rather than as a PDF on a CD, so you can also carry it with you for easy reference.

The Pentax K-3 produced photos of excellent quality. Noise is well controlled by the Pentax K-3, starting to appear at ISO 1600 and becoming more easily detectable at the faster settings of ISO 3200 and 6400 when viewing images at 100% magnification on screen (particularly in the RAW files). The fastest settings of 12800, 25600 and especially 512000 look much better on paper than in reality. Colour saturation is commendably maintained throughout the ISO range.

There are 10 ISO settings available on the Pentax K-3. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and the RAW equivalent on the right:

The Pentax K-3 has 3 different JPEG file quality settings available, with Best being the highest quality option, and it also supports RAW (Pentax"s PEF format and Adobe DNG). Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

The Pentax K-3 lets you dial in shutter speeds of up to 30 seconds and has a Bulb mode as well, which is very good news if you are seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 30 seconds at ISO 100. We"ve included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

The Pentax K-3 has a Shake Reduction mechanism built into the camera body, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with Shake Reduction turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with Shake Reduction turned on, the images are sharper than when it"s turned off.

Similar to Nikon"s D-lighting, Sony"s DRO, and Olympus" Shadow Adjustment Technology, Pentax"s D-Range allows you to correct the highlights (On or Off) and/or the shadows (3 different levels) before taking a JPEG or RAW image. Although this option is always at your disposal, remember that it is meant to be used in strong, contrasty lighting at base ISO. Below you can see a comparison between Off and both highlight and shadow correction set to on/full strength; the difference is mainly noticeable in the shadowed areas on the left and right sides of the photo.

The Pentax K-3"s HDR Capture option takes three images with different exposures, and then records a single image that combines the properly exposed parts of each one, expanding its dynamic range. Here is an example which was shot with the five different modes (Off, Auto, 1, 2 and 3). Although the K-3 can microalign images before combining them, allowing hand-held HDR shots to be taken, for best results it"s important to always use a tripod to prevent camera shake from blurring the HDR image, and it doesn"t work very well for moving subjects.

Pentax"s Custom Images, similar to Nikon"s Picture Styles and Canon"s Picture Controls, are preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings. You can change the saturation, hue, high/low key, contrast and sharpness for each of the seven options”. They are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences.

The Pentax K-3 offers seven different Digital Filters, which allow you to quickly apply an artistic effect to a photo before taking it (JPEG images only). They are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences. Note that applying the Digital Filters slows the camera down somewhat, as it has to process the image for a few seconds after it"s taken.

The Pentax K-3 has a fantastic multi-exposure mode that allows you to combine between two and 2,000 (!) different JPEG or RAW images into a single photo. Here is an example:

This is a selection of sample images from the Pentax K-3 camera, which were all taken using the 24 megapixel Best JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

The Pentax K-3 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files in either the PEF or DNG formats. We"ve provided some Pentax RAW (DNG) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

The Pentax K-3 can record HD video in the Motion JPEG (MOV) format. This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of 1920x1280 pixels at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 24 second movie is 63.9Mb in size.

The Pentax K-3 is the most full-featured prosumer DSLR camera on the market, but not only that, it also delivers great performance, weather-resistant build quality, slick handling and excellent image quality too. The K-3 certainly has what it takes to compete with its main rivals, the Canon EOS 70D and Nikon D7100.

The Pentax K-3 builds on the proven handling of the K-5 II camera. The combination of 100% viewfinder coverage with 0.95x magnification and the large 3.2-inch high-res LCD screen make the K-3 a joy to use in terms of image composition, and the fast 8.3fps continuous shooting rate and snappy AF system, even in low light, make it quick to use. The only real negative point in terms of handling is the rather slow contrast AF system which detracts from the Live View mode.

The K-3"s image quality is excellent, producing noise-free images all the way from from ISO 100-800. Noise starts to become apparent at ISO 1600, with a little more noise and smearing of fine detail at the higher settings of 3200 and 6400, while the fastest speeds of 12800-51200 are really only suitable for smaller prints. Colour rendition is commendably accurate all the way through the range, while the new on/off anti-aliasing simulator provides all the benefits of a true optical anti-aliasing filter. Pentax have also finally paid real attention to the video mode - the K-3 is easily the best Pentax DSLR in this regard.

We really can"t think of anything bad to say about the new Pentax K-3, other than it deserves a better lens than either the 18-55 or 18-135mm kit lenses to realise its true potential. Pentax may not be as big or have the kudos of Nikon and Canon, but in the new K-3, they definitely have a fantastic semi-pro DSLR camera that"s worthy of our highest Essential! award.

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The Ricoh takeover of Pentax now seems to have firmly bedded in, with a whole new range of revamped HD Limited lenses and, leading the pack, the latest flagship DSLR, the K-3. With a breath-taking array of features on offer, we now look more closely to see if the K-3 delivers the goods, and indeed whether it throws down the gauntlet to the brand leaders and offers some serious competition.

The K-3 ($1,299.95 direct, body only)$1,268.99 at Amazon takes a lot of what Pentax cameras are known for—robust weather sealing, excellent control layout, and fantastic high ISO image quality—and couples it with the best-yet Pentax autofocus system and an impressive burst shooting mode. When coupled with a weather-resistant lens it"s a go-anywhere 24-megapixel SLR that is capable of capturing outstanding images.

Breaking from the 16.2 million-pixel sensor used in the last few Pentax DLSR cameras, the new Pentax K-3 has an impressive 23.35 million pixel APS-C sensor, manufactured by Sony. On paper at least, the K-3 looks like the DSLR that many Pentax users have been waiting to upgrade to.

With the K-3, Pentax has the most feature-rich DSLR currently available - again. This DSLR camera boasts built-in stabilization, automatic horizon correction, a dual-axis digital level, class-leading weather-sealing, a large 100% coverage viewfinder, a 3.2" LCD with 1 megapixel, ISO up to 51200, 8.3 FPS continuous shooting, live-view and a wealth of unique photographic controls and image parameters. All this in a sturdy and relatively compact pro body. In addition to its photographic capabilities, the Pentax K-3 records 1080p HD movies with full manual-controls and stereo sound with mini-jacks for stereo audio input and output.

Electronic Level: Displayed in viewfinder and LCD panel (horizontal direction only); displayed on LCD monitor (horizontal direction and vertical direction)

AUTO WB, Multi Auto WB, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Fluorescent Light (D:Daylight Color, N:Daylight White, W:Cool White, L:Warm White), Tungsten Light, Flash, CTE, Manual WB (up to 3 settings), Color Temperature Configuration (up to 3 settings), Copying the white balance setting of a captured image

Base Parameter Adj, Extract Color, Toy Camera, Retro, High Contrast, Shading, Invert Color, Unicolor Bold, Bold Monochrome, Tone Expansion, Sketch, Water Color, Pastel, Posterization, Miniature, Soft, Starburst, Fish-eye, Slim

RAW file select :Select Single Image, Select Multiple Images, Select a folder RAW Development Parameter: File Format (JPEG/TIFF), Aspect ratio, JPEG recorded pixels, JPEG Quality, Color Space, Distortion Correction, Lateral Chromatic Aberration Correction, Peripheral Illumin. Corr. Color Fringe Correction, Digital filter, HDR, White Balance, Custom Image, Sensitivity, High-ISO NR, Shadow Correction, GPS(Latitude, Longitude, Altitude, Time)

Color Moiré Correction, Resize, Cropping (Aspect ratio and Slant adjustment available), Index, Movie Edit (Divide or delete selected frames), Capturing a JPEG still picture from a movie, Saving RAW data in buffer memory, Image Copy, Eye-Fi Image Transfer

Custom Button: RAW/Fx Button (One Push File Format, Exposure Bracketing, Optical Preview, Digital Preview, Shake Redction,LCD Panel Illumination, AF button (Enable AF, Cancel AF)

When Pentax launched its now-dormant Q-series mirrorless line in mid-2011 -- and as a then-relatively new Pentax shooter myself -- I learned an interesting little piece of trivia about the company"s long-running K-mount.

I knew that the bayonet design which Pentaxians know and love dates back to 1975, when Asahi Pentax (as the company was then known) replaced its earlier screwmount design for the K2, KX and KM film cameras. What I didn"t know was that the new bayonet"s initialism was a play on the logo for Asahi Pentax, as the brand was then known. The logo included a crown, and the letter K stood for "king". (The subsequent Q-mount, of course, was the "queen".)

For a couple of years now, the K-mount throne has been occupied by the very capable Pentax K-1, a full-frame camera which answered years of pleas from Pentaxians for just such a product. But late last spring, Ricoh -- for some years now the owner of the Pentax brand and its legacy -- announced a new ascension to its full-frame throne, as the K-1 stepped aside to make way for the brand-new Pentax K-1 II.

The newer camera is very closely related to the earlier model, with only a couple of notable changes. And while those changes are well worth having, some Pentaxians and reviewers alike seemed confused by (or dismissive of) the new model because of its similarity to its predecessor. But this camera isn"t aimed at K-1 owners, or at least not directly so -- more on that in a moment -- and so I think it"s a little unfair to give the K-1 II short shrift.

So what"s changed in the K-1 II, whether factory-sealed or newly-upgraded? Most importantly, Ricoh has promised a two-stop improvement in noise levels, meaning an even broader, more useful sensitivity range. There"s also a new, hand-holdable version of the Pixel Shift Resolution function first introduced back with the sub-frame K-3 II in 2015.

Now that I"ve had a little while to shoot with the Pentax K-1 II, it"s time to get the ball rolling on my review. And because of the available upgrade program for K-1 owners, as well as the relatively minimal nature of the K-1 II update, I"m going to be doing things a little differently to normal.

As I mentioned at the outset, I"ve been a Pentax shooter myself for close to a decade now. I first made the leap to the K-mount with the launch of the Pentax K-7, way back in 2009, and have long loved the superb body design of Pentax"s sub-frame flagships, which has remained relatively intact through four or five generations now. (Precisely how many depends upon whether you consider the K-3 and K-3 II to be variations on the same camera, or separate generations since they launched a year apart.)

As an owner, over the years, of the K-7, K-5 and K-3 II, I"m intimately familiar with that body design now, and I"d wager that so are most of the Pentaxians at whom the K-1 II is aimed. With that in mind, it would seem to make sense to start off with a side-by-side comparison of the full-frame flagship K-1 II alongside its APS-C flagship sibling, the K-3 II, which as of the current moment is still available in the US market, although it has now been discontinued globally.

The K-3 II was already a beautifully-crafted camera, but the K-1 II manages to feel even more solid in-hand, with not even the slightest hint of panel flex or creak anywhere. The only noise on moving and handling the camera comes from the controls you"re using, from the sensor mechanism shifting if the camera isn"t powered up, and from the little metal D-rings with which Pentax secures its shoulder straps.

And also like the K-3 II, the Pentax K-1 II is comprehensively weather-sealed, as is its optionally available portrait grip. I"ve not shot much with the K-1 II in the rain thus far, but I"ve done so extensively with past sub-frame flagships -- even in direct, fairly heavy rain a few times -- and have never had the slightest of issues. Do note, though, that you"ll want to be using weather-sealed accessories, too. As a brand which caters to fans of the great outdoors, you"ll find not only weather-sealed lenses, but also two all-weather flash strobes and a waterproof remote. When it comes to the degree of weather-sealing for lenses, Star-badged is best, then AW-badged, and finally WR-badged gives the lowest level of protection

When seen from above, the difference in the two cameras" size isn"t so noticeable. The K-1 II (left) adds a Smart Function Dial and Set dial on the top deck, allowing quicker control of a third exposure variable. The K-3 II (right) instead provides a much more generously-proportioned top-deck LCD info display.

Look at the top-down shots above, and you"ll see that in terms of their width and depth, there"s really not a lot to choose between the two cameras. That"s logical, since they both share the same full-frame mirror box even though the K-3 II

There are a few user interface differences to come to grips with, but they"re all relatively quick and simple to get used to. The primary controls -- the mode dial, power and focus mode switches, and front and rear dials are all identically positioned. So, too, are the shutter, AF mode, raw/Fx, exposure compensation, ISO, metering, AF, AE Lock and green buttons. (The latter, for the non-Pentaxians amongst us, is used to instantly return the camera to its default metered exposure after using the Program shift function to bias the exposure towards a brighter aperture or a slower shutter speed.) And the four-way controller array is near-identical too, complete with the adjacent Info and Menu buttons.

The biggest changes from the K-3 II are to be found on the top deck, where there"s a new Smart Function dial which, in concert with an adjacent "set" dial can be used to quickly change various options such as burst speed, bracketing mode, shake reduction, sensor crop mode and more which are usually hidden in menus or behind multiple button presses.

I quite like the Smart Function dial, although I don"t think all of its options are well-chosen, and I"d like to see some customizability. The ISO position in particular makes little sense to me, because there"s already an ISO button on the top deck which is comfortably within reach of your index finger. It"s easier to hold this down and then spin the rear dial than it is to reach up to turn the Set dial. And the latter has a much stiffer click detent, too, making it unlikely that you"d want to adjust the ISO using it while keeping your finger over the shutter button anyway, as it"s just not comfortable to do so without accidentally tripping the shutter.

The LCD articulation mechanism in action. This animation was shot with the K-1 for our review of that earlier model, but the Pentax K-1 II"s screen is identical.

Together, the new controls take up quite a bit of space on the camera"s right shoulder, and so the LCD info display is of necessity relatively anemic compared to that on the K-3 II; there"s just not space left for a larger one. It does still hit the high points, however, and it"s really nice that you can now manually control its backlight, so as not to disturb night vision and to draw attention to yourself less in low-light shooting.

On the rear, the Pentax K-1 II"s articulated LCD panel is still mounted on an unusual articulation mechanism which allows it to be pulled rearwards about three-quarters of an inch (2cm) from the camera body, extending four lunar lander-like struts beneath it as it does so. These struts allow the screen to be tilted upwards, downwards or sideways, with +/-35 degrees of side-to-side adjustment and +/-44 degrees of vertical tilt adjustment available. On top of this, you can flip up a secondary hinge behind the LCD panel, allowing it to be pointed upwards 90 degrees for shooting from the waist. You can even rotate the whole screen assembly around 15-20 degrees in either direction.

In photos of the camera -- especially with it powered off -- the screen itself looks a good bit larger than the unarticulated panel on the K-3 II. The display itself is no larger, though; it just has rather chunky bezels, especially at the bottom. And that"s no bad thing, as it gives you something to grip when adjusting that screen angle without smudging the screen with your fingerprints.

I"m a little mystified as to why Ricoh decided to move the Playback button from its traditional location at top left of the rear deck, which is where all of the company"s sub-frame flagships since the original K-7 placed it. This is probably the most jarring change since earlier models, and although I"m mostly used to it now, it does occasionally cause a brief moment of confusion when switching back and forth between shooting a K-1 II and K-3 II body. The playback button has jumped across the LCD panel to sit above the four-way controller, right where the K-3 II placed its live view mode switch.

The separate live view / movie record button that the K-3 II tucked to the right of its viewfinder has now replaced the playback button at top left, taking over a location that I personally preferred for the playback button as I found it quicker to locate by touch when quickly chimping between shots. The live view mode switch that sat in the playback button"s new location, meanwhile, has jumped to the top deck and now sits beneath the new Smart Function dial.

The Pentax K-1 II really begs to be paired with premium glass. Of course, making the most of its abilities with better lenses likely means still more added heft beyond that of the body itself. Since it only needs cover an APS-C sensor size and isn"t as bright either, the HD PENTAX-DA 16-85mmF3.5-5.6ED DC WR lens shown mounted on the K-3 II (right) is significantly smaller and lighter than the HD PENTAX-D FA 24-70mmF2.8ED SDM WR on the K-1 II (left), despite its broader zoom range.

On the K-1 II, I mounted the full-frame HD PENTAX-D FA 24-70mmF2.8ED SDM WR lens. On the K-3 II, I chose the sub-frame HD PENTAX-DA 16-85mmF3.5-5.6ED DC WR lens, which provides a 35mm-equivalent focal range of 24-128mm. The former is a constant-aperture zoom with a bright f/2.8 maximum aperture, where the latter has a variable aperture that starts off at a fairly bright f/3.5 at wide-angle, but falls to f/5.6 at wide-angle.

And I have to say, while the Pentax K-1 II is a good bit heftier than the K-3 II, I was more than happy to live with that difference for the results it was able to give me. As we"ll see in a second, I continue to find myself very pleased with the K-1 II"s image quality thus far. For this field test, I"m focusing on shooting in good light, of course. We"ll come back to low-light and night shooting in a subsequent field test, as I mentioned earlier.

Towards the lower end of the sensitivity range, the Pentax K-1 II offers really great image quality. Exposures are packed with detail, and noise is very well-controlled and film-like all the way up to ISO 3200, and even ISO 6400 was very usable indeed. I"ve not shot enough beyond that point to render further judgement on noise levels, but am very satisfied on that front thus far.

Exposures are metered very accurately, with only a relatively small fraction of my shots needing any exposure compensation. (For those few which did need a touch of compensation, it was under conditions which would prove challenging to most any camera"s metering system -- predominantly very dark or light scenes.) And the K-1 II yields great color, too, with accurate daytime white balance and pleasing results which -- albeit a tad oversaturated, as Pentax cameras tend to at default settings -- are very true to life.

Obviously, with a manufacturer-claimed burst rate of 4.4 frames per second, the K-1 II isn"t a camera which is aimed at sports shooters. Within Ricoh"s Pentax ecosystem, the company"s 8.3-frames per second sub-frame K-3 II is currently the most sports-oriented model. It"s discontinued in some markets, though, leaving the 7.0 fps Pentax KP as the swiftest alternative. However, the K-1 II can *almost* match the KP for performance if you switch it to its APS-C crop mode, with a manufacturer-claimed 6.4 fps. (Our own in-house testing found that the K-1 II bettered its manufacturer claims by about 0.1-0.2 fps both for full-res and APS-C shooting, incidentally.)

One last point I want to address quickly is that of battery life. Here, the Pentax K-1 II looks to be at a significant disadvantage compared both to its predecessor and the K-3 II, according to Ricoh"s official, CIPA-compliant battery life figures. Where the K-1 was rated as good for 760 frames on a charge, and the K-3 II for 720 frames, the Pentax K-1 II is said to manage just 670 frames on a charge.

None of these three cameras feature flash strobes, and while all three support Pentax"s historic power zoom lenses to some degree, they won"t have been tested that way. (The company no longer makes power zoom lenses, and even if it did, the CIPA testing standards wouldn"t require them to be tested for battery life.) So these figures should be pretty valid for comparison between the three cameras.

And as if that wasn"t already plenty, the standard also requires that the LCD monitor remain active at its factory-default brightness throughout the process. (The standard actually states that it must be in live view mode unless the results are specifically flagged as having been shot through the optical finder, but I"m pretty certain manufacturers are no longer abiding by that requirement any more.) For my money, the CIPA standard should be read these days as an absolute worst-case scenario. With a DSLR in real-world use, you should expect to blow these figures out of the water, just as I did. You"ll want to pack a second battery pack, especially if you plan on chimping a lot or using live view regularly, but that should suffice 90% of the time. (And the battery packs are small enough that you can slip a couple of spares in a bag or pocket, completely unnoticed until you need them.)

And that, for now, is where we"re going to wrap things up for this field test. Watch this space for Part 2, coming soon with a look at the new handheld-capable Pixel Shift Resolution mode, as well as a side-by-side comparison against the original Pentax K-1. Part 3 will follow with more information on low-light and long-exposure shooting, as well as video capture. Got any features you want to see tested, or questions you need answered? Sound off in the comments below!

For Pentaxians like myself, the wait for a full-frame DSLR has been a lengthy one, and patience has long been our watchword. Some 15 years after I first handled a functional prototype of a full-frame Pentax DSLR at the Photo Marketing Association"s annual tradeshow in the spring of 2001, that patience has been rewarded in spades with the arrival of the Pentax K-1, the company"s first full-frame camera to reach retail.

I think it"s fair to say that the Pentax K-1 represents my most-anticipated camera ever -- and now it"s finally here! A decade and a half after the debut of the unnamed prototype which preceded it, the K-1 arrives in a very different world -- one where even full-frame cameras are now commonplace and quite affordable, and where competition is very brisk indeed.

All those years ago, the prototype camera generated significant excitement simply for the fact that it featured a full-frame sensor and a ground-up digital design. In today"s market, though, a whole lot more is needed to make for a compelling full-frame camera. Even a quick glance at the Pentax K-1 is enough to make it clear that Ricoh understands the challenge it faces, and is willing to make the investment necessary to succeed.

Instead of simply shoe-horning a larger sensor into one of its existing flagship APS-C bodies -- which we"ve long found to be comfortable, capable and exceptionally well-specified -- the Pentax K-1 is very much its own camera. From its unusual flexible-tilt LCD monitor and clever on-body lighting system to its rethought user interface, the K-1 has clearly been designed to stand out from the crowd as a product designed for -- and by -- photographers.

When I first handled a 3D-printed mockup of the Pentax K-1 a year or two back, my immediate concern was for its size. The company"s flagship APS-C DSLR cameras have long stood out as unusually compact compared to their rivals, and while their all-metal bodies have had significant heft, they"ve barely been any larger in-hand than entry-level DSLRs from the likes of Canon or Nikon. The K-1 mockup felt rather chunkier by comparison.

Once I took the Pentax K-1 out of the box and placed it side-by-side with the K-3 II, though, my concern evaporated. Yes, the full-frame model is just fractionally wider than its APS-C sibling, and a bit taller and deeper as well, but the difference isn"t as noticeable as it seemed in the mockup, or in photos of the K-1"s body.

I think the perception of greater size is perhaps influenced by two things -- the wider, more squat-looking pentaprism housing and the fact that while the handgrip is essentially the same size on both cameras, the K-1"s body inside the grip is a bit thicker. (That"s largely down to the protrusion on the rear for the articulated LCD monitor.) The added top-deck controls and smaller info LCD also tend to make the K-1 look larger than it is.

In-hand, the Pentax K-1 is very comfortable indeed, something it shares in common with Ricoh"s APS-C DSLRs. The handgrip is just deep enough that even with my large hands -- I"m 6" 1" tall -- my fingers didn"t feel too cramped, and the grips both front and rear are profiled nicely for comfort too. The result is that even when shooting single-handed, the K-1 feels very secure and comfortable.

Build quality is very impressive indeed. There"s not the slightest hint of panel flex or creak anywhere. As it happens, I"ve spent the last few days shooting with one of Canon"s pro-grade 1D-series DSLRs, and I"d say the Pentax K-1 feels just as reassuringly solid.

Prior to getting my hands on the Pentax K-1, I"d had my concerns about its unusual flexible-tilt articulation mechanism for the rear-panel LCD monitor. It"s perhaps the most eyecatchingly-different feature of the camera"s exterior, and it definitely takes some getting used to. The LCD assembly sits atop four lunar lander-like struts which allow the screen to be tilted in any direction, or even rotated perhaps 30 degrees or so in either direction. In addition, the monitor is attached to its assembly with a hinge along its top edge, allowing it to be flipped upwards still further for waist-level or low-to-the-ground shooting.

Having seen a few videos of the camera -- with lens attached -- being held by the LCD and vigorously shaken without harm, my concerns about the strength of the flexible-tilt system were pretty much allayed. And the ribbon cable which attaches camera body to display also seems pretty well-protected, being wrapped in a soft and very flexible rubber sheath which ensures that it, too, is weather-sealed. The ribbon cable doesn"t seem like it could snag on or get pinched by the struts, and no matter how the display is moved, the cable itself doesn"t actually have to bend very much. I think this, too, should last well so long as you keep your fingers out from behind the display.

It didn"t take long for me to fall in love with another feature of the Pentax K-1"s display, though. As soon as I stumbled upon its outdoor view setting, which is very easily accessed by default with the Fx2 button. (That"s the down-arrow button of the four-way controller.)

That"s not the only trick up the Pentax K-1"s sleeve, either. I shoot at night quite a bit, and once I found the illumination settings menu I quickly fell in love with one of the most interesting features of Pentax"s new full-frame flagship -- an array of on-demand lights around its body.

You can opt to enable or disable any of these through the menu, and a couple even provide two-step control over brightness. By default, pressing the lamp button on the K-1"s top deck will illuminate only the info LCD panel, which has a two-step green backlight. A separate "backside controls" option illuminates four LCDs at the rear corners of the LCD monitor, which handily casts some light over the rear-panel controls if the LCD is pulled forwards first. These, too, have a two-step brightness control.

Pressing the top-deck lamp button a second time will cancel all of these lamps, making it very easy to see what you"re doing for just as long as you need, and no longer. Really, the only thing you might need a flashlight for is the top-deck controls, as well as the controls and connectors on the left side of the body, but most of these quickly become second nature to locate by touch, while the left-side connectors aren"t ones you"d likely be fiddling with in the dark anyway.

My recommendation: When you take the Pentax K-1 out of the box, make a visit to the illumination settings menu straight away to enable these on-demand lights if you do much night shooting. You might also want to visit the adjacent indicator lamps menu to reduce the default brightness of the Wi-Fi and GPS lights or disable them altogether, as well as the self-timer and remote control lamps, if you want to protect your night vision.

Compared to those on the earlier APS-C flagships, the full-frame Pentax K-1"s top deck info / status LCD panel is barely one-quarter the size, a change that was necessary to free up room for the smart function controls, which I"ll come back to in a moment.

It"s a bit of a shame, because with so much less room this handy little display tells you much less about the camera"s setup, sending you instead to the rear panel display or to check the various controls for more information. You do get to see the main exposure basics -- shutter speed, aperture, sensitivity, and an indication if exposure compensation is active, plus battery and card slot indicators -- but that"s it.

The reason that the Pentax K-1"s top-deck display had to shrink, as noted, is its new control system, which consists of the smart function and settings dials. Together, these can be used to adjust a wide range of settings, and it works in a very intuitive manner. Simply spin the smart function dial to the specific function you wish to adjust, and then turn the settings dial to select the value you want -- for example, choosing the ISO sensitivity, crop mode, bracketing, and so forth.

There is, however, a fair degree of duplication between this system and Pentax"s existing control scheme, which in itself was already very intuitive. For example, you can as noted control ISO sensitivity using the smart function dial and settings dial together, but the same was already possible simply by holding down the adjacent ISO button on the top deck, and then spinning the rear dial.

The same is also true of exposure compensation, while drive modes and bracketing could be accessed by hitting the up arrow on the rear-panel four-way controller, then making your selection with the other four-way controller buttons. (On earlier models, you could also roll the front dial to switch between drive modes, but that no longer works on the K-1.)

And then there are the HDR and shake reduction functions, which couldn"t be accessed directly like this before, but were still fairly easy to get to without entering the menu system using the control panel function. A press of the info button pulled this up, and a few four-way controller presses made your selection.

Of the available smart function selections, only a few couldn"t be accessed without entering the menu system or control panel screen before: the on-demand viewfinder grid mode (not found in earlier Pentax cameras), crop function (ditto) and Wi-Fi function. (I"m going from memory on this last, as only the K-S series cameras have sported in-camera Wi-Fi before, and I don"t have one in front of me to check at the moment.)

While I like the smart function control system for its intuitive nature, I think I would"ve preferred the larger status LCD panel of earlier models remain for the K-1 instead of this new feature. I typically found myself just leaving the smart function dial on its crop setting, and then occasionally switching it to control bracketing and drive modes as needed, with its other options going little-used.

One of the really nice things about shooting with a full-frame DSLR is how much roomier the viewfinders can be than can those on APS-C models, while still remaining bright and clear. The Pentax K-1"s viewfinder is really great: On bringing it to my eye for the first time after having shot with the K-3 II, I felt I could almost fall into it, so generous was its view.

But while its size and image impressed, that wasn"t what I liked most about the Pentax K-1"s viewfinder. Instead, it was a feature which rivals have had for a while now, and which finally makes itself known in a Pentax DSLR. Courtesy of an LCD panel inside the viewfinder"s optical path, there are now on-demand displays within the viewfinder image.

With the exception of the crop frame, which appears or disappears automatically as needed, each of these can be enabled or disabled independently of the other indications. And each is shown in a not-too-distracting black color for daytime shooting, with a red illumination for any active display elements in low light.

For one other point regarding handling of the Pentax K-1, I"ll unfortunately have to rely on my experience with past models. Sadly, the optional portrait / battery grip wasn"t available to me during my review, and since it"s specific to this particular model due to its dimensions differing from those of past APS-C format cameras, I couldn"t use one of my own grips.

With that said, I"ve owned several generations of Pentax DSLRs myself, and with each I"ve also purchased the battery grip. Although the button layouts don"t match those for landscape-orientation shooting, I"ve found past grips to be well-built, and as well as providing access to the main controls without needing to be a contortionist, they also give room for a second battery pack (or optionally, a set of AA batteries if you get stuck away from a charger for too long).

But enough of its physical nature: How does the Pentax K-1 perform in the real world? Well, it"s not a camera aimed at sports photography by any means. If you"re looking for the best possible performance in a Pentax DSLR, you"ll want to consider the company"s APS-C flagship Pentax K-3 II instead.

With that said, burst performance was pretty close to that of the Nikon D810 which I reviewed last year, and which has similar resolution. Our lab testing suggests that the D810 has a slight edge in full-frame burst capture rate, but only by around a half-frame per second. The D810 was also able to provide a greater raw buffer depth, but the Pentax K-1 bested it by quite some distance in terms of JPEG buffer depth. Neither is going to compare to a pro or even enthusiast-grade DSLR designed with sports and high bur