pentax k3 top lcd panel color price

Grid Display (4x4 Grid, Golden Section, Scale, Square(L), Square(S), Grid Color: Black/Gray/White ), Histogram, Bright area warning, Composition Adjustment

Digital FilterExtract Color, Replace Color, Toy Camera, Retro, High Contrast, Shading, Invert Color, Unicolor Bold, Tone Expansion, Bold Monochrome, Grainy Monochrome

White BalanceAUTO WB, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Fluorescent Light (D:Daylight Color, N:Daylight White, W:Cool White, L:Warm White), Tungsten Light, CTE,

Playback ViewSingle frame, Multi-image display (20, 48, 70 segmentation), Display magnification (up to 16, 100% display, quick zoom and Focus Magnification available), Grid display (4x4 Grid, Golden Section, Scale, Square(L), Square(S), Grid Color: Black/Gray/White), Rotating, Histogram (Y histogram, RGB histogram), Bright area warning, Auto Image Rotation, Detailed information, Copyright information (Photographer, Copyright holder), GPS information (latitude, longitude, altitude, Coordinated Universal Time) , Orientation, Folder Display, Calendar Filmstrip Display

Digital FilterBase Parameter Adj, Extract Color, Replace Color, Toy Camera, Retro, High Contrast, Shading, Invert Color, Unicolor Bold, Tone Expansion, Bold Monochrome, Grainy Monochrome, Miniature, Soft, Fish-eye, Slim, Monochrome, Frame Composite

White Balance, Custom Image, Sensitivity, Digital filter, Clarity, Skin Tone, HDR, Pixel Shift Resolution, Distortion Correction, Peripheral Illumin. Corr., Lateral Chromatic Aberration Correction, Diffraction Correction, Color Fringe Correction, High-ISO Noise Reduction, Shadow Correction, File Format (JPEG/TIFF), JPEG Recorded Pixels, JPEG Quality, Aspect Ratio, Color Space

SettingsUSER Mode, Fx Button, AF/AE Lock Settings, Preview Dial, E-Dial Programming, Smart Function, Monitor Touch Operation, Eye Sensor, Viewfinder Display, LCD Panel, Monitor Display, Instant Review, Zoom Review, Warning Display, Control Panel, Memory, EV Steps, ISO Sensitivity Steps, Color Temperature Steps, Input MF Lens Focal Length, Save Rotation Information, Aperture Information Record, AF Fine Adjustment, Copyright Information

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.

Ricoh"s flagship APS-C camera, the 24-megapixel Pentax K-3 is jam-packed with clever technology, yet it"s also affordably priced and among the very smallest enthusiast DSLRs. As well as overhauled imaging, autofocus, and metering, it also boasts an industry-first system that lets you choose whether resolution or moire-resistance are more critical for any given shot. But can its unique advantages tempt you away from mainstream rivals Canon and Nikon? (And should you upgrade, if you"re already a Pentaxian?) Find out in our Pentax K-3 review!

Top-notch image quality; Great ergonomics in a compact body; Unique on-demand low-pass filtering; Broad sensitivity range; Large and bright viewfinder for an APS-C camera; Dual card slots; Optional Wi-Fi remote control

Available since November 2013, the Pentax K-3 digital SLR is priced at US$1,300 body-only in the US market. Body-only, that"s just US$100 more than the launch price for the Pentax K-5 II, and the exact same price at which the Pentax K-5 IIs first shipped. This seems eminently reasonable, considering that the Pentax K-3 is a complete overhaul, where the earlier cameras were relatively modest updates. (To put things in perspective, the K-3 is actually priced US$300 below the launch price of the Pentax K-5, just three years earlier.)

The Pentax K-3 was long the flagship of Ricoh"s DSLR camera line, at least unless you wanted to step up to a pricey medium-format camera. Those days are over: The full-frame Pentax K-1 is here to occupy the middle ground between Ricoh"s APS-C and medium-format models! As well as offering a much larger sensor than the K-3, the Pentax K-1 also boasts much higher resolution, a far broader sensitivity range, a much bigger viewfinder with helpful on-demand overlays, a more sophisticated autofocus system, and built-in GPS and Wi-Fi radios to help keep tabs on where your photos were shot, then get them online as quickly as possible. The K-1 also won a Camera of Distinction award for "Best Professional DSLR" in our 2016 Camera of the Year Awards. For all the details, read our Pentax K-1 review, or to see how the sub-frame Pentax K-3 stacks up against the full-frame K-1, check out our side-by-side comparison here: Pentax K-3 vs. Pentax K-1.

Since the launch of the Pentax K-7 in 2009, the company"s flagship models have been among our favorite enthusiast-grade digital SLRs. Pentax"s most recent iterations -- the simultaneously-launched K-5 II and K-5 IIs -- were very much evolutionary models, with only relatively minor changes from their shared predecessor. The Pentax K-3, unlike its recent precessors, is revolutionary -- and not just because it"s the first in the series to be made under the watch of Ricoh, the Pentax brand"s new owner.

Not only does the Pentax K-3 feature significant changes inside and out, it also includes an industry first: on-demand low-pass filtering which lets you choose whether ultimate resolution or resistance to moiré are more important for any given shot. The attention-grabbing, mechanical alternative to an optical low-pass filter has clearly grabbed all the headlines, and deservedly so, but there"s plenty else besides that makes the Pentax K-3 an exciting upgrade.

Perhaps most obviously, there"s a brand-new body that -- while it retains the spirit of the design first introduced with the K-7 -- makes some significant changes to the controls for the first time in several generations. The 24.3-megapixel Pentax K-3 also packs 50% more pixels into its APS-C sized image sensor, increasing linear resolution by almost a quarter. Yet thanks to a new PRIME III image processor, it simultaneously increases performance. Pentax claims a whopping 8.3 frames per second at full resolution, for as many as 60 JPEG or 23 raw frames. And despite the significant resolution increase, the K-3 still offers a maximum sensitivity of ISO 51,200 equivalent.

Pentax has gifted its newest APS-C flagship with a brand-new, much finer-grained metering sensor with 86,000 RGB pixels, not to mention a much more capable 27-point autofocus sensor. All but two of the K-3"s focus points are cross-types, sensitive to detail on both the horizontal and vertical axes. And at the center of the array, three points provide for autofocus with apertures as bright as f/2.8. If you prefer focusing manually, you"ll find a new focus peaking function in live view mode to be a very handy addition.

The Pentax K-3 also boasts double the shutter life of its predecessor, along with an improved image stabilization system that should better fight image blur. And on its rear panel, you"ll find both a brighter pentaprism optical viewfinder with greater magnification, and a larger, higher-resolution LCD monitor. Both storage and connectivity options have been refreshed, too. The Pentax K-3 provides dual SD card slots with support for high-speed UHS-1 cards, and supplements its high-def video output with a new USB 3.0 SuperSpeed data connection, helping you get all your images and movies off the camera in the shortest possible time.

And speaking of movie capture -- long an area in which Pentax has lagged its rivals -- this, too, has received a total overhaul. The Pentax K-3 now uses more efficient H.264 video compression, allows single autofocus during movie capture, and provides a much more generous selection of movie frame rates. It also allows program, priority, and manual exposure control for movies. And the existing stereo microphone jack has been supplemented with a headphone jack for levels monitoring, plus a fine-grained audio levels control. You can even opt for a stereo levels display during video capture, should you wish!

The Pentax K-3 has a weather-sealed magnesium alloy body with 92 different environmental seals, which sits over the top of a steel chassis. Move your mouse over the image to see the chassis design.

Clearly, a lot has changed. The good news is that almost everything we loved about earlier Pentax flagships has been retained for the K-3. It still sports a solid magnesium-alloy body with great ergonomics, and despite an enthusiast-friendly control layout, it"s still barely any larger than the typical consumer SLR. The Pentax K-3 is also still freezeproof and fully weather-sealed. And as you"d expect, it retains enthusiast-friendly features such as a 100% pentaprism viewfinder, twin control dials, a built-in flash sync terminal, and support for an optional portrait/battery grip.

Alongside the Pentax K-3, the company also launched several new accessories, most of which hit the market at the same time as the camera body. The Pentax D-BG5 battery grip replaces the earlier D-BG4 that was compatible with the Pentax K-7, K-5, and K-5 II / IIs models. It"s priced at around US$230 list. There"s also a new weather-sealed HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8ED WR lens, priced at about US$450. Finally, a Pentax-branded, Wi-Fi capable Flucard SDHC card had yet to go on sale as of December 2013, but will ship for US$100 in a 16GB capacity. Not only will this allow wireless data transfer, it will also let you control your camera remotely (including live view feed) from your PC, or from recent Android / iOS smart devices.

In the past, Pentax has also offered limited-edition silver-bodied variants of its flagship DSLRs, and it did so for the Pentax K-3, as well. There was a slight change in strategy, though. Previously, you"ve typically had to wait many months after launch to get your hands on a silver Pentax SLR. This time around, the Pentax K-3 Premium Silver Edition shipped immediately alongside its black-bodied sibling. It was sold in a bundle with a silver D-BG5 battery grip, and an exclusive leather strap. Just 2,000 units were offered worldwide, and with a pricetag of only US$1,600, they cost an almost insignificant US$70 more than the black version plus battery grip. At that price, it"s not surprising that these didn"t hang around on store shelves, with stock vanishing almost instantly.

If you still want to buy the silver Pentax K-3, you"ll need to look to the second-hand market unless you"re very lucky in finding remaining stock. (And if you have that kind of luck, may we suggest picking up a lottery ticket at the same time?)

Walkaround. Just like its predecessors, the Pentax K-3"s body is constructed of magnesium alloy over a steel chassis -- and that"s mag-alloy on all sides, unlike some rivals. (The Nikon D7100, for example, has magnesium alloy panels top and rear, but polycarbonate plastic panels on the front, bottom, and sides.)

The K-3 is still fully dust and weather-sealed, and now sports a total of 92 different seals, up from 77 in the K-5 II. That difference is likely down to the need to seal new controls and connectivity, rather than to an increase in the already-impressive water resistance. And like its predecessor, the Pentax K-3 is also freezeproof to 14°F / -10°C, while at the upper end of the range it"s possible to shoot in temperatures of 104°F / 40°C.

Although it"s still pretty compact as rugged, control-and-feature-rich enthusiast SLRs go, the Pentax K-3 has grown in size just slightly compared to its predecessors. With dimensions of 5.2 x 3.9 x 3.1 inches (131 x 100 x 77mm), it"s grown in height by around 3% (0.1 inches / 3mm), and in depth by some 5% (0.2 inches / 4mm). It"s also grown in heft, with a weight of 28.2 ounces (800g) when loaded with battery and Secure Digital card, up 5% from the 26.1 ounces (760g) of its predecessor.

Seen from the front, the Pentax K-3 looks a lot like its predecessors, the K-7, K-5, K-5 II, and K-5 IIs, but it"s actually a brand-new body. (And that"s big news, because really, there have only been very minor changes to the body design since it first debuted in 2009.)

There"s also a single-hole port for the microphone, just below and to the right of the P in the Pentax logo (as seen from the rear of the camera). It"s still a mono mic, but the new position should result in slightly better reception of sound from subjects in front of the camera. Previously, it sat on the top deck.

On the top deck, the changes are more obvious. For one thing, you can see that the increase in body depth is largely down to a deeper thumb grip at the top right corner of the rear panel, which again helps to make for a slightly more secure and comfortable grip. The Mode dial has also been reworked, with its Movie position dropped, and the previous User position replaced by three separate user modes, U1 thru U3. (That, sadly, means that while you now have direct access, you lose two modes, since earlier models allowed five user modes to be accessed through the single User position.)

Another top-deck change is that the monochrome LCD info display has been revisited, with several new indications added. These include both the metering mode and AF point selection, since there are no longer physical controls that show the status of either function. The K-3 also boasts dual card slots, and the info LCD can show to which of these you"re currently writing, and in which file format.

More subtle changes include the absence of the microphone port, previously located in front of the hot shoe, and the diopter adjustment slider on top of the viewfinder. (We"ll come back to that in a moment.) Pentax has also relocated the focal plane marking to the right side of the pentaprism hump. (Previously, the marking was just to the right of the info LCD.)

The bulk of the changes, though, are to be found on the rear panel. Starting at top left, the Delete button now doubles as a Metering button when in Record mode. You simply hold it down and roll the front or rear dial to change metering modes, and the result can be confirmed either in the viewfinder, on the info LCD, or (if active) on the main LCD. The change does mean that you can"t confirm the metering mode without powering the camera on, but it also means you"re less likely to forget to check it when you glance at the info LCD. One slight quirk, though, is that you can"t change the metering mode when you"re viewing the Control Panel display. (The same is also true when you"re in the menu system, or in Playback mode.)

Moving across to the viewfinder, it looks little-changed, although its optics and internal coatings have been reworked for a slightly larger, brighter image. If you look just right of the viewfinder, though, you"ll see a new diopter adjustment dial, which replaces the previous adjustment slider that sat on top of the viewfinder. The new dial has around 20 detents that help you make small, reasonably precise adjustments, although I"m not an eyeglass-wearer, and so can"t comment on their efficacy. The adjustment range is unchanged, though, so if you were happy with the correction provided by the earlier cameras, you should be OK here too.

The change does mean that the viewfinder eyepiece frame, which is still removable, has been changed. It no longer has a cutout at its top surface for the linear slider of the earlier cameras. You can still use existing eyepieces -- for example, the O-ME53 viewfinder loupe -- they"ll just have a cutout for a control that isn"t there.

Just beneath the diopter adjustment dial is a new Live View / Movie Record button. This works in concert with another new control that sits near the top right corner of the LCD, the Still / Movie switch. Together, these make for a quicker and more intuitive way to switch between still capture through the viewfinder, still capture in live view mode, and movie capture. The addition of the Still / Movie switch, though, means that Pentax has also had to remove the physical AF point selection switch. We"ll come to its replacement in a moment. I"m happy to say that the Still / Movie switch is much easier to turn than the AF point selection dial was, even when shooting single-handed.

The AF button, which used to sit in the center of the AF point selection dial, has now moved to the top right corner of the camera, much where the AE Lock button used to be. I"m fine with that change, but less happy with the new location for the AE Lock button, which is very close to the corner of the camera body, and right above the hump for the rear grip. It"s not the easiest or most comfortable location to reach, and while I learned to live with it, I"m still not happy with its new location.

There"s also a brand-new button at the bottom right of the corner. As I"ve already alluded to, the Pentax K-3 has dual flash card slots, and this button is used in Playback mode to switch between the two, letting you choose from which card to view images and movies. In Record mode, the same button is used to toggle the Four-way controller between its primary and secondary functions -- either the functions marked on each of the four arrow buttons, or autofocus point selection. (If you"re using 27-point autofocus, the button doesn"t do anything in Record mode.)

Once again, there are also a number of more subtle changes. To accommodate a slightly larger, higher-resolution 3.2-inch LCD monitor, the controls to its right are a little tighter-spaced, especially the Info and Menu buttons. The change isn"t huge, though, and I didn"t find them any harder to identify by touch. The Four-way controller with its central OK button has also been tuned somewhat. For one thing, the Up Arrow button, which doubles as a Drive mode selector, is now also labeled as a Self-timer button. And all four Arrow buttons now have raised triangular bevels at both ends, making it easier to tell when your finger is centered on the button, and letting you press the corners of adjacent buttons together. That lets you make a diagonal selection, so that for example you can scroll diagonally in an image when using playback zoom.

The new LCD, incidentally, is a gapless type as used in the K-5 II and K-5 IIs. I don"t have access to either of those cameras at the moment, but compared to the display on my K-5, it"s a little brighter and richer. It also has noticeably better contrast and less glare. It"s no more or less prone to fingerprints than it was, though -- which is to say, not terribly so. I found it perfectly fine for outdoor viewing under even fairly bright light, although like any LCD it will wash out under direct sunlight.

Finally for the rear panel, Pentax has moved the IR port downwards slightly, and closer to the Four-way controller, while the card access lamp has moved upwards a bit. There"s also now a slight bevel at the rightmost edge of the LCD display, so the controls stand proud from the screen just slightly. And of course, since Pentax is now a Ricoh brand, the logo beneath the LCD monitor acknowledges this fact. (But the Pentax name still gets prime billing on the front of the camera.)

A couple of other changes on the left side include a new headphone jack, as alluded to earlier, plus a rearrangement of the connectivity options. The USB port -- now a SuperSpeed or USB 3.0 Micro B type -- sits at the top, above the HDMI and DC Inputs. The HDMI port is now a Type-D Micro connector, and the 8.3 volt DC Input is unchanged.

And finally, the bottom of the camera looks nearly identical. There"s still a locking battery compartment door, unlocked by pulling out the metal lock hasp out with a fingernail, and then rotating it 90 degrees. You may notice a subtle change in the size of several screw holes on the Pentax K-3"s base, though. This change prevents use of the existing portrait grip -- doubtless because it doesn"t quite fit the redesigned body. It"s a bit of a shame to lose compatibility with the existing grip, but in fairness, it"s lasted us through three generations since the original K-7, so I can"t gripe too much.

Pentax revolutionizes low-pass filtering. In a truly revolutionary move, Pentax has developed a solution for variable, on-demand low-pass (anti-aliasing) filtering in digital cameras, the first implementation being in their new K-3 DSLR. This is such an important development that we"re going to devote a little time to explaining how they do it, and why it"s so significant.

Low-pass filters, aka anti-aliasing (AA) filters are an important part of digital imaging of which most people have little understanding. Recently, there"s been a move afoot in the photo industry to eliminate them, which we at IR consider ill-advised. They"re very necessary in some situations, yet in others needlessly reduce resolution and sharpness. Clearly, what"s needed is a way to have a low-pass filter when you need it, and do away with it when you don"t. That"s exactly what Pentax has just made possible for the first time, in their new K-3 SLR.

Sensor. The Pentax K-3 is now based around a 24.35-megapixel image sensor, up from the 16.3-megapixel chip used in the K-5, K-5 II, and K-5 IIs. With 50% more pixels, the new chip theoretically yields around a 22% increase in linear resolution. Maximum image size is 6016 x 4000 pixels.

As in the Pentax K-5 IIs, the Pentax K-3 doesn"t include an optical low-pass filter. It does, however, add an on-demand mechanical antialiasing function. More on that in a moment. (Or read the "Geek"s Guide to On-Demand Low-Pass Filtering" by IR publisher Dave Etchells, for the full story.)

Before I get down to my thoughts on the Pentax K-3, a little background would probably be appropriate. When I"m reviewing cameras, I"m pretty brand-agnostic: What the camera can do for me is far more important than the badge on the front. I can"t afford to own everything I get to review, though, or to keep changing allegiance to a new lens mount. For the last few years, I"ve used Pentax"s flagship DSLRs as my daily shooters, after the original Pentax K-7 brought me into the fold back in 2009. A couple of years later, I upgraded to the K-5, but I skipped the subsequent K-5 II, as it was a fairly modest update.

When I first heard news of the Pentax K-3, I was thrilled. There"s a lot I love about my K-5, but there are areas in which I wanted to see the company make some improvements -- especially autofocus -- and with the K-3, it seems to have done so. As well as the new AF system, I also found the prospect of better metering, dual flash card slots, a better and wider-aspect LCD monitor, and a brighter viewfinder to be particularly appealing. And the promise of greater all-around performance doesn"t hurt, either.

In the first part of my Pentax K-3 Field Test, I shot exclusively with the 18-135mm kit lens that can be purchased in a bundle with the camera body. In part, I did so because that"s the one lens K-3 shooters are most likely to own, and we always try to ensure we cover kit lenses for that reason -- even if they"re not the most exciting optics available. It also didn"t hurt that I happened to own a copy of the same lens myself, meaning I could shoot side-by-side with my K-5, with no fussing and changing lenses back and forth.

With a consumer camera, the kit lens might very well be the only lens you"ll shoot with, but that"s almost certainly not the case with an enthusiast SLR like the Pentax K-3, though. For that reason, I was keen to get out and shoot with some of my nicer lenses. Sadly, I didn"t have duplicates of these, so shooting side by side with these meant an exceptional amount of switching lenses between bodies.

And finally,we come to the last section of my Field Test -- and my decision whether to buy the Pentax K-3 for myself. This section has been a while coming, for which I apologize -- every time I"ve gone to return to shooting and writing, something else has come up. Just one example: The subject I"d chosen for my planned autofocus and burst performance testing didn"t cooperate. I"d been intending to shoot with the K-3 and K-5 side by side at a local drag racing strip to get a good sense for how the two cameras" performance compared. Come the day, heavy rains had flooded the pit lane and the track day was canceled.

Stepping up to a 24MP sensor, the Pentax K-3 sets a much higher resolution benchmark than the K-5 II and IIs at 16MP, and the results show in the print quality department at ISOs 100-400, allowing a full print size higher at each setting. The results from ISO 800 and up however tell a different story, as there is virtually no discernible difference in print quality between the K-3 and its lower-resolution siblings. So if you are considering the K-3 and will be making sizable prints from the fruits of your labors, it will be at the lower ISOs that you will see the biggest difference in image quality as compared to the K-5 II and IIs.

Inside and out, new is the name of the game for Ricoh"s flagship APS-C DSLR, the Pentax K-3. The weather-sealed, magnesium alloy body is brand-new, and so is the high-res 24.3-megapixel image sensor, paired to a speedy new PRIME III image processor that"s capable of 8.3 frames-per-second burst shooting. There"s also a much finer-grained metering sensor, and the K-3 brings the first major overhaul of Pentax"s phase-detect autofocus system in a decade. Pentax has also gifted the K-3 with dual high-speed SD card slots, swift USB 3.0 transfer, an overhauled movie mode complete with levels monitoring, and even -- via an optional accessory -- support for wireless live view shooting.

The most exciting new feature, though, is the Pentax K-3"s impressively-clever on-demand optical low-pass filtering system. In the quest for ultimate resolution, Pentax"s rivals have simply removed the low-pass filter altogether, unleashing finer details at the risk of moiré and aliasing artifacts. The Pentax K-3 gives you the best of both worlds, instead. It forgoes the low-pass filter for maximum detail when shooting subjects like portraits or landscapes, but cleverly uses the camera"s Shake Reduction system to emulate a low-pass filter for moiré-prone subjects like fabric, bricks or mesh.

Auto, 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 (up to 3 settings), Color Temperature (up to 3 settings), Copying the white balance setting of a captured image

Scene Analyze Auto, Program, Sensitivity Priority, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Shutter & Aperture Priority; Digital filters (capture): Extract Color, Replace Color, Toy Camera, Retro, High Contrast, Shading, Invert Color, Unicolor Bold, Tone Expansion, Bold Monochrome, Grainy Monochrome; HDR: Auto, HDR1, HDR2, HDR3, Advanced HDR, Exposure bracket value adjustable, Automatic composition correction function; Pixel Shift Resolution (On/Off)

The Pentax K-3 Mark III is Ricoh"s latest high-end APS-C DSLR. It"s built around a 26MP BSI-CMOS sensor and has been redesigned from the ground up to become, on paper, the most capable, most usable K-mount camera ever made.

At the heart of the K-3 III is a new BSI CMOS APS-C sensor. Ricoh describes it as a 25MP chip, but the cameras resolution is actually 25.7MP, raising the possibility that it"s related to the one using in Fujifilm"s X-T4 (albeit with a more conventional color filter array and no pixels masked for phase detection).

One of the most significant revisions in the K-3 III is an all-new viewfinder. Building on a Pentax tradition of large, prism-type viewfinders, the K-3 III"s viewfinder is a pentaprism offering an impressive 1.05x magnification.

Viewfinder magnification figures are usually calculated with 50mm lenses, regardless of sensor size, so some of that high figure comes from the apparent magnification of the camera"s APS-C sensor. But, even taking this into account, it would be equivalent to a 0.68x magnification finder on full-frame, making it only a fraction smaller than the 0.70x finder in the Pentax K-1 models. That"s small by the standards of many mirrorless cameras, in which viewfinder size isn"t dependent on the viewing angle of the sensor, but is the largest ever fitted to an APS-C DSLR.

More than just the size, the new finder has been designed using a transparent display panel in the viewing path, rather than having the display of a separate panel projected into the finder, as was the case in previous K-3s. Ricoh says this change provides a 10% improvement in brightness over the Mark II. It also allows more flexibility in display customization.

On top of this, the camera"s continuous AF system has been completely reworked. The K-3 II uses a 307k-pixel RGB+IR metering sensor that provides the AF system with a higher-resolution view of the subject for subject recognition and tracking. A review of the predictive AF algorithms and the deep-learning-trained ability to recognize faces, eyes and subjects such as birds promises improved AF-C performance in a range of situations.

In-body stabilization is no longer the rarity it was when Pentax first introduced its Shake Reduction system, and the K-3 III"s system has been re-worked to keep up with the competition.

Essentially, it"s impossible to say whether the K-3 III makes sense for you without knowing why you"re considering it. However, what should be clear is that it"s a well-specced machine even compared with the latest mirrorless rivals, which means it"s a fair step forward from older APS-C Pentaxes.

The K-3 III iterates on the ergonomics of the exiting K-3 models, which we"ve frequently praised. We"re pleased to be able to say that the K-3 III doesn"t diverge too much from this pattern: the magnesium alloy construction maintains the impressively dense and solid feeling that its predecessors conveyed. And, of course, it offers the extensive weather-sealing Pentax cameras have become known for.

The K-3 III iterates on the "Function Dial" concept of the K-1 II. This adds an extra dial to the camera"s top plate, just forward of its rear command dial, which can be used to quickly access camera functions beyond the basic exposure controls of the two main command dials.

The K-3 III"s rear panel is a large, 3.2" 1.62M-dot LCD. It"s a fixed panel, offering no articulation or movement, but it"s touch-sensitive in all the ways that make sense in a DSLR. In live view mode it can be used to position the AF point, position the AF point and focus, or position, acquire focus and fire the shutter. It can do similar things in movie mode and these settings can be defined separately.

The K-3 III uses the same D-LI90P battery as the K-1 Mark II. This is rated to deliver 800 shots per charge, per the CIPA standard test methods. As usual, these figures don"t necessarily reflect how many shots you"ll get (it"s not uncommon to achieve double the rated figure, depending on how you shoot), but the ability to shoot without any display panels active gives the DSLR design a major advantage over mirrorless rivals.

However, the time we have spent, along with the details Ricoh has released make clear how much effort has gone into this camera. We also know that the Pentax system has a dedicated following who want to know about it, so we"ve tried to provide as much detail as is currently possible.

The K-3 III"s price can also look somewhat anachronistic. The Nikon D500 was launched for $2000 and Canon"s EOS 7D Mark II for $1800, but a long time has passed since those cameras were released. It"s no longer uncommon for full-frame cameras to be released at or below $2000 (including Ricoh"s own very impressive Pentax K-1 models).

But that still assumes that these other cameras would make appropriate substitutes for the K-3 III. If you"ve spent a decent chunk of your life and your income building up a set of good Pentax lenses, that may not be the case. For some people it"ll be better to have an improved DSLR for their K-mount lenses than to have yet another mirrorless option that would still require a whole new set of lenses or risk a sub-optimal experience with adaptors.

Perhaps the only question that matters for the K-3 Mark III is: does it offer enough of an improvement to prompt existing Pentax owners to upgrade? We can"t know for certain until we"ve tested it, but it"s clear that Ricoh has done all it can to make it a "yes", with promised improvements to just about every aspect of the camera. Maybe we"ve not yet seen the last great DSLR, after all.

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