pentax k3 top lcd panel color brands

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

My listed price for this camera is the average of the two used K-3 II bodies that I bought; the first is a black body that had just under 4000 shots when I bought it from Japan on Ebay, and the second is the silver edition that had only 279 shots on it when I bought it also from Japan on Ebay (shipping costs and taxes included, as my total costs). After I got the black K-3 II, I was so impressed with it in so many ways that I looked for another K-3 II in mint condition on Ebay, and I came across the Silver Edition model that was hardly used and pounced on it. I had thought that the silver editions of Pentax digital cameras were too �gaudy� for me (the only such Pentax camera I�ve owned is the K1000, which was standard in top silver), but the silver coloring has really grown on me with the K-3 II. I needed another good back-up camera with lots of high-level features (including the dual card slots, GPS, Astrotracer,etc.), so getting a second K-3 II body was logical for me at under half the cost of a new K-1 II. I like the fairly long battery life of the K-3 II � important to me when doing lots of long astrophotography at night.

One curiosity for me is that Nikon digital SLR cameras have lowest ISO values of 64, with or without effective EV correcting of 1 stops(and those with ISO 64 standard go down to 32 ISO with EV correcting of 1 stop),and iPhones can be set as low as ISO 24 for photography. I used to shoot a lot of film at ISO 25 and50, and I�ve not figured out why Pentax can�t set their ISO ratings that low. Also, I�d really prefer 30 or 36 megapixels in this camera; that�s my biggest complaint about this camera, by far. What that would do in an APS-C sensor is really refine the pixel size to make them much smaller; I realize that that would cost a bunch more. But when I take photos of Saturn and Jupiter with my 500-mm f/4.5 lens, it�s not the lens that is limiting the sharpness but rather the pixel size in my K-3 II sensor. (I have not tried pixel shift with Saturn and Jupiter, but will do so at some point, out of curiosity.)

Others have commented elsewhere on the poor owner�s manuals that do a poor job explaining many things and leave some things out totally �and really are poorly organized in many ways. I�ll give one example: what is called �Interval Shooting� in the manual; the manual starts out by giving steps of how to do �Interval Shooting� without ever saying what �Interval Shooting�actually is or does (every section should have an introduction saying what the feature is that they are going to gives steps for implementation, and to say why you might want to use that particular feature and what all that feature can do for you; the manual has it backwards � or worse, confusing and problematical). Pentax/Ricoh should solicit ideas and input/writing from Pentaxians (Pentax Forum members) to write a much better manual, even if they offered to pay; the response would probably be very high, very excellent, and possibly even at the volunteer level.

Sometimes I wish that this camera could be quicker to do certain things without multiple menus steps; for example, I�d like a button to just turn off the rear LCD screen quickly and keep it off (it�s a five-button effort) when I�m doing my astrophotography. A very minor issue is that I�ve actually bounced up against1/8000 sec (the top shutter speed in the K-3 II) numerous times in bright light for certain applications, and have had to stop down when I didn�t necessarily want to. I�m still amazed that the K70 and KP cameras use a different cable-release device than all the other Pentax digital cameras (including the K-3 II and the K-1II). Since I�ll be buying the K-1 II/III eventually,it�s also a huge plus to me that the K-3 II and K-1 (II) batteries are interchangeable.

Kudos to Pentax for not giving in to having touch screens; I find that the more digital that camera screens are, the worse they are,practically. Buttons and dials are very superior to touchscreens in just about everything but smartphones (certainly incars, and on DSLRs, and in laptops/computers); smudge-prone, finicky touchscreens are just way over-done in our over-teched society today. I only really need my rear LCD screen for checking out my just-taken photos to check exposure or to change something inthe menu; most of the time, I just keep the rear LCD screen off, as I rarely use LiveView (and then primarily when I�m shooting video). I don�t want to be paying extra premium prices for some of this digital stuff in a camera; I�ll go buy a mirrorless video camera for that, thank you.

Pentax, which has had a somewhat rocky and quiet go of it in the last few years, has stayed out of the mirrorless fray. Ricoh, Pentax"s parent company, has doubled down on DSLR cameras. Well, "doubled down" is probably not the right phrase, as new cameras have been few and far between.

Finally, Pentax"s flagship APS-C camera series, the K-3, has a new entry in the form of the K-3 Mark III. The camera has been teased for months, and Pentax has gone so far as to publish some amazing deep-dive articles about its development leading up to its release this spring. It"s evident that a lot of attention has been given to the K-3 III, and Pentax"s team of engineers and designers have worked hard to make it a great APS-C camera.

To that end, I think that they"ve hit the mark in some ways and missed it in other, perhaps more critical, ways. If you"re going to make a new DSLR in 2021, there"s a difficult decision to make. Do you do everything in your power to try to compete with mirrorless cameras in every aspect? Or, and this I think is the better choice, do you instead dial in on the relative strengths of DSLR cameras and ensure that the final product offers substantial physical controls, robust build quality and an enjoyable – and familiar – user experience? I believe Pentax mostly went the latter route, much to benefit the K-3 III"s design. However, I think that it might just be the case that there"s not a lot of room for a new DSLR camera in 2021, after all.

While DSLRs have primarily given way to their mirrorless counterparts, there"s something to be said for the traditionally chunky, rugged form factor of a good DSLR camera. While there are mirrorless cameras with large grips and heavy-duty designs, of course, very few of them feel quite as substantial in the hands as the new Pentax K-3 III. It"s a rugged, well-built camera.

The K-3 III is a weather-sealed camera, protected against dust, moisture and freezing temperatures. The camera"s front, back, top and bottom panels are constructed of sturdy, lightweight magnesium alloy. While the camera is tough and feels very solid, it doesn"t feel overly heavy. With its battery and an SD card inserted, the K-3 III weighs 820 grams (1.8 lbs). It"s not a featherweight camera, but it"s a bit lighter than the Nikon D500, which weighs 860g (1.89 lbs.). Of course, compared to a mirrorless APS-C camera like the Fujifilm X-T4, the K-3 III is considerably heavier (820g versus 526g).

On the back of the camera are function buttons (which double as directional buttons), a dedicated autofocus joystick, a rear command dial, AF button and much more. The top of the camera has another dial, the Smart Function dial. This can be used to quickly access a wide variety of the camera"s most important settings and functions. And it, too, can be customized. There"s also a Smart Function button on the top of the camera, plus direct access to exposure compensation, ISO, stills/video modes, and a jam-packed mode dial. The shutter release has a great feel, too. I also like when the power switch is surrounding the shutter release, as it"s a convenient location.

The top of the K-3 III is well-designed. The info display is useful and the various dials and buttons are conveniently located. The mode dial could probably do with fewer modes, honestly, but that"s okay.

Although a DSLR camera can feel a bit old-fashioned in 2021, the K-3 III"s menus don"t look old. This is thanks to an all-new, revamped menu system, complete with a new font. The new font may not seem too exciting, but the old font was archaic. The new menu system is relatively easy to navigate, which is quite the feat considering how many settings, features and customization options are jammed into the K-3 III. Speaking of which, you can even change the color of some information on the camera, which is a neat touch.

At low ISO settings, the K-3 III produces good image quality. The colors are quite nice, and there"s a good amount of detail. With the lenses I used alongside the K-3 III, I felt like I was limited at times by glass, but not by the image sensor itself. At its best, in ideal situations, images are crisp.

This image has been converted and processed to taste in Adobe Camera Raw. Click for the full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm f/4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE lens at 300mm (450mm equiv.), f/6.3, 1/500s, ISO 6400.

100% crop of the above image. This image has been converted and processed to taste in Adobe Camera Raw. Click for the full-size image. Click here for the RAW file.HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm f/4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE lens at 300mm (450mm equiv.), f/6.3, 1/500s, ISO 6400.

The K-3 III"s raw files are very flexible during post-processing. You can bring out considerable shadow detail and recover quite a bit from highlight areas without creating many issues with image quality. I found that I had to tweak white balance with the K-3 III a lot, so I recommend shooting RAW for easy white balance adjustments, if not versatile exposure and color adjustments.

Before closing out the performance section, it"s worth talking about the stabilization. The SR system works pretty well in terms of getting sharp shots at slower shutter speeds. However, the SR doesn"t stabilize the optical viewfinder since it"s sensor-shift and not optical image stabilization. The SR system also works for a pixel-shift shooting mode. This mode captures four images in succession, with the sensor having shifted by a pixel. The resulting image is still 25.7MP, but Pentax promises a bit more detail and better color.

4K video quality is solid. You can use all the same color profiles for video as for stills, which is nice, and the 4K footage offers good detail across a wide ISO range. However, the camera"s IBIS doesn"t work well for video, and the sensor doesn"t have great readout speed. A tripod is highly recommended.

I"m not a Pentaxian, but for the passionate Pentax users out there, the K-3 III represents an exciting prospect. You can continue to use lenses from the last few decades, and the K-3 III offers a huge array of new features and improvements compared to its predecessor. It"s expensive to switch camera systems, and many people simply don"t want to, which I appreciate.

For those who aren"t already in the Pentax ecosystem, however, there"s not much reason to consider the K-3 III. Some other DSLRs are similarly good, if not better, in certain ways, and the industry is moving toward mirrorless. "Moving toward" might not be the right term. It feels like it"s already gotten there. Canon and Nikon are very heavily focused on their respective mirrorless systems, and there"s no indication Sony is going back to its A-mount camera system. For the Pentax loyalists out there, the K-3 III is a great upgrade option. For everyone else, it"s a tough sell.

The Pentax K-3 III is a fascinating camera. It"s been a long time coming, and for Pentax fans, it could very well be worth the wait. The camera is well-designed and very comfortable to use. The optical viewfinder is one of the best I"ve seen. Image quality from the new image sensor is impressive, too, especially when the improved autofocus system delivers (which it doesn"t do quite as often as I"d like).

However, during the long wait for the K-3 III, a lot has changed in the photo industry. Photography has sort of passed the DSLR by. The K-3 III is a great choice for existing Pentax owners. However, I don"t believe it"s the right choice for everyone else.

For years and years, camera maker Ricoh Pentax had remained dedicated to the APS-C sensor size with its broad range of DSLR cameras (medium-format 645 platform notwithstanding). However, in 2016, the photo world saw the introduction of Pentax"s first full-frame DSLR, the K-1. Then, a couple of years later, the full-frame K-1 II debuted with some minor hardware improvements. Meanwhile, Pentax"s crop-sensor DSLRs felt somewhat ignored, particularly regarding its higher-end enthusiast-level model, the K-3. The latest version of that camera, the K-3 Mark II, was announced all the way back in 2015.

At long last, though, the Pentax K-3 Mark III is here. Finally! And while the K-3 III maintains that distinctive DSLR design, the camera features several new features and upgrades, including an all-new sensor, a new processor, a new autofocus system, an updated optical viewfinder, a touchscreen LCD and much more.

Much like its predecessors, the new Pentax K-3 Mark III maintains that classic DSLR shape with a deep, high-contoured handgrip and large, central viewfinder. The K-3 III also keeps very similar physical dimensions, with only minor changes to size and weight compared to its predecessor. True to Pentax"s heritage, the flagship K-3 III is also built with ruggedness in mind, offering full weather-sealing against dust, moisture and freezing temperatures (down to -10 degrees C/ 14 degrees F). The top, bottom, front and back panels of the camera body are made of lightweight and sturdy magnesium alloy, making the camera body both lightweight and very durable. Additionally, the K-3 III"s shutter mechanism is rated for at least 300,000 actuations. Needless to say, the K-3 III is designed for durability and longevity.

Starting at the top of the camera, it"s quickly evident that there are several changes to the buttons, dials and top-deck LCD screen compared to the K-3 II. The K-3 Mark III maintains both front and rear command dials, but you now have a third dial placed right at the top rear corner of the camera for additional control of settings and features. There is also a new dedicated "Smart Function" button on the top deck of the camera between the ISO and Exposure Compensation buttons that provides quick access to several camera settings, letting you avoid diving into the camera menus.

Additionally, there is now a dial on the top to switch between viewfinder stills mode, live view stills mode and movie mode, which replaces the Stills/Movie mode toggle switch that was on the back of the camera on the previous model. The K-3 III also features a smaller top-deck LCD info screen, a necessity in order to fit the new third command dial and S.Fn buttons. The screen still displays all primary shooting info and is still back-lit for easy operation in dark environments. Lastly, the lockable Mode Dial on the left side of the viewfinder gets upgrade with two more custom user mode slots compared to just three on the previous model.

The camera now also offers a 3.2-inch touchscreen rear display, a long-missing feature on Pentax cameras. In fact, this is the first Pentax K-series camera with a touchscreen display. The addition of a touchscreen should be a much-welcomed feature and will allow for menu navigation and zooming in on images in Playback mode. However, despite the addition of a touchscreen, the K-3 III"s rear display is still fixed in place with no tilting or articulating functionality, which is similar to previous K-3 models. This design choice is perhaps made to maintain better durability and weather-sealing, but it does feel a bit outdated compared to other cameras on the market these days. Plus, several other Pentax models offer articulating rear screens, including the flagship K-1 II full-frame camera.

On the left side of the camera, features are largely unchanged from the prior model, with ports for both a 3.5mm microphone input and a headphone output. The microphone input is now in stereo rather than the monaural input in the predecessor. The K-3 III also includes a Type D Micro HDMI connection and a USB port, which has now been upgraded to a USB 3.2 Gen1 with Type C connector. The K3 III supports in-camera charging via the USB-C port.

Lastly, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity finally make their way into a K-3-series camera. The original K-3 and follow-up K-3 Mark II both offer a form of wireless connectivity by way of Eye-Fi or Pentax Flucard Wi-Fi-based SD cards. With the rise of direct, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology (as well as the Eye-Fi company ceasing business in 2016), Ricoh Pentax designers made the wise choice of adding this more modern wireless connectivity to the flagship K-3 Mark III.

The K-3 III includes 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity as well as Bluetooth v4.2 (Bluetooth Low Energy), and offers remote pairing with smartphones and tablets using Pentax"s Image Sync mobile application. The camera supports wireless image transfer as well as remote shooting functionality via the paired app.

At the heart of the new Pentax K-3 Mark III is both an all-new image sensor and image processor along with a new "accelerator unit," which all together should offer pleasing image quality improvements over 2015"s K-3 II. The new K-3 III now features a higher-resolution 25.73-megapixel sensor, which isn"t a major increase over the 24.35MP CMOS sensor in the predecessor. However, the K-3 III"s sensor now uses a back-illuminated design, which on its own should help increase low-light and high ISO performance.

In addition to the new sensor, the K-3 III also sports an all-new PRIME V imaging processor and new-generation accelerator unit. Though it isn"t explicitly stated what functions the additional "Accelerator Unit" processor or engine handles, it"s likely a similar setup to the processor + accelerator unit setup in other Pentax cameras, such as the full-frame K-1 II and crop-frame K-70 cameras. From what we understand, the Accelerator Unit handles a lot of the noise reduction processing, while the primary imaging chip handles the other image quality-related processes.

Altogether, the new BSI image sensor and processor + accelerator unit setup gives the Pentax K-3 III an extremely wide ISO range, with Pentax promising improved noise reduction processing performance at higher ISO. The K-3 III offers a full native ISO range of 100 and rising all the way up to ISO 1,600,000! The full-frame K-1 II topped-out at ISO 819,200. On paper, that is a very impressive spec, but in our testing of the K-1 II, for example, we found these super-high ISO settings weren"t very usable in real-world uses. We"ll have to see how the K-3 III does, however, before making a final judgment.

The K-3 III features in-body image stabilization like its predecessor, however the new IBIS unit offers higher performance than the K-3 II or any other Pentax camera to date, with up to 5.5 stops of correction. By comparison, the K-3 II offered 4.5 stops of shake reduction. The K-3 III"s 5-axis SR system compensates for pitch and yaw movements as well as horizontal and vertical shifts plus rotational/roll motion. The camera also includes a new Panning stabilization mode that"s designed to help stabilize the frame when photographing slow-motion subjects.

Additionally, the K-3 III offers Pentax"s clever AA (anti-aliasing)-filter simulator technology. The sensor itself does not have a fixed optical low-pass filter, and with AA filter simulator disabled, photographers are able to take full advantage of the fine-detail resolving power of the sensor. However, when photographing subjects, such as fabrics, architectural subjects or other objects that are prone moiré and aliasing artifacts, users can "enable" the AA filter (at different levels of strength, too). The AA (anti-aliasing)-filter simulator uses the camera"s sensor-shift image stabilization system to vibrate the sensor at microscopic, sub-pixel amounts at super-high speed during the moment of exposure to effectively similar the subtle pixel-level blurring effect added by an optical low-pass filter. (For more information on how this AA Filter Simulator technology works, check out our deep-dive article.)

Additionally, the K-3 III includes a Pixel-Shift Resolution shooting mode for creating images with improved fine detail and better color reproduction. With this PSR mode, the camera captures four frames while moving the sensor by a single pixel for each frame capture and then compositing them all together for a fine image. Unlike other manufacturer"s "high-resolution shooting modes," such as those from Olympus or Sony, the Pentax K-3 III"s PSR doesn"t create a composite image with higher resolution in terms of megapixel count -- PSR images here are still 25.73-megapixels. However, according to Pentax, the composite image should provide better color data and more accurate, finer detail than a standard single-shot capture. The camera also features a Motion Correction option, which should automatically detect moving objects in the scene and minimize compositing errors and artifacts.

Additionally, the K-3 III also incorporates a sophisticated scene detection system for high-performance face and eye-detection autofocus. By using the new metering sensor and faster PRIME V image processor, the A.I.-powered "PENTAX Real-time Scene Analysis System" uses Deep Learning-based detection technology not only to increase AF accuracy but also to improve scene exposure.

The Pentax K-3 III also offers several improvements over its predecessor in the video department, including 4K video recording. The K-3 III can recording video in 4K UHD resolution (3840 x 2160) at 30fps and 24fps, as well as Full HD 1080p video at 60p, 30p, and 24p frame rates, using MPEG-4 AVC/H.264(MOV) encoding.

Additional features include the ability to use custom image presets and digital filters, such as Retro, High Contrast, Invert Color and Bold Monochrome, with video recording.

Like with the K-3 II, the Mark III"s continuous video recording is limited to 25 minutes (or 4GB) regardless of video resolution or frame rate. Once 25 minutes is reached, you"ll need to restart video recording manually. Also, video recording may stop automatically if the internal temperature of the camera becomes too high.

The Pentax K-3 Mark III is set to go on sale in late April and can be pre-ordered at authorized retailers starting on April 6 at 5 p.m. ET at a manufacturer"s suggested retail price of $1,999.95.

Ricoh is also creating two limited-edition kits -- the Pentax K-3 Mark III Black Premium Kit and Pentax K-3 Mark III Silver Premium Kit. These special kits include a camera body and D-BG8 battery grip (the Silver Premium Kit comes with a silver camera body and a silver battery grip that is exclusive to this package), plus a special leather strap and a spare battery. The Premium Kits will also go on sale in late April for a suggested retail price of $2,299.95.

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.

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

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 )

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

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

Single 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

Base 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

USER 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

Pentax has a long history of being a little different from the "big two" SLR makers, introducing features that would normally be found on cameras costing quite a bit more, such as weatherproofing and larger, pentaprism optical viewfinders. It"s also created some products that seemingly came out of left field, such as the Q7 and K-01 mirrorless cameras.

The Pentax name is now owned by Ricoh (not a company scared to try new ideas itself), which has continued the tradition of innovation, no better illustrated than with the concept of a digital SLR that has an anti-aliasing effect that can be turned on at the push of a button (Nikon recently patented a concept that accomplishes the same thing, but in a different manner). However, it hasn"t accomplished this by having the filter just drop into place. No, Pentax is using its sensor-shift image stabilizer to deliberately move the sensor during the exposure, slightly blurring the image to mimic the effects of an optical low-pass filter. Not only can this be turned on and off, Pentax is also offering two "intensities" to choose from.

The name of the camera with this breakthrough feature: the Pentax K-3. This camera takes the rugged design of the K-5 II / K-5 IIs that came before it and bumps up the resolution, improves the AF system, speeds up the processor, and enlarges the LCD and viewfinder.

At first glance, the K-3 may look like the K-5 II with a higher resolution sensor, but that"s far from the whole story. Ricoh has improved upon the K-5 II in every way, with special attention given to video recording. On the photo side, there"s the new sensor (probably from Sony), improved autofocus and metering systems, larger optical viewfinder and LCD, and of course, the selectable AA filter. Performance-wise, the K-3 shoots at 8.3 fps, up from 7.0 fps on the K-5 II.

Two features that photo and video enthusiasts will like are dual SD card slots and support for USB 3.0 (the K-3 is only the second camera to support this). Build quality remains top-notch, with the K-3 having a rugged, weatherproof body.

The biggest change to the K-3 isn"t a feature at all, but it will probably garner the most discussion. There is now a prominent "Ricoh" logo on the back of the camera, just below the LCD. Ricoh has stated that Pentax is a "brand" now, similar to "Lumix" on Panasonic cameras. We"re curious to see how the very loyal Pentax audience will react to this change. With this in mind, it"s interesting also to note that the K-3 gains the multi-area white balance feature (which aims to correct for different light sources in the same image) that we"ve seen on previous Ricohs.

One of the most interesting new features on the K-3 is its "anti-aliasing simulator". Like the K-5 IIs the camera has no anti-aliasing filter; this improves resolution, but with the trade-off of an increased risk of moiré. Pentax is using the K-3"s sensor-shift IS system to simulate the effect of having the filter.

The AA simulator works by applying "microscopic vibrations to the image sensor unit at the sub-pixel level during exposure", according to Pentax. Simply put, these tiny vibrations cause just enough blur to give the same effect as having an optical anti-aliasing filter. There are two options to choose from - Pentax calls them Mode 1 and Mode 2 - which we assume increases the "strength" of the virtual filter. Pentax says that the AA simulator is most effective when the shutter speed is under 1/1000 sec.

As the pioneer of SLR cameras in Japan, PENTAX has devoted all its assets — its philosophy, technologies and passion — to the development of this remarkable camera.

The PENTAX K-3 Mark III features a high-performance viewfinder with a high-refraction glass pentaprism to provide approximately 1.05-times magnification (with an FA 50mm F1.4 lens set at infinity). Despite the compact, lightweight APS-C-format SLR body, it delivers a truthful, wide-view image equal to that of a full-frame SLR, and helps you to become more fully immersed in the photo-shooting process. This viewfinder also provides an almost 10-percent increase in brightness, thanks to the improved reflectance of the pentaprism, while also assuring a nearly 100-percent field of view. By incorporating a distortion-compensating optical element and optimizing the lens coatings, it provides natural, true-to-life image rendition with high-magnification observations.

Optimizing the sense of immersion in the photo shooting processSince the viewfinder eyepiece is designed to protrude from the LCD viewfinder display screen — to prevent your nose from contacting the camera body — you can look into the viewfinder more naturally and comfortably. The eyepiece also features an eye sensor, which turns the monitor off the moment you bring your eye up to the eyepiece ring. This prevents the status screen’s illumination from affecting visibility during shooting, while allowing you to capture images more comfortably.

Optimizing the ease of operationThe PENTAX K-3 Mark III features a transparent LCD viewfinder display that provides a broader range of data in the viewfinder window. Because you can adjust the camera’s settings without taking your eye away from the viewfinder, you can concentrate more fully on the subject. The camera also allows you to program the desired combination of display data, such as grid pattern and AF focus point, making it easier to swiftly change settings for a specific scene or subject.

The PENTAX K-3 Mark III features a leaf switch, a mechanism previously used in the PENTAX 645Z and PENTAX K-1. Compared to the tactile switch more commonly used in compact SLR cameras, the leaf switch provides a lighter, smoother shutter action and minimizes the camera shake caused by the shutter-release action. It also helps you by providing effortless hold-down of the shutter-release button during continuous shooting. The time lag between the shutter release and an image capture has also been reduced, compared to the PENTAX K-3 II, while the camera’s mirror- and shutter-driving mechanisms have also been upgraded. By reducing unwanted mechanical actions such as mirror bounce, it provides crisp, pleasant shutter-release action. You can feel the smooth action and speedy response every time you press the shutter-release button.

For comfortable shooting and easy carrying, the PENTAX K-3 Mark III’s grip and control-button layout have been optimized to accommodate different hand sizes and finger lengths. Perfected after producing a series of mock-ups and conducting repeated verifications, they let you to concentrate completely on your photo shooting.

The conventional Hyper Operation system allows you to instantly shift the AE mode to Tv (Shutter-priority) or Av (Aperture-priority) when the camera’s exposure mode is set to P (Program). The PENTAX K-3 Mark III"s new-generation Hyper Operation system provides more flexible exposure-mode control, by adding a new Advanced mode* to the conventional Standard mode. *The Standard mode is set as default. The Advanced mode is a customizable option.

The PENTAX-original Smart Function provides easy, single-action selection of menu items and functions. Featuring a new Smart Function button, the PENTAX K-3 Mark III now lets you preprogram a maximum of five functions from 22 options, and displays a list of the selected functions in the viewfinder window, so you can select the desired function without removing your eye from the viewfinder. It even lets you select and program the desired values for each function, allowing you to more precisely customize this function to meet your preferences.

Customization of electronic dialsThe PENTAX K-3 Mark III lets you customize the functions of the front/rear electronic dials, Green button and Smart Function dial (when the Smart Function is assigned to one of the electronic dials). You can also set the functions separately based on the shooting format (still-image or video) or exposure mode. You can even set the ISO button shift to the ISO Auto mode, or use the exposure compensation button to function as a reset button. Simply by assigning the desired function to each of these buttons, you can easily and freely customize camera operations.

The PENTAX K-3 Mark III features a large 3.2-inch LCD monitor with touch-screen control. By combining intuitive touch-screen control with the four-way controller and the front/rear electronic dials, it provides a new, user-friendly system that enhances speedy camera operation.

LCD panelOn the top panel, the PENTAX K-3 Mark III features a second LCD panel, which provides easy confirmation of the functions and settings selected for the Smart Function, in addition to providing basic data such as exposure and drive-mode settings.

You must be aware that each of your classic and cherished lenses creates its own distinctive ambience in captured images. That’s why the PENTAX K-3 Mark III has been designed to accommodate classic lenses. The camera not only saves the aperture value as Exif data when you set a desired aperture using the electronic dial, but also lets you measure the light and capture images at closed-down aperture. It even accommodates the TAv mode.* It also provides more segmented setting of the lens’s focal length in SR (Shake Reduction) shooting.

*The PENTAX K-3 Mark III allows AE photography at the closed-down aperture for M-series lenses and lenses that previously could be used only in open-aperture shooting.

Manual input of lens focal lengthWhen required to manually input the focal length of a lens for SR operation, the PENTAX K-3 Mark III allows you to select a desired length from the history log, in addition to the preprogrammed ones, to minimize the time and trouble required for manual setting.

To further improve image quality, the PENTAX K-3 Mark III incorporates a newly adopted, back-illuminated imaging sensor with approximately 25.7 effective megapixels. It also features an AA (anti-aliasing)-filter-free design to faithfully reproduce the delicacy of light, or the fine outlines of a subject.

For the PENTAX K-3 Mark III, PENTAX developed the PRIME V imaging engine and the second-generation accelerator unit. This combination provides a harmony of flawless, high-speed operations and super-high-sensitivity, high-quality imaging, all at a level of performance higher than ever before. The overall performance of the PENTAX Real-time Scene Analysis System and the autofocus system has also been much improved to ensure: flawless, high-speed operation; super-high-sensitivity, high-resolution imaging; better autofocus performance; and a broader range of shooting functions.

Superb imaging power over the entire sensitivity rangeThanks to its multi-dimensional image space filtering process, the PENTAX K-3 Mark III greatly reduces noise, while still retaining the subtle outlines of a subject. This advanced technology optimizes the camera’s resolving power, and faithfully reproduces the subject"s texture and detail. It also improves image description in the lower sensitivity range, while minimizing unfaithful reproduction of blacks in the higher sensitivity range where color reproduction becomes more difficult. Even at the top sensitivity of ISO 1,600,000, it delivers a natural, well-defined image with a sharp subject outline and vivid colors.

Thanks to the incorporation of the new PRIME V imaging engine, the PENTAX K-3 Mark III features the much-improved Fine Sharpness function to more faithfully and finely reproduce the subject"s outline and detail. Preset as a default setting, this function reproduces the subject"s details more naturally and sharply, while reducing the adverse effect of noise to a minimum.

The never-ending pursuit of high-quality imagingWith the renewal of the image sensor, imaging engine and accelerator, PENTAX has furthe