pentax k3 top lcd panel color free sample

Adjusting with software is not an option here as it cannot compete with any camera that does the colors right from the jpg, for me that is. And my Canon does that.

If i go photoshopping i intend to do it for other reasons. No way i am going to photoshop because my camera got the colors wrong. Insane to do that imho.

It"s like so much in life , you get used to something and while it"s not perfect it"s not like you want to have to reinvent yourself by changing brands again.I used Canon early and never connected with the product ,Nikon ticked all the boxes for many years as well as Fuji .I own neither now ,but am sick of the Pentax bashers as I never knew these critic"s with Fuji or Nikon .Actually Leica gets the same responses as I worked for a Leica pro dealer.

Well they must make no money as their sales are very poor. Wouldnt Pentax be better off just making native lenses for the other brands and stick a fork in their camera body production

EOS RP to save some money, but there are other real gems available for <2000€/$ like the Z5, Z6, Z6II, EOS R, A7III as well... Currently you even get the Z7 for <2000€ in my country. So it depends a bit on where you are living and what you are planning to spend. At the current price point the Pentax is probably only of interest for already "invested" Pentaxians. The Fuji is good but compared to its fullframe rivals quite expensive. It might have the best "Out of camera JPGs" though with a bunch of nice film simulations.

You should also decide if you like electronic viewfinder or a traditional optical viewfinder. This is the main difference between the Fujifilm and the Pentax. Only you know which you like the most, it is very personal.

Among the 3 of them, either get the Pentax or Fuji for more lens selection. Fuji got lots of lenses but they can be quite expensive. Pentax have plenty more to choose from including the ones that goes back all the way to the 70"s with their K mount and you can get a good bargain on some of them on e-bay.

As always, it depends. The Canon RP is a very basic camera, only worth it as an entry ticket to a lens system offering the 28-70 F2 and collapsible 70-200 zooms or F1.2 primes if you plan on spending a lot more money later. Fujifilm offers mid-range bodies that beat the outdated-at-release RP on price, sensor technology and features, e.g. X-S10 with ibis, has an essentially complete lens system that is high quality but not exactly cheap and as a mirrorless allows adapting all sorts of vintage lenses including Canon SLR lenses with autofocus. Pentax is an SLR system famous for its excellent weather sealing and value for money (great viewfinders, ibis, astrotracking, pixel shift even in older bodies), with tiny limited lenses packing a punch but you won"t do a lot of adapting due to the SLR flange distance leaving no room for adaptors. Pick your poison.

No one can answer accuratly without knowing what lenses you intend to put on them and the budget for them. Full frame lenses, eg, aren"t cheap. And if you are limiting yourself to the kit lenses, then I"d compare them. And other factors, like say weatherproofing. The Pentax is great for that, the RP has none.

The Pentax or the Fuji. The Canon does not really do it for me, largely for reasons already described above. If I had to choose I would opt for the Pentax.

Ha! We have two cats that we walk on leashes, we"ve previously had two others. Lots of reasons to do it, few not to. They travel with us all over the PNW and love to walk on the beach, through the dunes, on wooded paths, etc. My K3III arrives tomorrow; I"ll have to work up a kitty walking-on-a-leash AF-C sequence for the DSLR forum :-)

We"ve been walking cats on leashes for 15 years, 4 different kitties over that time. It helps to start young, though our first one was 5 and took to it pretty quickly. I did 4 1/2 miles one day recently (in several sessions) and we regularly walk 2 miles, though some days it"s more about sniffing stuff and dawdling. they love to travel. I"ll put up a few shots in the Pentax SLR forum though the AF-C test is still a ways out.

And I have no idea how good the ACR defaults for processing Pentax DNGs to jpeg work. Given my screen name, you can safely assume I don"t care about ACR"s default settings for Pentax DNG extractions.

Pentax like all the others has some superb legacy primes and superb recent FF directed primes and zooms. However one frequently hears of Ricoh’s offering of a broad selection of light and inexpensive APS-C directed Pentax lenses as a distinctive positive selling point over other brands. Unfortunately, users of other brands view most of those lenses as consumer zooms or cheap and average primes. And, as with other brands, that assessment is frequently accurate. Are we expecting testing with the exotics while promoting the mundane?

I agree that there need to be more high ISO samples, but the lenses are not "standard", especially the f/1.8 Sigma zoom and the Pentax 35mm APSC lens.

I"d argue Pentax is in as good a position they can be in. They offer just a handful number of camera bodies, are such a small part of Ricoh that they only show up in the small "other" category on Ricoh"s financial statement, have created a niche market for folks that prefer DSLR"s over mirroless, and continued their tradition of keeping the same mount since 1975.

Here in the U.S., most camera stores have closed their doors. It"s not just Pentax that is hard to buy in store here. The camera market is saturated. Personally, I have never bought a camera in an actual brick and mortar store for over a decade.

But in saying all that, reports are that the Pentax k3 iii is selling well. I think Pentax is continuing to exist in a niche market. Where a, the big 3 (Canikon and Sony), are perhaps finding it harder to sell mass quantities of bodies and lens as they did in the past. It may just be that niche companies are better positioned to survive this saturated market.

SRS Microsystems and WEX photographic consistently stock the range of Pentax in the UK - I think most people actually buy online these days don"t they? - that probably contributes to brand loyalty for better or worse as it"s safer to get what you"re familiar with.

Smartphone pictures often look very contrasty because the narrow DR. It"s like the difference between using color negatives and slides at the film era.

Pretty well any 26mp camera from any brand will produce very decent RAW image files these days, and you can usually tweak JPG settings (sharpness, contrast, saturation etc) to suit your own taste. Pentax certainly has lots of settings for that!

This sensor seems to have slightly better low light ability than average, but not much else other than "pixel shift" which you had in the K3II anyway. The big image quality variable between brands is much more to do with lenses - and it is the lens, light conditions and photographer skill that will have most impact on these samples.

Pentax has a decent range of lenses, but few really modern ones. They have always gone with small and light with slightly reduced sharpness and slower aperture rather than large and heavy with ultimate image quality. Those of us who like to use primes and travel light are very grateful for that!

Newer Pentax lenses such as the HD FA* 50mm are anything but small and light with reduced sharpness. The same can be said for the HD DA* 11-18mm, which is considerably heavier and bulkier than the older 12-24mm.

@Don Kiyoti, true there are some new big lenses in their line-up, but the majority of their APS-C primes are smaller (and older) compared to other brands. The DA 15mm f4, 21mm f3.2, 35mm f2.4, 40mm f2.8, 50mm f1.8, 70mm f2.4 are all lovely miniature gems. Not as fast or sharp as, say, Sigma Art lenses, but a heck of a lot easier to cart around! Even most of their zooms aren"t so big (or fast) as 3rd party alternatives. I have the Pentax 18-135 and the Sigma 17-50 f2.8. The Sigma is faster and sharper, but a lot bigger and heavier despite 85mm less reach.

The photos, even photographed during the day, with excellent lighting and, even so, it seems that the photos are not with good quality. Is it the fault of the lens or the sensor of the camera? I would be able to take a much better picture with a Canon T3i and an EF 16-35mm f / 2.8L Mark 3 or a Canon EF 100mm f / 2.8L IS. Or with my Nikon D5600 + Nikkor 50mm f / 1.8. Realize that my equipment is humble and old. And yet, they take much better quality photos. So I found the quality of these photos strange. Perhaps Pentax will need to do a Patch Update.

That depends somewhat on the camera. On my KP the "bright" profile looks unnatural - almost garish, but on my other Pentax cameras *ist Ds, K-5 and K-3 the "natural" profile is too muted and I use the "bright" profile almost exclusively.

Note that exposure might vary more than five full stop when you select a certain ISO value, and you can still have an okay looking final result. The amount of noise will of cause vary a lot, depending on the exposure.

May be its because I neved used OOC JPEG on my Pentax camera, or because the photographer do not used a tripod for landscape shots but IQ look crappy to me, compared to what I used to see with my K-3II. Is that the Fine Sharpness II algorithm that should be "nearly perfect" for Pentax?

I know that 18-35 is inconsistent to focus, that 20-40 is tricky to focus because of field curvature and that 16-85 is not that great... Its a pitty that Pentax do not released new DA* 16-50mm at the same time of the K-3III.

Recent Fujifilm X-E4 gallery was shot using prime lenses only, and images are perfectly sharp and in focus. If I know nothing about Fuji and Pentax, and only look at the gallery, I will buy Fuji closed eyes.

White balance, saturation and color tone all on point. The fancy high ISO NR works as advertised. All good, in other words. A lot of the sample images are very clearly "lens-limited" .... as opposed to using a "limited lens". The latter might have satisfied the critics more, but wouldn"t have added any practical value to the test.

These types of samples are meant to show what the camera can do. They"re not posting them here or taking them to win any photography awards. I can tell you shooting a test target isn"t very interesting, but it can tell you a lot about a lens. Sometimes you have to look beyond the surface... ex. a portrait. OK may be the composition is wrong, but they"re really trying to show how the camera reproduces skintones and colors.

Good catch. The page says that the image was taken with an HD Pentax-DA 20-40mm F2.8-4 ED Limited DC WR but the exif data says it was taken with an HD PENTAX-DA 16-85mm F3.5-5.6 ED DC WR.

I would characterize Pentax default color as deep blue greens and accentuated purples. If some of these sample photos look washed out, it"s because of the flat overcast light.

Nice to see some "natural" images that don"t need pp to obtain the desaturated look that seems in vogue. I use a Canon with the last gen 24mp sensor and a Pentax with the venerable Sony 16mp sensor. I always prefer the look of the latter.

@dp20210116 - Sure, and the D500 was released it couldn"t match Pentax with features such as Pixel Shift and IBIS, among others, even though those features had been available on Pentax and (and other brands) for years.

They are using the "Natural" profile which produces... natural... looking images ;) If you like punchy stuff it"s not for you. Pentax cameras tend to white balance on the cold side compared to some other brands. I find it looks pretty believable for those overcast yet still in shadow shots that populate the gallery. The ones with a ray of sun look punchy enought to me.

@Lessiter, Pentax image processing reminds me of Fujifilm. I don"t see anything bad, but just a matter of personal preference. I still have an older Pentax camera and I notice how they tend to have less saturation on their photos in their later models over time. Nikon and the latest Sony cameras appear to have richer color reproduction that is not as punchy as Canon"s.

@solarider, I tried that but it just doesn"t quite get the richer colors of Nikons or even some latest Sony cameras although I love the crispiness of their rendering especially with higher ISO.

The new sharpness algo should be default on the K-3III if i remember correctly. Somehow a combination and improvement of two previous settings. Pentax has never had aggressive sharpening sooc. For most cases I think this is a good idea.

NIce selection of lenses used. Is it just me though or are the 20-40 ones the only really sharp ones. Surprising because the 20-40 is more of a "rendering" lens and the DA35macro is one of the sharpest Pentax apsc lenses?

Well, it is nice that after 5 years since D500 was launched, Pentax managed to release 1 camera and improve something while still lagging behind with AF. Meanwhile, Sony got insane real time AF, 30fps, Nikon created new mount and razor sharp lenses, Canon released two very strong mirrorless models, Fuji offered MF for unbeatable price in a compact package, Panasonic got robust and well speced FF mirrorless models with ability to shoot super high res images. Most of them are able to shoot 10 bit video or 8k and here comes a Pentax with 2000$ crop camera that barely beats a 5 year old Nikon. Kudos!

I am not trying to start a debate between mirrorless vs DSLR. That ship has long sailed. However, that is not to say that there isn"t any place for a good DSLR platform. Pentax, for better or for worse and maybe also out of necessity has chosen to not enter the mirrorless battle and that could very well end up being a wise choice. Meanwhile, Nikon nor Canon are bringing out new DSLR"s. I am comparing the K3iii to a five year old cam because there isn"t anything else to compare it to (as per dpreview TV.)

Well, Nikon brought D6 as well as D780 which costs BTW almost same as Pentax and has traditional layout combined with mirrorless like AF in live view. Canon brought 1D series and some other DSLRS so not everything went mirrorless.

Samples look fine but they haven"t blown me away. Most of the images we are seeing are jpegs and Pentax usually has slight issues with them. I thought the files from the D500 vs K3 review last week easily looked better from the D500(that could be the fault of the picture profile being used by Chris)

Canon, Nikon and Sony seem that they are not going to introduce in the future any APSC cams. The only manufacturers which invest on other than FF format are Pentax (DSLR) and FuJifilm (ILS) in APSC and Panasonic in M43 (ILS) since Olympus seems that just left the room.

It may make no sense to you based on your belief system. I checked all 59 images both at fullscreen and at 100%. I reported what I saw. I own a 24mp DSLR and a series of primes and zoom lenses. I find the FF images superior in every way. I guess that explains the existence of the Pentax K1 and Mkii? Please confine your replies to facts and evidence.

Whilst the general gist of your post is correct, (No argument) I do not retract my position. What did you see in the samples? What did you use to view the samples? Are you a Pentax fan or completely independant? My post is based on what I see both in the sample gallery and from my own photographic experience, both FF and APS-C. The equivalence argument has many detractors on this site. I usually, am not one of them. I will not attempt to explain why I think sensor size may influence OOF rendering as it is beyond the word limit and scope of the comments section. It would be a suitable topic for Roger Cicala.

Looks like a great camera. As for ultimate APS-C DSLR, we also have to keep in perspective the fact that Nikon released its last flagship APS-C camera in 2016 more than 5 years ago and Canon released its last flagship APS-C in 2014 more than 7 years ago. So field has been left open for Pentax to try and take a crack at it.

Don"t get me wrong - I like Pentax and was a Pentax DSLR user for a brief period of time. As I said, it does look very capable and I am glad to see Pentax coming up with a camera which can compete with the best of the APS-C cameras out there.

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

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 whe