On 11/12/2013 5:50 PM, Darren Addy wrote:
I have to say, that is a pretty comprehensive review.
As I expected the K-3 falls just a bit short in the dynamic range
department (over the K-5/ii/iis) but its advantages in other areas
would probably still make it a slam dunk upgrade overall for most. It
seems that in the AF department, owners of the K-5ii/iis will not
notice a big difference in the AF performance, and K-5iis owners
already have the AA-free option (though not the switchable option of
the K-3).
Thanks for mentioning this, Darren. This pretty much sums up my
impressions this far.
In short, I would say that if you have anything prior to a K-5 the
upgrade to a K-3 will be amazing.
Upgrade from K-7 to K-5 was pretty amazing, I'm telling you. So if one
goes from K-7 to K-3, the update will be at least amazinger :-).
If you have a K-5, you have a very good camera that you could be happy
with for many years, but an upgrade to a K-3 would be significant (in
everything except dynamic range).
Not trying to sound pessimistic or anything, but DR is the most
important aspect to me. So I get to keep my K-5 for now.
If you have a K-5ii, you already have most of the AF improvements seen
in the K-3 but not its other features (PRIME III-related throughput,
FPS, HDR, switchable AA, dual slots and, of course, 24MP).
If you have a K-5ii, the same things as the K-5ii apply with the
possible exception of the AA-related stuff.
None of the above hold any interest to me personally, though of course
they are significant technological improvements, which indeed prove that
K-3 is head and shoulders above any other Pentax camera as far as
technology goes.
In any event, Pentax has apparently achieved their objectives in
significantly moving the top end of the APS-C cameras, surpassing not
only themselves but also the field (if only temporarily). The fact
that Canikon CANNOT duplicate the switchable AA filter since they
don't use internal SR means that is many ways this is a lead that
Pentax could hold for a good while. If Pentax has improved the AF
system to the point that IT is no longer a compromise, then I really
think that they have shored up the only real vulnerability that they
have historically had.
It still needs to be proven that switchable AA filter is useful. I mean
- I expect that 99.9% of the photographers using the camera will have AA
simply off in 99.9% cases of actually taking the shot. I do agree that
Pentax is now as good or better than competition in the same
price/feature-set category. Therefore, it would seem to me, the ball is
now totally in the court of marketing department at Ricoh. Engineers did
their job brilliantly, now it is time to capitalize (pun intended) on
that brilliance.
Boris
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