K-3 Mark III Flagship APS-C Black Camera Body - 12fps, Touch Screen LCD, Weather Resistant Magnesium Alloy Body with in-Body 5-Axis Shake Reduction. 1.05x Optical viewfinder with 100% FOV

The DSLR may be considered dead, but having owned many mirrorless cameras I find myself wanting a more old school experience. Considering that many of the finest images were taken on SLR style cameras, I do not find the technology to be limiting. Instead, it opens up your creative freedom and allows you to see the world in a different way: through the lens. The K3 Mark III is an exceptional camera in every regard. The viewfinder is big and bright, comparable to a full-frame viewfinder in an APS-C body. The autofocus system is fast and tracking works well. Weather sealing, ergonomics and build quality are all outstanding. The touchscreen and new menu system work very well. The screen doesn't flip out or articulate. I'm fine with this, since it is more compact and I'm mainly using the viewfinder 99% of the time. If you find yourself doing tripod work you may consider the K1 Mark II instead for its excellent screen implementation. Image quality out of it's APS-C sensor is great. It has a lot of dynamic range, relatively little noise at higher ISOs, and good color depth with 14-bit RAW files. There is a lot of flexibility to the RAW files, offered in both PEF and DNG. Pentax color science is really good, I find it to have a natural look. Overall, the RAW files are very flexible and require minimal effort in post-processing. I would compare the image quality from this sensor to that of Fujifilm's X-T4, another excellent, albeit mirrorless, APS-C camera. Video shooters, while this can do 4K video, you'll probably want to look at a different brand. This is a photography focused camera. Pentax offers a fully featured and well thought out DSLR in the mirrorless age and for that they would be commended. If you like seeing through the lens and mechanical feeling of the mirror and shutter actuate, this is the camera for you.

I was using the DA*300mm f4 for the test shots I did here. I love this camera. It seems very well thought out. Pentax took their time to make sure what they're releasing is a quality product, and I think perhaps some of the things that could use a little improvement are exactly the kinds of things that firmware updates can address. When trying out a camera the grip isn't something I usually think about because I assume it will feel "quirky" in some way or other, and that I'll just "get use to it," as if it was made for some other hands. Not so with this camera. I found it immediately comfortable. I wasn't sure if I would like the touch screen, but I now see how useful they've made it. I love it. Also with the few tests I've done they've really hugely improved upon immediate transfer of images (even RAW) to a smartphone. The auto-focus is excellent. As expected, it's a super solid build. It's not silent like a mirrorless, but I think this is the first DSLR where the sound of the shutter was soft enough where birds aren't startled right at go. The menu takes a little getting use to as it's changed quite a bit, but there's nothing I haven't searched for that I didn't find with occasional use of the provided manual. Is it worth the price tag? For me it was. I have a bunch of Pentax lenses already and I wasn't going to wait six months for the price to maybe come down to try this out. Now that I have it I won't be returning it. :)

I have a Sony full-frame for my portrait and event photography, but want an APS-C body for wildlife. That's an activity that does best with an optical viewfinder, and in my opinion no camera has a better one than this Pentax. This makes the ideal pick for birds-in-flight and wildlife. I 'm glad at least one company remains committed to comfortable camera bodies for larger telephoto lenses and optical viewfinders free of lag and blackout. It's so much easier to track fast moving birds when you can see them thru glass rather than waiting for an electronic screen to redraw them.

After my K-1 took a fall and needed to be shipped off for repair, I thought I'd try the k-3iii, as was considering it for a second body. I did love the shooting experience when I put it through its paces. The body is light and responsive, the full pentaprism viewfinder is beautiful, and the shutter is quiet yet precise/snappy feeling. It was only when I went to process in post(RAW) that I noticed I wasn't getting the detail I was used to, and it seemed like many more photos were OOF than usual. I did update to the latest firmware and setup back button focusing as well. I will say the higher ISO shots looked better than ever. I did my best to give it a shot, tried on 31mm, 77mm, and the 40mm. Also, I am spoiled from shooting full frame and having lots of crop freedom. Great camera, and were I to use it regularly I would definitely improve my photography, but I think if i'm going that route for a crop sensor, I will instead look at the GR IIIx in the future for a compact street and travel shooter, and the Fujifilm GX100 series for the bigger sensor. In the meantime the K-1 still holds it down and doesn't feel limiting. Considering the price, I would recommend getting the K-1 mk2 over the k3-iii, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the k3 is still an amazing body, just not for me. Skill issue for sure.

Lots to learn because there are so many options. Excellent picture quality.

This was a huge upgrade over my Pentax K3. All the features of the K3 were on the new camera, but worked much better. The new features were fantastic. The auto-focus was quick and precise. The only thing that I will miss will be the pop-up flash, which I rarely used, anyway.

Outstanding camera, fast and responsive, great complement to my K1 when I need to capture fast action and telephoto pictures, recommend this camera if you want to upgrade from an old pentax body, or if you want to try a modern DSLR.

I recently bought the K-3 Mark III, as an upgrade to my K5 IIS. Basic functionality is similar, so I was immediately able to take test pics. Picture quality is outstanding, and tack sharp, if of course you have a good lens. As I'm still getting my feet wet with this camera, my review is limited.

The camera is perfect but we were really unpleased by the added item wrapped on the camera box. We did not need to received an unsolicited and unwanted religious book that will go directly to the trash can. Religion is a personal thing and should not be force by the belief of other.

This was a camera I wanted to love. I’ve shot Pentax for more that two decades, starting with the k100d, then k10d, then the K-5, so needless to say I am familiar with the quirks of the Pentax system. But this is a frustrating camera. Is it capable of wonderful pictures? Yes, absolutely. Is the AF much faster than previous Pentax cameras? Yes, especially with a new plm lens. But there are 5 main flaws that hold it back severely in my opinion. 1. My copy seems to have horribly inconsistent autofocus. In AF-c the focus point jumps around constantly making micro adjustments in a way that no other Pentax I’ve owned before did, nor does my new sony. This seems to be a common issue. I have tried all the fixes, cleaning the af sensor, updating firmware to the most recent, experimenting with the trackability settings, nothing seems to fix the issue. There are enough reports of this online that make me believe it is a common issue. I can take four or five shots of the same subject in rapid succession and all three or four will have a slightly different focus, with maybe one shot being in focus. 2. As Kobie MC pointed out, the AF system is extremely complicated, and not well explained at all. This is not a good thing in my books. Unless you are willing spend an inordinate amount of time experimenting, honestly forget it. I think in trying to address their af issues of the past Pentax has made the system overly complicated and no longer approachable for anyone but the most stubborn professional (or YouTuber). 3. It is absolutely competitive with the best apsc dslrs ever made from canikon. Unfortunately this is not a compliment as this camera was announced years after those cameras, and they are all on their way out as those manufacturers have moved on. This is a dslr in a mirrorless world. I get some people like the optical viewfinder, but as a photographic tool it just is not as powerful as comparable mirrorless cameras these days. 4. The price! Honestly, you can pick up a comparable mirrorless from F with much higher specs, and with eye af that is way ahead of Pentax, for significantly less money. Then add a couple really nice 2.8 lenses from Tammy or sig and still have money left in your pocket. Oh and the overall package would be smaller and lighter and it would shoot circles around this camera. 5. Selection of lenses. Pentax used to have a long list of third party, no longer the case as sig and Tammy no longer make glass for Pentax. Additionally Pentax has been discontinuing lenses and not replacing them (ie. still waiting for the replacement 50-135 which Pentax discontinued just as I bought this camera almost three years ago, and which rumors said was going to be replaced with a plm version - I get it rumors does not equal Pentax, but then why discontinue lenses with no plan to replace them?) I bought this camera at the time as I had a soft spot in my heart for Pentax and I really wanted to love it. And there is something to be said for the way a Pentax camera feels in your hand. But ergonomics only goes so far. If I ask myself honestly would I buy it again knowing what I know now, sadly I have to answer no. As a photographic tool to capture images it is certainly among the best Pentax has ever made, sadly though there are much more capable and flexible camera systems out there right now for the same or less money.