Gadgetory

hi I'm Lorie Rudin and this is a pre-production version of ten taxes latest flagship aps-c DSLR the k3 Pentax overhauls the k5 to successor inside and out it's got a new anti-aliasing filter free 24 megapixel sensor a new body design a new 27 point AF system and a new 86,000 pixel RGB metering system there's also improved performance with continuous shooting increasing up to 8.3 frames per second the new autofocus system unfortunately doesn't have any live view optimizations the Pentax says that five of the AF sensors are specifically for low-light and even the pre-production model was able lock focus in some pretty dim conditions like the 70d it now implements zone focus though it doesn't display the zone just the selected focus point when you pre focus it does seem to select the center of the zone which is good more often than not perpend techs the new viewfinder has improved coatings and while I didn't really see a perceptible difference it's still a nice viewfinder it's also the first camera to support USB 3 oh I'm not quite sure of the implications yet as that depends upon implementation but it does open the door for faster download speeds through the computer and improved bandwidth for tethered shooting the camera also potentially delivers improved image stabilization Pentax claims an extra stop and better durability of the shutter for up to 200,000 cycles Pentax brings its movie mode into parity with the rest of the world now it has 1080 30p and 726 DP options along with a mic input and a headphone jack the body design will not completely overhaul does have many significant changes over the K 5 series it's still sturdy with a weather shield magnesium alloy body and kind of heavy the mode dial is now lockable though I'm not sure about the implementation there's a lock switch that you use in conjunction with the more typical central button it seems a bit overkill to me well I like the interface which is typical Pentax the company does tend to think different on other cameras on the brief info screen you hit a button and then get around the screen changing settings on a Pentax you see all the important settings on the control screen but have to hit different buttons to change each setting to change multiple settings from a single screen you have to go into the more crowded and difficult to quickly parse info screen on the K 50 which has fewer features this isn't so bad on the feature-packed k3 though it's more to wade through the new navigation buttons are designed with slightly raised edges on the side that you can use to navigate diagonally that's pretty clever and there are some disappointments for one it's got a fixed rather than articulating LCD for some reason Pentax is the only manufacturer that resists incorporating moveable LCDs and the camera lacks built-in Wi-Fi Pentax instead opts to use an SD card based solution from flu card which will have a custom option for supporting wireless tethering via web browser as for Pentax scenes you don't need the latest and greatest the k5 2 and 2's will remain in the line at a lower price I'm Laurie Brennan and this is a pre-production version of the Pentax k-3