While Canon and Nikon continue their wind-down of DSLRs, Pentax, meanwhile, continues to chug along on a few remaining lumps of coal and has once again iterated their APS-C flagship, the K-3 III.
In terms of specifications, the K-3 III now goes to the head of the APS-C class: 26mp image sensor, sensor-based stabilization, 12 fps burst rate, a bigger brighter viewfinder, USB charging (and USB-C), and much more. Wouldn’t a Nikon D500 user want to see a D580 with those stats, or a Canon 7D Mark II user see a similar 7D Mark III? I think so.
Of course, Pentax has been lagging on autofocus performance for a long time now. The K-3 III does have a new AF system that seems to have all the right stats to it, and Pentax talks about subject recognition AI helping, so let’s hope it does. But until I can test it, I don’t know if they’ve even gotten to D500-level performance yet. So there’s that.
Still, it’s nice to see Pentax iterating this DSLR. I don’t know how big the market will be for the K-3 III, but it’s clear that Pentax is no longer chasing after lots of new customers, just trying to satisfy their existing ones (see previous article about Canon ;~).
Total new DSLR count in 2021: 1.
