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K-3II: First impressions

Started Jan 21, 2016 | Discussions thread
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John.Laninga
John.Laninga Senior Member • Posts: 2,401
K-3II: First impressions
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Background: although I've owned FF gear, the past 3 or 4 years have been predominately m43, mostly Panasonic. Also some very fine Fuji gear. My initial K3II with 16-85mm observations:

  1. The time to get the initial battery charge is inversely proportional to the desire to "turn 'er on".
  2. The build materials, fit and finish, and ergonomics are excellent. Buttons are logical and operate with positive feedback.
  3. The initial impression was that the 300 grams more than my GH4 kit made it heavy. After a while I didn't really notice.
  4. The OVF was a lot dimmer and smaller than I expected. I guess I still think of my Olympus OM4T and was expecting that level of clarity and size.
  5. The menus were baffling, even though I had perused the manual as spare time reading material. After a few trips through the main tabs and pages it is started making a lot more sense.
  6. Some things are not well explained. It took me 15 minutes just to change the LCD display - it's not on a menu but takes a second press of the "Info" button to bring up the sub menu. There were some others, like turning on RAW + JPG permanently requires a trip through the menus.  Just using the very handy RAW/FX button (and selecting RAW+) is only good for one shot. But then, learning curves are always steep when you first switch gear.
  7. Just had a little daylight left and took some pictures at the lake. Got some scenery, some ducks, even a BIF! Operation was nice and confident, even if I didn't know what I was doing.
  8. Played around inside and it looks like ISO 6400 holds up pretty well.

Of course, it's a dreary day here in Texas, rain predicted all day. So maybe I'll just have to test the AW and get some beautiful grey pictures.

So far, so good...

 John.Laninga's gear list:John.Laninga's gear list
Fujifilm XF1
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4 Pentax 16-85mm F3.5-5.6 WR Pentax K-3
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