Pentax K3 mark III Monochrome

ABOUT THE PENTAX K-3 MARK SYSTEM

As a Pentax brand ambassador I have been fortunate enough to spend some time with the newly launched Pentax K-3 mark III monochrome earlier this year. I'm very familiar with the regular K-3 mark III as that was the camera that I used 90% of the time during the phototours that I hosted in Botswana.
The original Pentax K-3 mark III is known for it's excellent viewfinder, giving this APS-C camera the field of view of a full frame camera. Working with this camera at aye-level is therefore outstanding.
The autofocus is very responsive and it's 10 frames per second drive speed comes in handy during situations where you want to make the most of the action in front of your lens. As an outdoor photographer, Pentax's acclaimed weather sealing is a big plus for me as well.

WORKING WITH THE PENTAX K-3 MARK III MONOCHROME

I'm best described as a photographer who seeks tools that aid me to capture the best images possible. That means that the camera should produce RAW files with excellent dynamic range, perfect sharpness and the ability to push the ISO high to capture wildllife around dusk and dawn when lighting conditions are often dim. Secondly the camera should be easy to operate with an easy menu structure and a lot of ergonomically placed buttons to speed up most operations. And last but not least it must be able to withstand a fair amound of professional "abuse".
From my previous experiences with the Pentax K-3 mark III, I knew that the last pints are wel covered by this system, so I was mainly interested in the capabilities of the monochrome sensor.

I'm not a studio photographer, where I would or could test the sensor in a fixed environment, nor did I have the intention to test the camera in a controlled environment. That's not where great images are made ;-). So I took it out into nature and used it as my everyday camera. I only had the camera for a few days and conditions were dull unfortunately, but by carefully selecting some of my favorite spots here in Holland I was able to test the Pentax K-3 mark III monochrome extensively.