The 150-450mm lens is the best lens I have ever used. Mine is tack sharp wide open and has an amazing quality to it.

Amazing!

Thanks for this. What prime "normal" lens do you like to pair with this camera?

Great video and images. Regarding AF comments, I’m curious if your firmware is updated to the latest version. Also, there are numerous AF-related settings that will impact the experience and final result. Depending on your shooting mode this could be Program Line selection, AF Hold setting, and also priority setting of either keeping to frame rate first, or achieving AF first as a priority over frame rate. And there are others as well. My other comment is don’t be quick to believe what the internet and KZbin reviewers say about PENTAX AF. The stereotype that the AF is poor is just not true and was started by competitors to try and thwart the brand. My K-1 Mark II has fantastic AF. Also, the PENTAX lens you use significantly impacts AF speed. It’s not just about the camera body.

Stellar photos.

I use the non monochrome k3 iii and love it, had no issues with AF, it might just be your copy of the camera is faulty, or the lens, idk?

What lenses do you have other than the one that's allegedly readable that's shown in this video You only have one facing us

As billkennon mentioned the phase detect unit in the base, also it could be the semi reflective mirror on the underside of the main mirror. I had this problem with random focusing on a k5 and k30. In fact check forums, older cameras had a de-lamination issue I think. But that mirror being dirty or oily etc randomly spreads the light on the pd unit. I just found it after many hours of calibrating focus. Another thing thats also random is some lens at focus at different depth when they shut down.. but if your k1ii works, then its not the lens. My k3iiim has so far been as good as any of my K's. So two questions: 1. Why the k1ii not k1, as k1ii has noice corrections even in raw. 2. What is your workflow? Ie shoot jpeg, or only dng and how is the raw processed (vid pretty please)?

I bought a Monochrome about a month ago. It has made my film SLRs redundant. Now I only shoot film with PAS and various rangefinder cameras. The virtue of an SLR is its versatility compared to a rangefinder or PAS. With the Monochrome however we get enhanced versatility together with unmatched IQ. I still like the PAS and rangefinder cameras for film though because they are truly compact, the user experience and for the aesthetic of film. I also own the K1ii and it is the best camera I have ever handled though it is a bit of a beast when it comes to its size and weight. The quality of the design and engineering is truly outstanding, and, best of all, quality K mount MF Pentax glass works flawlessly with it with no crop involved.

Try the 40mm Ltd. It's a great slightly long standard lens on APSC. Focus is snappy due to its small size and weight. Again due to its small size it makes any Pentax DSLR much nicer to carry around. I would go for the HD version as it shares the same aperture blades as the XS one, but in a nicer body. The "do it all" zoom, 18-135mm is also very worthy of consideration without breaking the bank.

The lenses are the other half of the focus issues. The PLM drive in the 55-300 is fast and accurate. The older screw-drive lenses are much slower and have a "jitter". The SDM drive lenses vary a lot in terms of speed and accuracy.

An AF Lock rate of 50% is as good as it gets for Bifs with any camera, they are the toughest test for any camera's AF IMO.

I wish there was an affordable monochrome camera. For now i use sony 7riii but id love to add a monichrome camera as i love doing black and white film photography. But noone seems to sell such a things at a reasonable price :(

Great videos 👍, more please and welcome to the wonderful world of pentax(ians).

I saw you had the old lens with the green ring, the hd upgrade has the red ring. They are of different optical quality.

Nice review and excellent photos！After watching a series k33 videos of yours, I really can see the charm of black and white photography now. BTW can you kindly share the auto focus setting you have done with K1 mark ii? I am also using one to document my kid, but find it not that reliable..

My Bif Settings; AFC Small Zone Select - Not Expanded - need fast response AF Active Area OFF Focus Priority - No point wasting time on shots not in focus also reduce blackout time Focus over Frame Rate Hold Off Drive lens when AF Fails Point Tracking Type 3 Focus Sensitivty 5 Subject Recognition ON Centre Weighted Metering - Change to Highlight Metering if Birds are Light Coloured Shake reduction OFF 1/2000sec + F6.3 ISO Auto 12fps

More videos on this camera/lenses, many more please!

Great review, images top notch, well done.

K1 AF is definitely not the fastest you can find but I've always found it very reliable. I've not found the K3 III AF problematic for my photography but now that you mention it, it might be a bit shakier than the K1 in that sense. Off the top of my head can't offer any further solutions besides what has already been said in other comments. Hope you figure it out and let us know if you manage to solve it.

I have K1 mark 1 and I find that fine for what I do... I heard rumours about K1 mark 3 and wonder if I can afford it. May get the mark2 as may get bargain and it seems great... I have plenty of full frame lenses so half frame seem waste.

BTW I trust you have fine tuned your your camera for each of your lenses - Auto Focus Fine Tune.

Just check the focus module inside the base of the camera hasn,t got any dust on it, this can give bad results on the K3 III - use a rocket blower.

I’d love to pair this with the 20-40

My experience is similar to yours. The tonal transitions of the images are breathtaking. The best camera for you is the camera that makes you want to take pictures, and this body is such a pleasure to operate that I went ahead and ordered the color version. However, the autofocus on both K3-iii’s has been very frustrating (it fails most of the time), so I doubt that the issues you have experienced are unique to your unit. (Also, the colors out of the regular (color) K3-iii are beautiful, but with the exception of Leica, I have yet to encounter a color camera whose output can touch the beauty of the output of my Lumix cameras.)

I find the 21mm a bit mysterious. It just seems to be very sharp but lacking some character I just haven’t found its mojo.

Interesting video (well set of videos in fact), I have looked enviously at the Leica monochrome cameras, but the justification of spending the eye watering amounts of cash to not only buy a body but lenses as well, were just not on my radar (I would be headed for divorce 3 if they were). But sadly this Pentax is still way above what I could justify price wise, plus its a fairly hefty beast to lug around, 800+ grams for the body. So whilst the dynamic range, sharpness etc are without question fantastic, I will stick with my faithfull XT3 and convert in NIK Silver Efex.

I'm going to say some highly controversial things, but here we go; 1) K3III Autofocus is not great, it is blown WAY out of proportion by the users. The problem is the users (Pentaxians) are a recluse bunch, many of them have never shot anything other than Pentax, so once a Pentax turned up with a slightly deeper buffer and faster fps, they proclaim AF is better!! No.. the AF is NO better, the buffer and fps just give the AF system a little more time to reacquire focus, but in terms of being actually better, no. If you care to look I have a channel with a lot of Pentax K3III content, even comparing with K-1, you might find it informative. 2) In terms of AF accuracy I found my K3III WORSE (substantially so) than the K-1. When I owned the K-1 and the 3 'princesses' (FA31, FA43 and FA77), they each needed Fine Adjustment tuning values on the K-1*. However... using those same lenses on the K3III was just impossible to tune. Using a variation of the Dot Tune method for front/back focusing adjustments, the green hex (what the system would consider in focus and would trigger the shutter), would toggle on at both -10 throughout the range to +10. This meant the AF system felt focus was good enough ANYWHERE within the entire Fine Adjustment range. This for all three FA Lenses... odd to say the least. However... some other lenses like the 55-300PLM did not present this same problem at all, so I am convinced half of the AF confusion and problems surrounding the brand/camera is down to body and lenses combo. 3) K-1 is more accurate, it simply has lower buffer and fps thus still might come away with less keepers. K3III is still probably the better camera for action etc, but people need to understand the difference between AF, fps and buffer. K-1 is more ACCURATE and it sounds like your own findings support this. * The Fine Adjustment tool for Pentax cameras is a bit of a nightmare, because those values are based around a certain distance. Do the test (even with a prime) and you will land on a different Fine Adjustment value needed depending upon if your working distance is 2m away or 10m. For zooms there is nothing, no way to calibrate certain focal point (unlike Nikon). In summary the feature is almost pointless and just leads to constant frustration. In order for such a tool to work it needs to carry calibration based on distances as well as support for different focal lengths throughout a zoom range. Again.. other DSLR brands did this, they did it because it was NECESSARY, Pentax have not because... perhaps it still won't really assist their poor AF system, I dunno... but the fact they haven't (and are still the only DSLR brand left) I think speaks volumes about how much they care about their AF issues.. Frustration is the keyword with Pentax, because when it works it works SO WELL. But for me, in the end (and as a working professional) I just found the results too erratic, too random as to what would be in focus and what not. I used to use Live View a lot more because this contrast detection at least removed the soft focused shots caused by the mirror. I found myself sighing at the thousands of dollars spent only to walk away with slightly soft focused shots (yet at the time felt they were good). It was depressing lol.. AF has always been Pentax's Achilles heal. Your experience echoes my own, I doubt there is anything wrong with your camera, this is just the Pentax way (and I have owned K-50, KP, K-1, K3III and the 645D). It's a consistent problem across all models. Their AF is just bad and with no logic or rhyme or reason to help a user trouble shoot. Using Pentax cameras is a lottery.

I should have had a faulty 150-450 as I was not impressed at all by the image quality compared to the 300 f4. I returned it and unfortunately I do not have a shop nearby to try out another copy.

It is possible that image stabilisation is spoiling autofocus at times Turn it off, which I'm sure you have already tried. The photographs you have displayed are of sufficiently high enough shutter speed to not require IBIS. just a thought. Great photographs non the less, I'm also a K1ii owner, a slower but great camera.

I got mine a week and a half ago for a road trip to Yosemite and Nevada. I have ZERO regrets purchasing it and the results I am getting are on par or better than shooting in color with my Canon and converting to B&W. I really enjoy slowing down and taking my time in composing and walking around doing so Street and building photography. Thanks for your review. It helped me with my decision to purchase one.

I have been seriously looking at Pentax, and this camera is making me rethink everything! Images are amazing! Just sold all my Canon equipment. This video was a big help to me, thanks!

Welcome to the Pentaxians - excited to more of You and your new Pentax K-III Monochrome.

Agree totally with your reasoning. I have sold all my Fuji gear (X and GFX) and got a Pentax 645N and have a Pentax 645D on the way. I love the rendering and experience of vintage glass.

And to think, 5 years ago I sold all my Pentax gear and switched to Olympus. I've been extremely happy with that choice, but lately my tastes are shifting towards more dedicated monochrome images, even for wildlife, and then the Pentax monochrome was released... It's extremely tempting to reinvest, though it's painful to think I already had almost all those lenses...yikes! Anyway, great images, and review!

Excellent images. Helpful review!

Hi, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am looking forward to seeing your further updates! Concerning the 5D image: I for one like the fact that the wings are out of of focus (at least on the screen here). It gives the picture a more natural look in my opinion. All these pictures taken at 1/10000000000000000000000th may well freeze the image but often lack 'life' in them, I find. Greetings from Belgium

The 20-40 is my favorite

Since each pixel is a dedicated monochrome sensor, this is equivalent to 75mp. Thanks for sharing.

I've been shooting Pentax since the K10D. I use a K-5II now. I'm interested to see more photos you get with the K-3 III Monochrome. Looking forward to see more from you.

Interesting video - I’m concentrating on video at the moment (another world, of course) but when I was taking stills, the thing that I noticed was the making of a very high quality B&W print was much easier in the darkroom than using - even a high spec - home printer. That’s possibly not a consideration with yourself (if you’re not going back to having a darkroom) and - of course - there are some specialist B&W digital printing services delivering impressive results - but a second hand enlarger can be got dirt cheap these days and - so - it’s tempting to think “wet processing” again !

I have been thinking of getting this monochrome camera, your video just made up my mind. Thanks

Dynamic range, low light noise and per pixel sharpness is where monochrome sensors excel at. No surprises here.

Oh nice, I shoot with olympus om1, Pentax K3iii, K1 and 645z, but have never thought about the monochrome for wildlife... oh dear.. I feel another purchase coming on

My latest travel setup is the Pentax 16-50 2.8. Lens Pentax 55-300 PLM WR and the Pentax 150'-450 all three great lenses

I used It for about a year, shot monochrome only during a six month period. I have sold it now, good camera. For my needs I needed to move another camera, hence sold it.

The 55-300 is a gem. Why they have not yet introduced at least a companion PLM standard zoom like a 16-70 f4 or similar is beyond me. A replacement for the dated 18-135, and the slightly less dated 16-85.

Great shots! I like B&W photography so I'm somewhat tempted but just can't justify buying it at the moment (I have a K-1 and my lenses mostly suit that).

Agree about the 55-300. It's the best "bang for the buck" zoom in the Pentax range. I found it was weak/soft at 300 and I was coveting the photos I saw taken with the 150-450. So I also got the 150-450 like you did. Wow, that lens is so great. So great that my 55-300 is getting less use. I notice you do not have the 16-50PLM. The price made me hesitate and I was grumpy when I bought it. Not anymore. That lens has the fast focus of the PLM and is very sharp...and fast at constant f2.8. I feel it can do anything I ask. I have my bodies set up to focus and shoot where/when I tap the rear screen in live view. This works best with PLM as it is fast...I can hold it next to a subject and just tap the rear screen where I want it to focus/shoot. Furthermore if I use the electronic shutter the camera is silent when I LV shoot because the mirror is already up! Try it with your 55-300!

Great stuff! Love your film work too!