Pentax K-3 first thoughts, a machine gun camera

One of the strong features of the Pentax K-03 is how many pictures that it can take per second and how long the camera is able to keep up with this. This is important if you are taking pictures of action, sport or wildlife, where you have to use continuous shooting to capture just the right frame from your sons soccer game, the daughter jumping at a horse show or a bird flight.

So how do the Pentax K-3 compare with the other major cameras that have some of the same features. In the price range $1000 to $1600 for a camera body you will find the following options. If you want something that is faster then you have to get a professional SLR camera like the Nikon D4.

• Nikon D300s (from 2009), 7 fps, 30 raw buffer which gives a burst length of 4,3 seconds. Current price about $1600
• Canon 7D (from 2009), 8 fps, 25 raw buffer which gives a burst length of 3,1 seconds. Current price about $1500
• Pentax K-3 (from 2013), 8,3 fps, 23 raw buffer which gives a burst length of 2,8 seconds. Current price about $1300
• Canon 70D (from 2013), 7 fps, 16 raw buffer which gives a burst length of 2,3 seconds. Current price about $1200
• Nikon D7100 (from 2013), 5 fps, 6 raw buffer which gives a burst length of 1,2 seconds. Current price about $1200
• Sony Alpha A77 (from 2011), 12 fps, 13 raw buffer which gives a burst length of 1,1 seconds. Current price about $1100

Looking at the list above it the Pentax isn't on top of this list, but it is only topped by 4 year old cameras and if you care a little bit about your camera equipment then you wouldn't buy a camera that is 4 year old since it was introduced. This makes the Pentax K-3 the best wildlife/action camera that you can/should buy today.

This might be a big change if you already have an investment in lenses from other companies, which might make you want to wait for what Sony, Canon and Nikon comes up with. If you are a Canon user then the new Canon 70D could be a serious alternative, which just a little bit slow than the Pentax K-03. Otherwise the Pentax K-03 is the perfect camera for you that want to capture great action moments.

We can hope that this will press Sony, Canon and Nikon to come out with new cameras that are better take many pictures in a short period of time.

Follow the Pentax K-03 at Pentax Index.