Pentax K-3, Nikon D7100 or D7200? I'm Stuck!

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Aarron

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Darren
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Hi all,

Thanks in advance for any advice offered.

Long story short I have dabbled in photography over the years starting out in college taking it as a course then moving into film with a Canon EOS 300, moving on up to a Nikon D60 and a Nikon D3200 respectively. After a few years away from photography after selling all of my equipment due to a marriage breakdown (had to sell my equipment to pay for debts accrued) I'm now looking at getting a used camera...

I've whittled it down to the Pentax K-3 and Nikon D7100 & D7200...but which do I go for?

I love doing candid photography, some landscape and portraits too but in all honesty this is going to be largely used to take some nice shots of my soon to be born son and my older boy (as well as my partners two boys). I know it's more to do with the glass and the person behind the camera rather than the camera body itself but I'm stuck.

All of the camera comparison sites are saying the K-3 beats both the D7100 and D7200 (is this really true of an older camera?)

Any and all advice would be gratefully received

Thanks
 
The K3 will be weather resistant and imo better built and handling, a long legacy of K mount lenses can be used all with SR ( Shake Reduction ) as its built into the camera, although you will lose AF on the MF lenses only obviously, the Nikon's will have slighter faster AF although this can be overcome on the K3 but not just machine gunning everything and choosing your timing and focus point more carefully.

The Nikons have some stunning glass in their range as well as 3rd party options, the Pentax glass is very good, both OEM manufacturer's glass is expensive and the Pentax 3rd party lenses range isn't as vast.

If I was making the decision, it'll be the K3
 
Can’t remember off hand but the 7200 is definitely worth the extra over the 7100 , I did a bit of research before Xmas. I had a Pentax K30 bit heavy but when I look back at photos they are the best . If you are not going to buy a lot of glass I’d by K3 body with a better than kit versatile lens , I had 16-45 which was excellent along with two “Limited “ primes.
 
All good cameras, the decision lies in what lenses each system has.

If Pentax has all the lenses you think you'll ever want then it is a bargain of a camera, if it doesn't then you'll need to go with the Nikon.
 
I have no experience of Nikon, but haveowned a K3. Its a great camera, and has the advantage of good weather sealing, IBIS, and the great advantage of Pentax legacy lenses saving you money on good primes, albeit mostly manual focus. There are some exceptionally good more modern lenses available too. The 16-45mm mentioned by BJP is cheap, but produces very sharp images. More expensive, the Limited primes are all very good, as are the DA* lenses. The DA*, lenses also all have very good weather sealing.

Strangely, the K3 was not very good at aerial photography, which is why I sold it. However, for normal use, it is a very capable camera. Using it with the Sigma 18-35mm Art lens, which was probably the sharpest zoom lens I have ever used, I found the level of detail amazing.
 
I use a K-3II (as well as the Pentax K-1 and Canon 7D). If you were just doing portraits and landscapes I would say Pentax all day long but children move very eratically and Pentax AF and tracking is not comparible with Nikon in this respect. Should you at some time in the future decide to shoot wildlife or airshows then the lack of third party super zooms like the 150-600mm lenses can also be an annoyance.
 
GreenNinja67 said:
@Aarron Have you considered mirrorless?

You don't need a DSLR nowadays to produce stunning images.
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I haven't to be honest, for some reason I just love SLRs and DSLRs, maybe its an over romanticsised notion from nostalgic times but I just love the way they look, feel and make me feel when out shooting...thsts not to say I cant ever be swayed if something can push me in another direction but I've always wanted to an SLR style light catcher lol.

That most likely sounds idiotic but true.

What mirrorless cameras are worth looking at?

Thanks
 
Most of them. I went from a Canon 6D to Olympus em5ii and couldn't be happier. I had a Fuji but it wasn't for me. Sony are also worth researching
 
Mike.P said:
I use a K-3II (as well as the Pentax K-1 and Canon 7D). If you were just doing portraits and landscapes I would say Pentax all day long but children move very eratically and Pentax AF and tracking is not comparible with Nikon in this respect. Should you at some time in the future decide to shoot wildlife or airshows then the lack of third party super zooms like the 150-600mm lenses can also be an annoyance.
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This has made quite an impact...I was almost completely sold on the K3 until the mention of children moving about being the achilles heel...

Is the K3 very poor for this type of photography? I have read a lot of posts and reviews which say it is noticibly sloser but since Im not doing sports photography it was at the back of my mind...with that said our children would definitely give usain bolt a run for his change lol.

Thanks
 
Aarron said:
This has made quite an impact...I was almost completely sold on the K3 until the mention of children moving about being the achilles heel...

Is the K3 very poor for this type of photography? I have read a lot of posts and reviews which say it is noticibly sloser but since Im not doing sports photography it was at the back of my mind...with that said our children would definitely give usain bolt a run for his change lol.

Thanks
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After a decade of being a Pentaxian, I moved over to Nikon specifically because of focussing on moving targets (wildlife mainly) and lens options. One of the reasons is that our little boy will soon be crawling and running around and I know that the K-3 / K-3ii just wouldn't cut it for the type of shots I'd like.

In all other respects, I'd take the Pentax any day of the week.
 
Aarron said:
Is the K3 very poor for this type of photography? I have read a lot of posts and reviews which say it is noticibly sloser but since Im not doing sports photography it was at the back of my mind...with that said our children would definitely give usain bolt a run for his change lol.

Thanks
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As much as it pains me to say it ... yes.

You will always get people saying otherwise but when it comes right down to it the hit rate will be a lot higher with Nikon. It's the reason Danny (Unlocker) changed to Nikon and it's the reason I bought a Canon many years ago (well that and the MP-e65mm macro) ... but that's another thing entirely. :)
 
Aarron said:
What mirrorless cameras are worth looking at?
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You need to pick one up as unlike DSLRs they come in various shapes and sizes , I've turned my back on DSLRs and gone for a Panasonic GX80 .
 
Thanks for all the advice guys...

Now the dilemma of which nikon?
D7100 or D7200?

Thanks
 
Aarron said:
Thanks for all the advice guys...

Now the dilemma of which nikon?
D7100 or D7200?

Thanks
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D7200. Because it has much better buffer, the native iso is better, it focuses in lower light, less shutter lag.
It also has 2 high iso modes in black and white but I'm not sure if anyone would actually use them but I rather have it than not have it.
Better battery life if I remember and a few other little improvements.
 
I’d definitely go for the D7200 if that’s your budget,
I had a D3200 for around 5 year and it served me well,
Decided to upgrade before Xmas and the D7200 was on my list as a few of my friends has them and they’re a really good camera,
After much thought I decided on the D7500 and I’m really happy with it it’s great,
But if your budget is D7200 then it’s a no brainer,
Go for it ! They’re a cracking machine
 
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Thans Liam,

Thats the one that I'm thinking of pulling the trigger at the moment. Thanks for the input
 
photogwannabe said:
Of the choices you've mentioned I'd definitely go for the D7200. Really good crop sensor camera!
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Plus 1. I've had one for a while, extremely capable.

I'm at intermediate level I would judge and getting requests to do events / drone / even a wedding ! (second - more informal).

Go for it ! Decent calibrated lens produce ace results !
 
as i saw you will be shooting kids ,i would go d7200 of your choices.
I had a few d3300 then a d7200 the handling and Af accuracy was far superior,a great camera .i woukd reccomend Thom Hogans pdf book on the d7200 ,its very thourough
and covers everthing you need in over 900 pages but the focussing part is superb.
 
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