Pentax has stopped selling its K-3 Mark III DSLR, less than four years since it was released in April 2021, and is likely to be the last in the line of DSLRs from the company. Aside from the ultra-specialized black-and-white-only variant the K-3 Mark III Monochrome, that is, which was launched towards the tail end of 2024 and is essentially the same camera with the color array filter removed.
Ricoh – the parent company behind Pentax – doggedly stuck with DSLRs long after everyone else had given up on them and switched to mirrorless, but it seems that with the demise of the K-3 Mark III, it is likely to be the last full-color DSLR produced under the Pentax brand.
While the camera did many things right – with a zippy 12fps maximum shooting speed, in-camera HDR, and effective 5.5-stop in-body image stabilization – it was rather on the pricey side at launch, costing the best part of $2000 / £1900 / AU$2800 for a camera that 'only' had an APS-C sensor, rather than being a full-frame model. It was actually more expensive than Pentax's own full-frame stablemates, such as the Pentax K-1 Mark II, and had an asking price way more than most of its APS-C competitors, which was the main bugbear of our three-star review of the camera.
Still, while Pentax lists the camera as discontinued on its own website, it is currently available from several retailers if you shop around, and thankfully it has been discounted to rather less than the steep initial asking price, so now could be the perfect time to pick one up. You'll need to be quick, though, as once the remaining stocks have been depleted, that'll be it.
You can find more on Pentax in our guides to the best Pentax cameras and the best Pentax lenses.
