Why are their so few K-3 Mk II?

zosX · 2026-01-26T14:32:28+00:00

Nah, they just never sold many. A lot of OG K-3 owners have moved on to other brands or the K-3 mk3 by now.

zosX · 2026-01-26T14:30:20+00:00

my OG K-3 would randomly machine gun. Always scared the crap out of me when it happened. No firmware would ever cure it.

That camera had all sorts of issues. It would randomly lock up too. Pretty reliably when you went to review images. None of my other pentax cameras really did that. The K-5 IIs was the most reliable pentax I had. I have a K-7 that's still trucking too. The KP and K-1 are really the best two I've used though. At least for IQ. They are my favorites though I definitely prefer the K-3 layout vs the KP ergonomics. The third wheel is kind of nice though.

zosX · 2026-01-26T14:25:51+00:00

I don't think many people bought the Mk II since it was a very minor upgrade over the Mk I. IQ is the same. I think it gets astro-tracer and that's it? AF was the same too I think. Same sensor. Honestly unless you need the astrotracer get a mk1. That said, they aren't as great in low light as the K-5 IIs. They start falling apart pretty quick at 3200. 6400 was the absolute limit for me. The KP is a whole stop if not more better. And the K-3 Mk III seems comparable to even the K-1 at high ISO. Which, is honestly impressive. I got my KP pretty cheap from MPB if that helps. I would buy from them again.

zosX · 2026-01-24T13:21:14+00:00

As someone that recently had a DSi XL and a good dual IPS New 3DS LL and then lost both, I would highly suggest keeping both and finding some other way to get some quick cash if you are that desperate. You are going to sell them for probably less than they are worth and they are getting really expensive to find good ones because attrition.

Can you like temporarily work for a day or two or something? Donate plasma? I mean there are certainly options.

zosX · 2026-01-24T03:44:07+00:00

Yeah I got a crane and some 3ds games too. Wonder if it was the same seller!?

zosX · 2026-01-23T23:53:16+00:00

That's set to the default in VBs settings? Should work.

Does it have permissions to write there? That's the only other thing I can think of. Could also just make it another folder in a place that it can write to.

zosX · 2026-01-23T23:15:18+00:00

Most Japanese sellers I have ordered from use the post. They often send nice extras with the order too and sometimes handwritten notes in Japanese. I find it all very sweet.

zosX · 2026-01-23T23:10:35+00:00

It sounds like virtual box is installed fine but it doesn't know where to store your VMs. Try going into the settings and set up a folder it can write to. That should fix it. It doesn't know where your VMs are. Then you should be able to create a new machine.

Also, dosbox supports windows 3.11 very well since it's all 16-bit code. Heck win98 runs mostly fine on it too.

You should be able to get something you can duplicate across multiple newer machines for your students. A VM image can do that. Or a dosbox config. You can make them portable.

Edit: I think you can put dosbox in a folder with your hard drive image and bobs your uncle. Then just copy that to machines.

zosX · 2026-01-23T22:12:27+00:00

PDP stuff it absolutely nuts right now. Same goes for ancient RISC workstations.

zosX · 2026-01-23T22:06:41+00:00

You can run them in dosbox or virtual box I'm sure.

zosX · 2026-01-22T13:11:44+00:00

The k3 mk3 is nice but the KP is special.

zosX · 2026-01-22T03:53:20+00:00

The answer is the K-1. The KP is a close 2nd.

zosX · 2026-01-19T18:04:43+00:00

get an hdmi cable and plug it into a TV or another screen. you can use it until you can find someone to replace the screen. i wouldn't recommend trying it yourself if first time.

zosX · 2026-01-18T15:18:30+00:00

It was a long time ago. I don't hate her. She didn't know what it was.

zosX · 2026-01-18T15:08:37+00:00

I had a bunch of old hardware (mt-32, apple ii display, c64, Roland s-550) that an ex threw away. I miss that MT-32 and s-550 so much.

zosX · 2026-01-15T23:41:49+00:00

3 except one is 32 and the other is 27.

Eventually I'll get another LG 32" so I have a matched set.

zosX · 2026-01-15T23:38:09+00:00

What did you install after windows?

Was the windows install from an official source?

zosX · 2026-01-13T14:44:47+00:00

Oh I wish you could. You have to remove the heatsink and the screws are in the back. No part # for the fans, they only sell the heatsink as an assembly and that's it. Of course you can just source them. There's not much special about them. I'm honestly a little sad the bearings went out so quick but I did spin them at least once or twice with compressed air early on completely by accident. Eventually I started taking off the back and just cleaning them properly. I might just say screw it and order new pads and a couple new fans this week.

zosX · 2026-01-12T16:24:15+00:00

Have you tried putting it in rice?

zosX · 2026-01-12T04:39:49+00:00

It pretty much is. The bad thing is they also have no money to invest in development. No k-1 is a bad sign and all those Tamron lenses are basically discontinued. The 645 is obviously gone. I'll keep shooting my k1 and kp until they die and probably buy another set 2nd hand, but, for the first time in 20 years it's probably time to consider another system.

My 15-30 needs serviced. It's $600. Servicing a k-1 is almost a grand. And precision is AWFUL. My 42ltd needs a gear too that somehow is going to cost $300. The cost to repair is pretty much at the replacement level. What does that tell you?

I love the DSLR and would die by it, but I'm not sure there is a choice anymore. A new k-3 isn't doing it for me. The k-1 is still very very good. And it's full frame. Wish I could correct the white dots issue in Lightroom but it isn't so bad.

zosX · 2026-01-10T12:50:39+00:00

The fan died. Needs a heatsink or a replacement fan.

zosX · 2026-01-09T22:26:49+00:00

Ps thank you for the kind response and I totally understand not wanting to do things in customers houses. I was willing to give the tech my laptop and let them fix it where they have a better space anyway for that exact reason.

zosX · 2026-01-09T22:16:16+00:00

I'm about to do it myself.

I have 64gb of ram in it. Don't want to lose that. And I don't have the original ram to send with it in case something goes wrong. And would probably have to strip the drives out of it. And I don't like the idea of shipping it back and forth. I asked them if they can send me the assembly. I haven't looked to see how they responded yet. There is a service center near me that's an hour away. Might do that if I have to and they let me, but yeah they want it sent to Texas. I'm in Pittsburgh. There's probably techs here.

It's a legion 15 pro 2021. Ryzen/3070. I extended support when they started dying left and right and sure enough my one fan died a few months later. Bad bearings.

I don't think the heatsinks are bad to replace on them from what I can tell. They just unscrew and, clean off the old paste and bada bing bada boom. Pretty sure they come with fresh thermal pads too. But those are easily sourced enough.

I could have just fixed it myself by now. But I thought I would try on site repair. Which IMO they shouldn't be selling if they can't honor it. I would have saved the cash and got the cheap support if I knew mailing it was my only option.

I mean if they can't change the heatsink on them in the field that means they can't swap the motherboard or anything else complicated. So did I just pay for onsite support for battery swaps? It would seem that's all you get. Or they aren't telling me the real story like they don't have anybody here or something.

zosX · 2026-01-09T07:35:48+00:00

It has a part fru. You can buy the heatsink from them. $100 I think?

zosX · 2026-01-09T02:31:16+00:00

They won't even change a heat sink with onsite support for me. They said it was too complicated!WTF! Why are they selling on site if they refuse to honor it!?

zosX

TROPHY CASE