Pentax K-50

Pentax K-50 is Pentax's Entry-Level DSLR camera initially announced on November of 2013. It includes a 16 MegaPixel, CMOS APS-C sized sensor and has a full resolution of 4928 x 3264.

Pentax released this camera in an effort to replace the older Pentax K-30 (Read Full Comparison)

The K-50 is ranked #38 out of 80 in Entry-Level DSLR cameras & over all #310 out of 1465 for digital cameras in our collection. Please check out our Smart camera finder to find camera rankings based on your personalized requirements.

Here is a diagram of multiple factors used in the rating system.

The Pentax K-50 is part of a family of cameras. You can view the complete range underneath.

You can see the K-50 from various angles in the gallery here.

Below is a shortlist of benefits and drawbacks of the Pentax K-50 based on features which are oftentimes regarded as useful in a camera.

The Pentax K-50 houses the PRIME M chip. The sensor dimension in the Pentax K-50 is 23.7mm x 15.7mm (APS-C). The 372 mm² sensor is able to capture 4928 x 3264 pixels at aspect ratios of 3:2. The camera comes with Image Stabilization (Sensor based). Optical stabilization is preferable than digital stabilization as the latter can lead to cropping.

Photography Glossary

The CMOS sensor has 16MP and features a native ISO range of 100 - 51600. RAW format is saved which means that you have wider room to maneuver in post.

The image underneath shows the K-50's sensor dimensions in comparison to other common sizes. The K-50 sensor has a crop factor of 1.5 and is displayed in green.

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To get a sense of various aspect ratios, you can refer to the visual below.

Pentax K-50 weighs about 1.43 lb (650 gr / 22.93 oz) & has exterior measurements of 130mm x 97mm x 71mm (5.1" x 3.8" x 2.8"). The weight of average Entry-Level DSLR camera is 540 gr so the Pentax K-50 is heavier compared with its competitors.

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Here is a image of the Pentax K-50 with a softdrink so you can get a feel for its scale.

The top view just below will provide the button layout on the K-50.

The K-50 uses the Pentax KAF2 mount and has 17 lenses currently available. Below is a few of the lenses we have in our database which will fit the K-50.

ModelVisualizeFocal LengthApertureStabilizedWeight

Samsung D-Xenon 10-17mm F3.5-4.5 Fisheye10-17mmf/3.5-4.5 320g

Pentax smc DA 300mm F4.0 ED IF SDM300mmf/4.0 1070g

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Venus Laowa 100mm F2.8 2X Ultra Macro APO100mmf/2.8638g

Pentax smc DA 16-50mm F2.8 ED AL IF SDM16-50mmf/2.8 565g

Samsung D-Xenon 18-55mm F3.5-5.618-55mmf/3.5-5.6 225g

Samsung D-Xenon 35mm F2 AL35mmf/2.0 195g

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Samsung D-Xenon 18-250mm F3.5-6.318-250mmf/3.5-6.3 455g

The K-50 has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes
• GPS Yes

Digital cameras that have NFC and Bluetooth connectivity are able to be used wirelessly with smartphones. You can easily transfer pictures and in some cases change camera settings with no need to connect directly to the camera.

Some applications even allow a Liveview and release the shutter in case you are not close to the camera. If the camera contains a HDMI port, it can easily be connected to an external monitor. Nearly all cameras enable you to charge the battery pack through the USB socket.

The highest possible video resolution in the Pentax K-50 is 1920 x 1080 and you can capture in MPEG-4 and H.264 format. 1080p resolution can provide a good balance for quality versus file sizes but 1080p will not leave you with any room to downsample. The camera does not offer a microphone and headphone jack which means you get no control over the audio. It is probably a better idea to consider a different model in case you want good audio for your video clips.

Pentax K-50 has got environment proofing which makes it a excellent pick for use for tricky environments. This is particularly beneficial any time you are not sure about the elements you might face for outdoor photography.

The Pentax K-50 includes a 3 inch fixed display boasting a resolution of 921 thousand dots.

Please be aware that the display screen has no touch support.

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The View Finder specs for Pentax K-50 are as follows:

• ViewFinder Optical (pentaprism)
• Coverage 100%
• Magnification 0.61x

For sunny outdoor situations which make the camera displays washed out and tough to see, viewfinders will be very helpful.

Pentax K-50 is able to shoot continuously at 6.0 frames per second. The highest shutter speed is 1/6000s.

Pentax K-50 comes with both built in flash together with external flash support. The highest flash sync is 1/180s.

Pentax K-50 comes with both Phase Detect Auto Focus as well as Contrast Detect Auto Focus. Phase Detection autofocusing is more snappier & precise compared with Contrast Detect autofocusing. The camera includes Face detect which makes it useful for people photography.

It includes 11 focus points to pick from. It also includes Tracking Auto Focus for things that move. Pentax K-50 comes with manual focus when required for low light scenarios or you require more exact focus control.

The battery life (D-LI109) on the Pentax K-50 is designed to last for 410 photographs as per the CIPA requirements which is lower as compared with it's competitors. The average Entry-Level DSLR camera battery life is 589. Pentax K-x features the best (1900) battery life for this group of cameras.

Following is a number of Entry-Level DSLR cameras with the strongest battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Pentax K-x
K-50 vs K-x1900 yesnono

Nikon D3500
K-50 vs D35001550 yesnoyes

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Nikon D3400
K-50 vs D34001200 yesnoyes

Canon SL3
K-50 vs SL31070 yesnoyes

Sony A450
K-50 vs A4501050 yesnono

The following chart presents a summary of the Pentax K-50 for specific types of photography. To read more, have a look at the specific section underneath.

The Pentax K-50 gets a score of 74 which is nice, and means the camera is a fine fit to use for portrait photography. Shooting portrait photos leans greatly towards sensor size, support for RAW photos plus the ability to utilize off-camera lighting.

Getting a nice score of 65, the Pentax K-50 is a very decent fit to buy for street photography. A decent street photography camera has a perfect balance of image quality plus portability.

A very good sports photography points total of 67 means the Pentax K-50 is a good fit for shooting sports. A camera needs to have fantastic focusing plus fast continuous shooting for sports photography.

Weight is extremely important in choosing a camera for travel. All round, the Pentax K-50 gets a modest 56 for a travel camera which makes it fairly appropriate to purchase for your travels.

When you're planning to choose a camera for landscape pictures, the most significant aspect will no doubt be image quality. The Pentax K-50 with it's nice grade of 74 as a landscape camera is a good option among it's rivals.

A vlogging camera preferably should have a articulating display, microphone port and if possible IBIS. Considering all things, the Pentax K-50 is just not very good for vlogging as it receives a awful score of 28.

If you are looking for alternatives to the K-50, here is a list of the top rated cameras which fall into the family of Entry-Level DSLR.

The chart followed below gives you a summary of the K-50 vs it's top ranked competitors suggested previously.

There are more cameras you might consider as alternate options. To go through a extensive comparison, simply click on the "compare" link.