Hands-on review: Pentax K-500

Introduction

The rise of the compact system camera has made it a tough time in recent years for the entry-level DSLR, which may explain why Pentax hasn’t rushed to replace its ageing K-r junior model. But, better late than never, the K-500 steps in to fill the vacant bread-and-butter end of the company’s DSLR range.

In essence the K-500 is the same camera as the new mid-range K-50 that Pentax recently introduced to replace the K-30. The key differences between the new siblings are that the K-500 has to do without weather sealing, and its autofocus system lacks any AF point display in the viewfinder.

But given Pentax’s history of producing well made beginner DSLRs with good specs, can the K-500 prove a worthy alternative to the Canon 100D, Nikon D3200 and Sony A58?

Pentax K-500 review

Features

First impressions aren’t encouraging, however, suggesting Pentax is already playing catch-up with its established rivals.

At the heart of the K-500 is the same 16.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor found in the old K-30. This kind of pixel count sounds a bit paltry by today’s standards, especially compared with Nikon’s 24MP chip in the D3200.

The sensor does, however, come equipped with Pentax’s Shake Reduction system, enabling it to shift enough to allow shutter speeds up to three stops slower while retaining sharp shots. Having such a system in the camera body rather than the lens carries the added bonus that you can attach almost any K-mount compatible lens and still maintain a stabilised image.

When Shake Reduction isn’t enough and there’s no alternative but to crank up the sensor sensitivity, the K-500’s PRIME M processing engine should be up to the job.

Pentax K-500 review

It’s another element borrowed from the K-30, but Pentax has given it a few tweaks in an effort to improve image quality and low-light performance. Consequently the K-500 can boast a maximum sensitivity of ISO 51200; a stop higher than Canon’s 100D and comfortably more than Nikon or Sony’s equivalent offerings.

The boosted processing also helps the K-500 reach a respectable 6fps burst shooting rate at full resolution for superior performance when capturing fast sports. If even this shooting speed won’t cut it, you can always switch to video recording at Full HD resolution at a choice of 30, 25 or 24 frames per second.

To ensure all this processing speed isn’t held up by sluggish autofocusing, Pentax has employed its SAFOX IXi+ autofocus module, again shared with the K30 and K50. It features 11 selectable autofocus points, of which an impressive nine are the more sensitive cross type.

See it all

Although the viewfinder doesn’t display any of these autofocus points, its glass pentaprism’s 100% field of view will show elements on frame fringes that similar cameras often hide, meaning you won’t have to waste time cropping out unwanted extras.

The K-500 includes the usual array of scene modes as well as 19 effects filters, making the transition from an advanced compact or bridge camera a little easier.

You also get a useful HDR function whereby the camera captures three images at varying customisable exposures and automatically tone maps them into a single image with increased highlight and shadow detail.

Pentax K-500 review

Another nice touch is the battery compartment. This will house either the included 410-shot capacity rechargeable Lithium-ion cell, or alternatively you can slot in 4 standard AA batteries with the aid of an optional holder. It’s a great feature if you’re travelling without regular mains access. 

Build quality & handling

 The fit and finish of Pentax’s lower-end DSLRs often exceeds what you’d expect for the money, and the K-500 continues this tradition with plastic casing that feels solid enough to withstand some light abuse.

Grippy rubberised sections on both sides of the camera help the ergonomics, while the chunky hand grip is large enough to grasp comfortably but still retains compact overall dimensions. You don’t, however, get a rubberised rear thumb grip, which makes the camera feel slightly less secure when shooting one-handed.

In control

We’ve got no complaints when it comes to the controls though. The K-500 is the only camera in its class to feature a pair of control wheels; a feature more often associated with mid-range models, giving you the ability to adjust shutter speed and aperture independently.

Pentax K-500 review

There are also dedicated buttons for changing ISO sensitivity and white balance, avoiding any need to hunt around in menus.

Up top is a standard mode dial to select between full auto, program auto, shutter and aperture priority modes, plus full manual control. Pentax also includes a combined aperture and shutter priority mode as well as a sensitivity priority setting.

You even get a specific bulb mode on the main dial for long exposure shots, in addition to a pair of user-customisable presets to store your own custom settings. It all helps make the K-500 a versatile camera that’s able to adapt quickly to different shooting conditions.

Pentax K-500 review

It’s perhaps a little disappointing that more hasn’t been done to update the LCD monitor and menu interface. The screen’s 921k-dot resolution is certainly crisp and provides excellent viewing angles, but the unit isn’t movable – so you’ll still have to get creative with your posture when composing high- or low-level shots.

There’s no touch sensitivity either, but thankfully the menu interface – though a bit dated in its design – is clear and easy to navigate.

Tweaking common settings such as focusing, metering and dynamic range enhancements can be achieved via a quick settings menu accessed by the Info button. Here you can also adjust the K-500’s ability to automatically correct lateral chromatic aberrations and lens distortion.  

Performance

 Strangely for a camera, the first thing that strikes you when shooting with the K-500 is noise. The 18-55mm DAL kit lens has to make do without an internal autofocus motor, instead relying on the screw-drive from the camera body.

It’s actually reasonably rapid to focus, but significantly louder than most lens-based systems, resulting in unsettlingly conspicuous shooting in quiet environments.

Pentax K-500 review

But this isn’t the biggest problem with the K-500’s autofocus system: Pentax’s decision to remove any indication of autofocus points from the viewfinder display makes it relatively tricky to establish exactly where the camera is focusing. If you don’t have time to review your shots, you’ll invariably find some haven’t focused quite where you’d intended.

Of course switching to selectable-point autofocus can help, but trying to cross reference the focus points displayed on the LCD monitor with the composition visible through the viewfinder still requires some guesswork. Focus-critical shots therefore become trickier to achieve than with similar cameras.

It’s not a major issue, but then it’s not the only performance problem. We found the K-500’s exposure metering to consistently underexpose under bright skies by around one stop, with occasionally as much as two stops of positive correction needed to retain good shadow detail.

The exposure compensation button is well sited to make these adjustments, while switching to centre-weighted or spot metering can also improve things. But it’s a pity matrix metering isn’t more reliable.

Fortunately auto white balance has much better accuracy and is rarely fazed by incandescent or mixed lighting environments.

This, combined with the K-500’s faithful colour reproduction, enables the default Bright colour preset to produce a punchy yet natural colour palette, including tricky hues like reds and pinks. However if you’d rather change the camera’s colour balance to suit your own taste, just fire up the quick settings menu.

Despite having a relatively low outright pixel count, detail is very well resolved throughout the sensitivity range. Granted, you won’t get the same cropping potential that higher resolution shots provide, but there’s more than enough scope for high quality A3 prints.

At higher sensitivities Pentax’s image processing tweaks have kept both luminescence and chroma noise in check right up to ISO3200 and you can even make decent normal sized prints from shots taken as high as ISO6400.

Dynamic range isn’t quite as impressive at default settings. Activate the shadow and highlight correction features, though, and high-contrast scenes can be noticeably subdued.

The K-500’s multi-shot HDR feature further boosts dynamic range and does so with great results. A choice of exposure variations and tone mapping intensities enable you to achieve subtle contrast enhancements through to more stylistic effects.

The only drawback is around a 10-second processing time, though that’s still a marked improvement over the speed of the K5-II‘s system.

Image quality and resolution

As part of our image quality testing for the Pentax K-500, we’ve shot our resolution chart.

If you view our crops of the resolution chart’s central section at 100% (or Actual Pixels) you will see that, for example, at ISO 100 the Pentax K-500 is capable of resolving up to around 24 (line widths per picture height x100) in its highest quality JPEG files.

For a full explanation of what our resolution charts mean, and how to read them, check out our full explanation of our camera testing resolution charts.

Examining images of the chart taken at each sensitivity setting reveals the following resolution scores in line widths per picture height x100: