Pentax K-50

The Pentax K-50 ($699.95 direct, body only) is a solid midrange D-SLR camera, which happens to be available in any of 120 color combinations. Despite the fact that it can be had in a lilac and pink color scheme, it's a serious photographic tool. Cosmetics aside, it's the same body as last year's K-30, offering weather sealing, a 16-megapixel APS-C image sensor, a pentaprism viewfinder, and fast 5.9fps burst shooting. It's not quite as well-rounded a camera as our Editors' Choice Nikon D5200, which is a better SLR for recording video thanks to superior autofocus and a hinged rear LCD. But if video isn't a concern, the Pentax K-50 is good alternative for shutterbugs who enjoy taking photos in inclement weather and for discerning shooters who are underwhelmed by the D5200's pentamirror viewfinder.

Design and Features
The K-50 is fairly compact, measuring just 3.8 by 5.1 by 2.8 inches (HWD) and weighing in at 1.4 pounds. It's a smidge smaller than the Canon EOS Rebel T5i (3.9 by 5.2 by 3.1 inches), but the T5i is lighter at just 1.1 pounds. One of the reasons that the K-50 is heavy is that its viewfinder is a solid glass pentaprism. It covers 100 percent of the frame, so your exact frame in the finder, and it's a bit larger and brighter than the pentamirror finders found in the T5i, D5200, and most other sub-$1,000 cameras. Another factor is the weather sealing; each button and dial is protected by a gasket, so you can shoot in very rough weather. You can't submerge the camera in water, since it's not rated for that, but feel free to go out and shoot photos in a blizzard or hurricane with the K-50 when it's paired with a sealed lens.

Also setting the camera apart from others in this class is a dual dial control system with programmable functionality. Advanced shooters will love the ability to assign EV compensation, ISO control, and other common shooting settings to a dial that would normally go unused when shooting in aperture or shutter priority modes. If you're not as knowledgeable about the ins and outs of photography, you can set the K-50 to operate in auto or program mode and fire away as it takes control of settings. There are also a number of Scene modes available. These aren't quite as user-friendly as the Guide Mode found on the Nikon D3200, but do give some explanation as to when they are applicable.

There are enough physical controls packed into the K-50's compact body to keep advanced shooters happy, though not as many as the Pentax K-5 II?a more advanced camera that features a PC flash sync connector and a dedicated control to select the active AF point, both of which are absent from the K-50. You'll find buttons that adjust the ISO, activate exposure lock, control the flash, set the self-timer and drive mode, and control white balance on the rear, as well as a reprogrammable Raw button and a switch to toggle between autofocus modes on its left side.

The rear LCD is 3 inches in size and has a 921k-dot resolution. It's fixed, unlike the tilting display found on the Sony Alpha 65, which makes it a bit harder to use the camera if you need to shoot from an odd angle. The display is extremely sharp, though, and when you activate live view mode you have the option of using focus peaking as a focusing aid. This feature highlights in-focus areas of your frame to improve accuracy when focusing manually. Peaking works for stills only?the camera's processor isn't quite up to the task of keeping it active during video recording?but is a boon to anyone with a library of older, manual focus Pentax lenses. Like the company's other D-SLRs, you can use any K-mount lens without the need for adapters?that's close to 40 years worth of glass at your disposal. Like other Pentax SLRs, the shake reduction is built into the body, not into the lens, so any glass that you attach will benefit from stabilization.

The K-50 can be had as a body only, but only in a few of the 120 color combinations. In order to customize it completely you'll need to order it with the DA-L 18-55mm WR kit lens, which increases the price to $779.95. The WR designation means that the lens is sealed against weather as well, and this particular version of the lens (which features a plastic mount rather than a metal one) is only available when purchased along with a body. There's also a two-lens kit, which adds the telephoto zoom DA-L 50-200mm WR lens; that sells for $879.95. If shooting in bad weather isn't a concern, but you still like the K-50, you can save some money by opting for the K-500. It's the same camera, minus the sealing and minus a rechargeable battery; it is powered by standard AA cells. It's compatible with the same rechargeable battery that ships with the K-50; you'll just have to spend a bit and buy it and a charger separately if AA batteries aren't for you. The K-500 can be had for $599.95 with an 18-55mm lens, or for $699.95 with an 18-55mm and 50-200mm two-lens kit.

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