Hands-on review: Pentax K-500

Pentax has announced two new DSLRs, but in a disappointment for many Pentax rumour followers, neither has a full-frame sensor. Furthermore, the two cameras are remarkably similar and both use the same APS-C format, 16.2 million pixel CMOS sensor as the existing Pentax K-30.

The Pentax K-500 is the entry-level model, but it only differs from the Pentax K-50 in that it's not weather-proofed and the AF point isn't displayed in the viewfinder.

The Pentax K-50 will sit above the Pentax K-30, but below the Pentax K-5 II in the brand's DSLR lineup.

According to Pentax UK's Stephen Sanderson, the Pentax K-500 and Pentax K-50 have the same processing engine as the Pentax K-30, but it has been 'improved' and this enables it to produce better quality images. It also enables the sensitivity to be set at up to ISO 51,200, which is one-stop higher than the Pentax K-30.

In addition to the usual aperture priority, shutter priority and manual exposure modes, the Pentax K-50 and Pentax K-500 offer Pentax's shutter and Aperture priority mode (TAv) in which you set the aperture and shutter speed and the camera sets the sensitivity value.

There's also a collection of scene modes and an auto picture mode, in which the camera detects the type of subject and sets the scene mode accordingly.

Unlike many entry-level and mid-level DSLRs, the Pentax K-500 and Pentax K-50 have glass pentaprism viewfinders that provide 100% field of view. This enables accurate composition so there's no need to crop out unexpected items around the edge of the frame post-capture.

Also like the Pentax K-30, the Pentax K-500 and Pentax K-50 have the SAFOX IXi+ AF module, which has 11 individually selectable AF points, and the cameras can shoot continuously at speeds of up to 6fps in JPEG format.

Both cameras are supplied with a rechargeable lithium ion battery, but they are also compatible with Pentax's AA-sized battery insert, which may be of use to travelling photographers who don't have the opportunity to recharge the battery on a regular basis.

As usual Pentax has given the K-50 and K-500 its sensor-shifting Shake Reduction (SR) system that automatically compensates for camera shake. This system is also used by the cameras' Dust Removal (DR) system to shake dust from the filter over the sensor.

Both the Pentax K-50 and Pentax K-500 have 11 Custom Image options, namely Bright, Natural, Portrait, Landscape, Vibrant, Radiant, Muted, Bleach Bypass, Reversal Film, Monochrome and Cross Process. There are also 19 digital filter effects that can be applied to images at the shooting stage.

In addition, it is possible to shoot high dynamic range (HDR) images in the HDR mode that sets the camera to take three shots at different exposures and then composites them into one image with more detail in the shadows and highlights.

Naturally, it's also possible to record Full HD movie clips at 1920 × 1080 pixel resolutions. The cameras use the H.264 recording format with a choice of 30, 25 or 24 frames per second.

Although they are based on the Pentax K-30, the Pentax K-500 and Pentax K-50 have a slightly more rounded form. We are told that they have an identical shape, but we were only able to handle a pre-production sample of the Pentax K-500. This has a deep, textured finger-grip and pronounced thumb-ridge on the back so that it feels feels very comfortable and safe in your grasp.

As we mentioned earlier, the Pentax K-500 doesn't have the weather sealing of the Pentax K-30 or the Pentax K-50, but it still has the same stainless steel shell and engineered plastic outer shell. It has a solid, durable feel even if it can't be used in such poor weather conditions as the cameras above it in Pentax's lineup.

Naturally then, the Pentax K-500 is sold with the non-weather sealed version of Pentax's 18-55mm kit lens. In contrast the Pentax K-50 is available with the new weather sealed 18-55mm lens, which has a plastic mount (and no lens hood) to make it more affordable.

Despite the changes in design, the Pentax K-500's control arrangement and menu systems will be very familiar to any Pentax K-30 users. Although the menu system is logically arranged and easy to follow, it's a little disappointing that Pentax has used the same rather dated-looking design.

Happily, Pentax doesn't seem to have cut too many corners with the K-500's LCD screen, which is a 3-inch display with 921,000 dots. We were only able to use a pre-production sample of the Pentax K-500 indoors, so we can't comment extensively on its ability to control reflections, but it is capable of displaying plenty of sharp detail and provides a nice clear view when used out of direct sunlight. We will investigate its performance outdoors and in direct sunlight when we get a full production sample in for testing.

We assume that the decision to make the active AF point invisible in the viewfinder of the Pentax K-500 was made to reduce costs, but we think it's a bad choice.

If you leave the camera to choose the AF point automatically then it's not such a major issue, but as you learn and want to take more control over the camera you will find it frustrating that you have to look at the screen on the back of the camera to check which is the active AF point. You also need to guess where that point appears in the viewfinder when focusing on the subject.

It seems rather odd that Pentax is making the more advanced camera, the Pentax K-50, available in a selection of colours - black, white and red in the UK, with 20 other body colour variants available with six different grip colours (giving 120 different combinations in total) available by special order.

The Pentax K-500, however, is only available in black. We suspect that the colour variations are more likely to attract relatively novice photographers who are upgrading from a colourful compact camera or camera phone. However, this is probably explained by the predicted production numbers for each camera and colour combination.

Although we have only seen a pre-production sample of the Pentax K-500, we have seen its sensor in the Pentax K-30 before and we know that it performs well. However, we need to bear in mind that there is a tweaked version of the processing engine, and this may produce slightly different results.

The sample images that we saw suggest that the camera is capable of recording slightly more detail than the Pentax K-30, but we have only seen relatively poor quality prints and will need to verify this when we get a full production sample in for testing.

When we tested the Pentax K-30 we found that it was best to avoid the top two sensitivity settings, ISO 12,800 and 25,600 because of the high levels of chroma noise. Because the manufacturer has given the Pentax K-500 and Pentax K-50 a higher maximum sensitivity setting, ISO 51,200, we can assume that it has tackled the noise issue to some extent, but we hope that this isn't at the expense of detail.

We found that the Pentax K-30's automatic white balance system was impressive, coping well with artificial lighting indoors, as well as a range of natural lighting conditions. Obviously we will test this fully when we get a full production sample of the Pentax K-500 in for testing, but we expect to find it delivers good colours in a range of conditions.

We were also happy with the Pentax K-30's 77-segment multi-pattern metering system, and we are hoping that it will deliver a similar performance in the Pentax K-50 and Pentax K-500, not under-exposing images under bright skies as dramatically as some earlier Pentax digital SLRs were prone to doing.

The Pentax K-500 and Pentax K-50 have the same digital filters as the Pentax K-30, and we have found in the past that they produce great results. However it's frustrating that they can't be employed when shooting raw and JPEG files simultaneously to produce one image that has the effect applied, along with a clean raw file for normal processing.

Pentax has often drawn criticism for its autofocusing system, and AF performance varies enormously depending on whether the lens has an AF motor onboard or not. We were only able to use the pre-production sample Pentax K-500 with a non-SDM lens and in the low contrast light of our meeting room the focusing was slow and loud.

We will test the Pentax K-500 and Pentax K-50 with a range of lenses when we get full production samples in for testing. But because they have the same AF module as the Pentax K-30 we expect to find that their AF systems perform fairly poorly with the standard kit lens and very well with optics that have an AF motor built-in, such as the Pentax 18-135 mm f/3.5-5.6 ED AL IF DC WR lens.

Until now Pentax's DSLR range has looked rather limited, with just the Pentax K-30 and Pentax K-5 II (and Pentax K-5 IIs) being available and aimed at enthusiast photographers. Naturally Pentax is keen to expand its range and offer something a little more appealing to novice photographers.

However, the Pentax K-500 doesn't appear to be sympathetically simplified, and the differences between it and the Pentax K-30 and Pentax K-50 just seem like cost savings.

At £449.99 (around US$705 / AU$740) for the kit with the SMC Pentax-DA L 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL, the Pentax K-500 may not be an especially enticing option when the Pentax K-30 is available body only for £440 / US$500 / AU$600 and for £500 / US$700 / AU$800 with the weather-proofed 18-55mm lens.

The Pentax K-30, which has the same sensor and processing engine as the Pentax K-500 (albeit untweaked) has the benefit of weatherproof sealing and the ability to see the active AF point in the viewfinder.

Meanwhile the Pentax K-50 is set to retail for £529.99 (around US$830 / AU$870) body only and £599.99 (around US$940 / AU$985) with the SMC Pentax-DA L 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 8 AL WR lens - the waterproofed kit lens.

The Pentax K-50 is also only a very minor upgrade on the Pentax K-30, so minor in fact that it would have been more appropriate to have called it the Pentax K-30 II. Minor changes in the body shape aside, you have to wonder whether the Pentax K-50 could have been created from a firmware upgrade to the Pentax K-30.

Given the similarities between the two new cameras and the Pentax K-30, we anticipate very similar, or slightly better, performance from the Pentax K-50 and Pentax K-500 provided that Pentax hasn't broken with its normal protocol of preserving detail and allowing a bit of noise to be seen. We'll have to wait until we get production samples in for testing to see.

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Hands-on review: Pentax Q7

While other manufacturers tend to put higher pixel count sensors in their new cameras, Pentax has made an unusual move and put a larger sensor in the latest addition to its Q series of compact system cameras (CSCs). Whereas the Pentax Q10 has a 12-million-pixel, 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, the new Pentax Q7 has a 12-million-pixel, 1/1.7-inch CMOS sensor.

A 1/2.3-inch sensor typically measures 7.66 × 6.17mm, but a 1/1.7-inch sensor is usually around 9.5 × 7.6mm. Increasing the size of the sensor while keeping the pixel count the same should ensure improved image quality, at least at the centre of the frame, because larger photo sites gather more light, generate less noise and have a greater dynamic range.

However, the Pentax Q7 has exactly the same mount as the Pentax Q10 and accepts the same lenses, so it is possible that the corners and edges of images captured by the Pentax Q7 are softer and have more chromatic aberration and darkening.

According to Pentax UK's Stephen Sanderson, the original Pentax Q design and its compatible lenses were built with this change in mind, so image quality should be improved across the frame. We will only know for sure once we have tested a full production sample.

Another consequence of having a larger sensor is that when lenses are mounted on the Pentax Q7 the angle of view is slightly wider than when they are mounted on the Pentax Q10. The Pentax Q10 has a focal length magnification factor of 5.5x, while the Pentax Q7 magnifies the focal length by 4.6x.

The widest lens currently available for the Q series is the 3.2mm f/5.6 fisheye lens. On the Pentax Q10 this produces images comparable with a 17.5mm lens on a 35mm camera, and on the Pentax Q7 it's 16.5mm.

Meanwhile, the 5-15mm standard zoom lens, which on the Pentax Q10 is equivalent to a 27.5-83mm lens, becomes the equivalent of a 23-69mm optic on the Pentax Q7.

In addition to changing the size of the sensor in the Q7, Pentax has changed the filter over it and, following the current vogue, there is no anti-aliasing filter. This should enable the camera to produce sharper images, with more detail - albeit with the increased risk of moiré patterning.

There's still a dust reduction mechanism that makes the infrared filter vibrate to reduce the need to clone out dust marks from images captured by the Pentax Q7.

Like the Pentax Q10, the Pentax Q7 is designed for use by novices as well as enthusiast photographers, and consequently it has the usual program, shutter priority, aperture priority and manual exposure modes, in addition to an automatic option and 21 scene modes.

The combination of the new sensor and the Q Engine has enabled Pentax to give the Q7 a maximum sensitivity setting of ISO 12,800. The start-up time has also been improved, and it now takes approximately one second to boot up.

Pentax also claims to have improved the focusing accuracy in low light situations, which is something we look forward to testing in more detail once we get a full production sample in for testing.

As before with the Pentax Q10, the Pentax Q7 as a Shake Reduction (SR) system, but this has now been upgraded to enable you to shoot handheld images at up to three stops slower shutter speed than normal.

The Pentax Q7 is capable of recording raw and JPEG files, and there are 11 Custom Image options - namely Bright, Natural, Portrait, Landscape, Vibrant, Radiant, Muted, Bleach Bypass, Reversal Film, Monochrome and Cross Processing - to give JPEG files a particular look.

There's also a number of digital filter effects, including Toy Camera, High Contrast, Shading, Slim, HDR, Invert Colour, Extract Colour, Watercolour, Posterization and Fisheye.

Having a slightly larger sensor than the Pentax Q10 should mean that it is easier to control depth of field with the Pentax Q7, but it still has the Bokeh control first introduced with the original Q. When this mode is selected the camera applies additional blur to out of focus areas to simulate the effect of having a wide aperture and a large sensor.

Other headline features of the Pentax Q7 include a maximum continuous shooting speed of 5fps, Eye-Fi SD card compatibility, a three-image HDR mode, a multiple-exposure mode, remote control receptors on the front and back panels and a digital level that indicates when the horizon is correctly aligned.

The Pentax Q7 is small and neat, and feels nicely made - although as before, there's no sealing against dust or moisture. It is constructed from engineering plastic, but still feels pretty durable, and the narrow finger-grip provides good purchase.

The pop-up flash, however, still seems a little flimsy.

There's no getting away from the fact that those with large hands will find the Pentax Q7 a little on the fiddly side, but the controls are sensibly arranged on the whole, and the dials enable you to make quick adjustments.

A dial on the top of the camera gives you access to the exposure modes, Bokeh control and video mode, enabling you to make rapid changes. Those who want to shoot snippets of video here and there, however, may find it frustrating that recording can't just be started from any exposure mode with a press of a button.

A dial on the front of the camera provides access to one of five functions, including the focus method, Focus Peaking and the ND filter. We look forward to experimenting with the Focus Peaking option to see if this makes manual focusing easier in stills and video mode.

Like the Pentax K-50 introduced at the same time, the Pentax Q7 is available by special order in one of 20 different body colours, with a further choice of different grip colours. So if you want a pink and blue, orange and lime, green and lilac or blue and brown camera, you're in luck.

The standard colours in the UK, however, are black, silver and yellow, with matching kit lenses. The standard prime lens is also available in the same 20 colours as the Pentax Q7 body. The price of the Pentax Q7 and the new Q lens is yet to be confirmed.

As yet we've only seen a pre-production sample of the Pentax Q7, so we can't comment extensively on this new camera's performance. However, we found with the Pentax Q10 that the metering and autofocus systems were much improved upon those of the original Pentax Q.

We also found that the automatic white balance system worked well and managed to retain the atmosphere of many scenes so that images were rendered "too neutral".

We expect these three systems to be at least as good as the Pentax Q10's. When we looked at a pre-production sample of the Pentax Q7 we found the autofocusing system was reasonably fast and efficient but not in the same league as the systems in some other CSCs, such as Panasonic G6 and Sony NEX-6.

That said, we were only able to test the Pentax Q7 in the confines of an office and in relatively low light, so this is something we'll be testing extensively when we get a full production sample in for review.

While the Pentax Q10 produced high quality images for a camera with it sensor size, images taken at the higher sensitivity settings had quite severe softening, with some smudging of detail. Hopefully the increase in the size of the sensor and the removal of the anti-aliasing filter will enable the Pentax Q7 to record better quality images.

We also hope that Pentax has employed a more sympathetic approach to noise reduction, so that high sensitivity images have more detail and less softening to conceal the noise.

Although the Pentax Q7 is nicely made and has the advantage of being smaller than some compact cameras while being able to accept interchangeable lenses, it still has a relatively small sensor.

The Pentax Q10 produced good quality images for a camera with a 1/2.3-inch sensor, and we can reasonably expect the Pentax Q7 to produce good images for a model with a 1/1.7-inch sensor.

However, many photographers quibble about the smaller size of the Micro Four-Thirds sensor in comparison with an APS-C device, so it seems unlikely that many will be willing to accept a camera system built around such a small sensor.

If our testing of a full-production sample reveals that the Pentax Q7's sensor and processing engine enable it to compete with Micro Four-Thirds models such as the Panasonic GF6 and Olympus E-PM2, then perhaps the Pentax Q7 will be hit with photographers looking for a small alternative to a DSLR. But we think this is unlikely.

The real market for the Pentax Q7, however, may not be with those who currently call themselves photographers. According to Pentax UK, the introduction of the colour ways for the Pentax Q10 has seen sales increase hugely in the shops where a wide selection is displayed.

So perhaps the Pentax Q7 will draw a new group of people into photography, those who might have opted for a compact camera, but don't mind paying a bit more for something that looks striking and takes better quality images.

We look forward to testing the Pentax Q7 in the near future.

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Review: Updated: Pentax K-5 II

Two years ago Pentax revamped its top-end APS-C DSLR, the Pentax K-7, with the Pentax K-5, and in doing so produced one of the best cameras in its class.

So given the original Pentax K-5 was such a well-rounded performer, it's perhaps of little surprise that Pentax didn't want to alter the K-5 recipe too much for its replacement.

Externally the Pentax K-5 II is virtually identical to its predecessor, and you'll still struggle to differentiate the two after a tech spec comparison.

Aside from a slightly improved LCD screen and an allegedly revamped sensor, the most notable development is the K-5 II's new SAFOX X autofocus system, which claims to offer a noticeable speed and accuracy boost over the original Pentax K-5.

One other difference that is obvious with the second generation Pentax K-5 is that it comes in two flavours; Pentax K-5 II and Pentax K-5 IIs. The latter is an identical camera, but forgoes an anti-aliasing filter in an attempt to improve image sharpness.

That's great in theory, but it adds a fair bit to the asking price, as well as a much greater risk of moiré interference when shooting densely patterned subjects.

The full price of the Pentax K-5 II is £799.99/AU$1,149/US$1,199.95 for the body only, since you ask. Its rivals from other brands include the Nikon D7000, Canon EOS 60D and Sony Alpha a65.

Whereas the original K-5 contained a considerably improved sensor over the old K-7, the new Pentax K-5 II doesn't move things on to the same degree. Pentax has stuck with a 16.3MP CMOS sensor, and while it does offer marginally improved low-light performance, you'll be hard pressed to notice any real world improvements in image quality.

Sensitivity also remains unchanged, ranging from ISO 100-12,800 and expandable to 80-51,200. You also get the option to pre-select the amount of in-camera noise reduction the K-5 II applies at each sensitivity setting, enabling you to perfectly balance detail retention and noise reduction.

One element that's completely new for the Pentax K-5 II is the SAFOX X autofocus system. Pentax claims this provides much improved speed and accuracy, as well as making the K-5 II the first APS-C camera to focus on lighting conditions as low as -3 EV.

As with the old Pentax K-5, you still get 11 well-spread autofocus points, nine of which are the more accurate cross-type.

Other in-camera image tweaks included automatic chromatic aberration compensation to minimise (but not eliminate) purple fringing in high-contrast areas, and distortion correction to remove wide-angle barrel distortion or telephoto pincushion effects. Although both features produce decent results, they do add a frustrating couple of seconds of processing time per shot.

Pentax's Dynamic range expansion feature is more usable though, and it does a great job of significantly brightening shadow areas while maintaining highlight detail for more balanced exposures.

If this isn't enough, then the camera also has an extensive multi-shot HDR capability, with four preset strengths plus an automatic mode. Results look the part, but are only available when shooting JPEG, and again, processing time is lengthy, this time being a whopping 20 seconds per shot.

Continuous shooting to a maximum speed of 7 fps keeps the Pentax K-5 II on a par with the competition, but it's no faster than the original Pentax K-5. Likewise, the Pentax K-5 II's Full HD movie recording ability is also unchanged, apart from the addition of some extra post-processing effects.

These effects can also be applied to still images, via a dedicated rear button. Options range from subtle contrast and saturation tweaks to enhance portraits or landscapes, through to more blatant effects such as Bleach Bypass, which desaturates the final image.

Each effect is fully customisable, and while such effects are of arguable usefulness in an enthusiasts' camera, they're a quick and easy way to add some basic image customisation.

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