Pentax K-500 review

The K-500 may be the entry point into Pentax’s DSLR range, but nobody could accuse the company of skimping on features. It doesn’t have the weatherproofing of the more expensive models in the Pentax range, but little else is spared when it comes to shooting modes, buttons and dials. But we’re not convinced a bulging spec sheet makes a decent entry-level DSLR.

Take the K-500’s autofocus modes. There’s manual, standard autofocus, continuous or a fully automatic mode that overrides the body switch for flicking between those three modes. There are face- and motion-tracking modes. Then there’s focus peaking, which helps with manual focussing in live view, and also a mode that zooms in on the focus point so you can make sure it’s sharp.

If you have a compatible lens, there’s even a mode that wait for your subject to stroll into the focus point before firing the shutter. It’s an impressively long list of options for a camera in the sub-£500 price bracket, but then the K-500 inexplicably falls down on one of the staples.

Shoot through the optical, pentaprism viewfinder – which boasts coverage of 100% – and there’s absolutely zero indication of which of the 11 autofocus points are being used. You’re left to rely on memory (if you’ve manually selected a focus point) and the naked eye to determine if the desired areas of the frame are in focus, which is a major drawback. How Pentax could omit a feature that’s taken for granted on any other DSLR is a mystery.

The contradictions continue elsewhere. The K-500’s body design and button layout are excellent, with dual dial controls for independently setting shutter speed and aperture. There are dedicated buttons for adjusting exposure compensation, autofocus/exposure lock and selecting between RAW and JPEG, the latter of which is highly unusual on a camera in this price bracket. And despite the plethora of dials and buttons, the layout doesn’t feel cramped, with a deeply recessed handgrip making the K-500 comfortable to hold in one hand.

However, there are no touchscreen controls, and the on-screen menu system is bewilderingly complex, with settings buried in tabbed menus that are not easy to navigate, and options that are far too easy to select and deselect by accident. And, since the camera has no orientation sensor, portrait photos aren’t automatically displayed the correct way up when previewing images on the screen, although you can manually rotate individual images. We fear it would be brutally intimidating for digital SLR newcomers.

Photo quality is admirable for a budget DSLR. There’s no shortage of detail in the 16-megapixel images, although if you’re shooting with a wide aperture through the viewfinder, it’s easy to introduce blur because of the absence of focus-point indicators. Colours are occasionally muted, but well balanced, with skin tones well preserved, and we had no serious problem with exposure levels.

The K-500 offers ISO levels all the way up to 51200, although the fact that the camera comes with a default maximum ISO of 3200 is telling. Photos taken at 51200 were heavily marred with noise, with only very aggressive use of the noise reduction tools in Lightroom delivering something palatable. Only when you get down to 12800 do pictures start to retain detail in low light, but that’s still not a bad level of performance for an entry-level model.

The K-500 can also shoot Full HD video at up to 30 frames per second, but you’d only want to do so if your subject was stationary. Video quality is excellent, but autofocus is disabled the moment you press the shutter button to start recording, as is focus peaking; keeping a moving subject in focus manually is not a task to be taken lightly. There is the option to plug in an external mic, however, and even set the mic input level, which is again unusual on such a low-cost DSLR.

To sum up, the Pentax K-500 is something of a curate’s egg. In its favour, it has more features than anyone could rightfully expect of a DSLR that’s about as cheap as they come, and we have no complaints about stills or video quality. Yet, it scores some unbelievable own goals, such as the lack of autofocus highlighting in the viewfinder and orientation sensor.

If you’re a keen amateur photographer who wants a camera that gives you room to grow, the K-500 should be on your shortlist – provided you can live with its foibles. But there are just too many quirks to this camera for us to lend it our unqualified recommendation.

Pentax K-500 sample pictures:

Shot at f/2.8, 1/2500s, ISO 400. Click this link for the full resolution version

Shot at f/2.8, 1/160s, ISO 1600. Click this link for the full resolution version

Shot at f/6.3, 1/200s, ISO 51200. Click this link for the full resolution version

Details
Image quality	5
Basic specifications
Camera megapixel rating	16.0mp
Camera screen size	3.0in
Camera maximum resolution	4928 x 3264
Weight and dimensions
Dimensions	129 x 70 x 97mm (WDH)
Battery
Charger included?	yes
Other specifications
Built-in flash?	yes
Aperture range	fUnknown - fUnknown
Minimum (fastest) shutter speed	1/6,000
Maximum (slowest) shutter speed	30s
Bulb exposure mode?	yes
RAW recording mode?	yes
Exposure compensation range	+/- 5EV
ISO range	100 - 51200
Selectable white balance settings?	yes
Manual/user preset white balane?	yes
Progam auto mode?	yes
Shutter priority mode?	yes
Aperture priority mode?	yes
Fully auto mode?	yes
Burst frame rate	6.0fps
Memory-card type	SD
Viewfinder coverage	100%
LCD resolution	921k
Video/TV output?	yes
Tripod mounting thread?	yes
Data connector type	USB
Manual, software and accessories
Full printed manual?	yes