K-50 Hands-on Feedback

I got a K-50 two weeks ago. Perhaps someone is interested in a general feedback? I upgraded from K100D, and these are the main differences I have noticed (forgetting about the technical details). Please note I am basically a "happy snapper"!

K-50 is considerably quicker at starting up and also at storing pictures. The latter will be down to using stadard SD card with K100D.
The display is better - I can now see the settings in the viewfinder, something which is not always easy with K100D.
The rear LCD is more attractive and I don't really miss the top plate LCD.
The pictures are sharper.
There is a useful spirit level in the viewfinder - helps me keeping things straight!
The camera body feels slightly smaller but with the same weight. K-50 feels slightly more plastic though.
Autofocus is a big improvement with no hunting.
SR function has been automated so I don't need to remember when to switch it on or off.

All-in-all I am very happy with K-50. It continues Pentax' long line of incremental improvements. I should know since I bought the original Spotmatic back in 1969!

Incidentally, I also got the 21DA limited lens. This is a good fit with the K-50 for general photography and can be recommended.

Finally, someone may ask why I got a K-50 when I could have had a K-5 for less? Well, on comparing the cameras it didn't look like to be much in it, and the lower weight of the K-50 was the decider. I prefer the look of the K-50 over K-30, so again was happy to pay the extra.

Many thanks for the feedback, glad you're enjoying your new camera.

Hi Pelle51,

I went from K100D to K-30, and my thoughts on this mimic yours almost exactly!

I don't mind the loss of the top LCD, it's quite funny thinking back about this now. In practise you have to look down to the top LCD anyway, so there's not much in it to tilt the camera forward and look at the same info on the back screen.

Little things like the dynamic exposure feedback make dialling in aperture and shutter speed quite easy. I've never had the green button before (coming from the K100D) but the dials area on the rear display is really cool.

Just today at work I've had a chance to have a good play with a Canon 600D which is indicative of the competition for the K-30 / K-50 and I've been surprised really at just how far bigger marketing and market share carries you.

The image quality (albeit with a cheap lens on the front) was dramatically poor in my opinion. The noise was extremely evident and I ended up with 18MP shots of grainy noise. Similar shots from an iPhone were comparable.

Also the unit feels quite plastic and now I realise how nice that giant Pentax grip really is. Also the live view was shocking compared to the K-30.

Built in level indication, shake reduction and weather sealing is all very cool, as is the ability to take AA's at a push etc. The K-30 did feel more plasticy than the K-100D though, especially around the mode selection dial, which I think more points to just how good the K100D was.

All in all though, I'm totally sold on the K-30 and expect the K-50 to be just as good, if not better being newer. Just wanted to feed back my experience.