Pentax K-3 vs. Canon EOS 1200D

Camera Comparison, Reviews and Tests

Side by side comparison and review of Pentax K-3 and Canon EOS 1200D. Compare design, sensors, zoom functions, batteries and other key specifications and features to simplify the choice of your perfect digital camera. Our goal is to make it easier for you to decide on the camera that will best meet your expectations by revealing the main differences between the products.

Camera Specifications Comparison

Pentax K-3 vs. Canon EOS 1200D Comparison Chart
DESIGN AND DIMENSIONS Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Product Type Digital camera - SLR with movie recording Digital camera - 1080p - SLR with Live View mode, movie recording
Lens Included Body only Body only
Height 10 cm 9.97 cm
Width 13.15 cm 12.96 cm
Depth 7.75 cm 7.79 cm
Weight 715 g 480 g
Body Material Magnesium alloy Carbon fibre/fibreglass-reinforced polycarbonate resin
Enclosure Colour Black Black
Protection Weatherproof, freezeproof, dust-resistant -
SENSOR Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Sensor Resolution 23.35 Megapixel 18.0 Megapixel
Optical Sensor Type CMOS CMOS
Total Pixels 24,710,000 pixels 18,700,000 pixels
Effective Sensor Resolution 23,350,000 pixels 18,000,000 pixels
Optical Sensor Size APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) APS-C (22.3 x 14.9 mm)
Frame Rate (Max Resolution) - 30 fps
Sensor Features Dust Reduction (image sensor vibration), anti-aliasing simulator function -
Image Stabiliser Optical (image sensor shift mechanism) -
Built-in Optical Image Stabiliser Yes -
Sensors Dust alert sensor, digital level metre -
PROCESSOR Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Image Processor PRIME III DIGIC 4
LENS Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Lens Mounting Type Pentax K Canon EF/EF-S
FOCUSING Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Auto Focus TTL phase detection TTL phase detection
Auto Focus Points (Zones) Qty 27 9
Auto Focus Features - Predictive Focus Control
AE/AF Control - Predictive AI Servo AF
Face Detection Yes -
VIEWFINDER Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Viewfinder Type Optical - fixed eye-level pentaprism Optical - eye-level pentamirror
Optical Viewfinder Field Coverage 100% 95%
Optical Viewfinder Magnification 0.95x 0.8x
Optical Viewfinder Dioptric Correction Range -2.5 to +1.5 -2.5 to +0.5
Viewfinder Frames - Autofocus frame
Viewfinder Information - Shutter speed, exposure compensation, AE lock, AF-in-focus, flash charge completion, red-eye reduction, aperture, white balance, high-speed sync indicator, flash compensation on/off, highlight tone priority, ISO sensitivity, memory card status
Field of View Crop Factor - 1.6
Interchangeable Focusing Screens Yes -
EXPOSURE & WHITE BALANCE Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
ISO (Max) 51200 12800
Native ISO 100-51200 -
Light Sensitivity ISO 100-51200, ISO auto (100-51200) ISO 12800, ISO 100-6400, ISO auto (100-6400)
Exposure Metering Multi-segment, centre-weighted, spot Evaluative, partial (10%), centre-weighted
Exposure Metering Zones - 63
Exposure Modes Programme, bulb, automatic, manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, ISO priority, shutter & aperture priority Programme, bulb, automatic, manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority
Shooting Programs - Landscape, portrait mode, close-up, night portrait, sports mode
Special Effects Soft, Slim, Pastel, fisheye, natural, bright, Vibrant, Sketch, monochrome, Muted, landscape, portrait, Water Colour, miniature, Cross Process, Retro, Colour Extract, Toy camera, starburst, High contrast, Colour Invert, Bleach Bypass, Posterisation, Radiant, Reversal Film, Shading, Tone Expansion, Bold Monochrome, Unicolour Bold Neutral, fisheye, soft focus, Faithful, monochrome, landscape, portrait, miniature, Toy camera, Grainy B&W
White Balance Custom, automatic, presets Custom, automatic, presets
White Balance Presets Cloudy, tungsten light, Flash, daylight, shade, fluorescent light (cool white), fluorescent light (daylight), fluorescent light (warm white), Color Temperature Enhancement (CTE), fluorescent light (daylight white) Cloudy, tungsten light, Flash, daylight, shade, fluorescent light (white)
Shutter Type Mechanical electronically-controlled -
Max Shutter Speed 1/8000 sec 1/4000 sec
Min Shutter Speed 30 sec 30 sec
Exposure Compensation ±5 EV range, in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps ±5 EV range, in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps
Auto Exposure Bracketing 2, 3 or 5 steps 3 steps in 1/3, 1/2 or 2 EV steps
White Balance Bracketing - Yes
X-sync Speed 1/180 sec 1/200sec
Exposure Range EV -3-20 (ISO 100) EV 1-20 (ISO 100)
DISPLAY Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Type 3.2" LCD display 3" LCD display
Display Format 1,037,000 pixels 460,000 pixels
Display Form Factor Built-in Built-in
Display Features Colour control Display brightness control
FLASH Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Camera Flash Pop-up flash Pop-up flash
Guide Number (m / ISO 100) 13 9.2
Flash Modes Fill-in mode, rear curtain sync, slow synchro, auto mode, flash OFF mode, red-eye reduction Fill-in mode, rear curtain sync, auto mode, flash OFF mode, red-eye reduction
Red-Eye Reduction Yes Yes
Features AF illuminator, flash +/- compensation, wireless off-camera control AF illuminator, flash +/- compensation
VIDEOGRAPHY / CAMCORDER Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Digital Video Format AVI, MJPEG, H.264 H.264, MOV
Image Recording Format JPEG, DNG (RAW) + JPEG, DNG (RAW) JPEG, RAW, RAW + JPEG
Max Video Resolution 1920 x 1080 1920 x 1080
Microphone Operation Mode Mono Mono
Microphone Features Sensitivity control -
MEMORY Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Memory Card Slot Dual SD card SD card
Supported Memory Cards SD Memory Card, SDXC Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, SDHC UHS-I Memory Card, SDXC UHS-I Memory Card SD Memory Card, SDXC Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card
Memory Card Included - No
Image Storage RAW 6016 x 4000
JPEG 6016 x 4000
JPEG 4608 x 3072
JPEG 3072 x 2048
JPEG 1920 x 1280
RAW 5184 x 3456
JPEG 5184 x 3456
JPEG 5184 x 2912
JPEG 4608 x 3456
JPEG 3456 x 2304
JPEG 3456 x 1944
JPEG 3072 x 2304
JPEG 2592 x 1728
JPEG 2592 x 1456
JPEG 2304 x 1728
JPEG 1920 x 1280
JPEG 1920 x 1080
JPEG 1696 x 1280
JPEG 720 x 480
JPEG 720 x 400
JPEG 640 x 480
JPEG 3456 x 3456
JPEG 2304 x 2304
JPEG 1728 x 1728
JPEG 1280 x 1280
JPEG 480 x 480
Video Capture H.264 - 1920 x 1080 - 30 fps
H.264 - 1920 x 1080 - 25 fps
H.264 - 1920 x 1080 - 24 fps
H.264 - 1280 x 720 - 60 fps
H.264 - 1280 x 720 - 50 fps
H.264 - 1280 x 720 - 30 fps
H.264 - 1280 x 720 - 25 fps
H.264 - 1280 x 720 - 24 fps
H.264 - 1920 x 1080 - 60 fps
H.264 - 1920 x 1080 - 50 fps
MOV - 1920 x 1080 - 30 fps
MOV - 1920 x 1080 - 25 fps
MOV - 1920 x 1080 - 24 fps
MOV - 1280 x 720 - 60 fps
MOV - 1280 x 720 - 50 fps
MOV - 640 x 480 - 30 fps
MOV - 640 x 480 - 25 fps
BATTERY AND CHARGING Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Battery Type Pentax D-Li90 Lithium Ion Canon LP-E10 Lithium Ion
Details Pentax D-Li90 Li-ion rechargeable battery (included) Canon LP-E10 Li-ion rechargeable battery (included)
Battery Life Photo shooting - 560 shots (50% flash usage)
Photo shooting - 720 shots (flash off)
Playback - 6.2 hours
Photo shooting - 500 shots (at 23 °C (AE 50%, FE 50%))
Photo shooting - 410 shots (at 0 °C (AE 50%, FE 50%))
CONNECTIONS Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Interface HDMI, USB 3.0 Composite video/audio, HDMI, USB 2.0
Print Standard Exif Print support Direct print, DPOF support, Exif Print support, PictBridge support
Flash Terminal Hot shoe Hot shoe
Connector Type USB 2.0
HDMI output
Microphone
Headphones
Remote control
USB 2.0
Composite video/audio output
HDMI output
FEATURES Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Self-Timer Delay 2sec, 12sec 10 sec, 2sec
Continuous Shooting Speed 8.3 frames per second 3 frames per second
HDR Mode Auto HDR mode -
Additional Features Audio recording, digital image rotation, camera orientation detection, histogram display, AE lock, AF lock, cropping an image, resizing an image, saturation control, GPS ready, interval shooting mode, mirror lock, in-camera RAW processing, peripheral illumination correction, HDR image enhancement technology, Shade Correction, Eye-Fi Card Ready, NR Slow Shutter, High ISO NR, Dynamic Range Compensation, no anti-aliasing filter, Lens Distortion Correction, primary colour filter, Interval Movie Record, Automatic composition correction function, colour moire correction, Lateral Chromatic Aberration Correction, Flucard Ready Auto power save, depth-of-field preview button, histogram display, AE lock, AF lock, FE lock, highlight tone priority, GPS ready, LCD live view mode, highlight point display, Dust Delete Data system, Video Snapshot mode, built-in help guide, Auto Lighting Optimizer, peripheral illumination correction, Eye-Fi Card Ready, Scene Intelligent Auto technology, noise reduction over long exposures, primary colour filter
OTHERS Pentax K-3 Canon EOS 1200D
Included Accessories Battery charger, body cap, shoulder strap, USB cable, eyecup, shoe cap, battery grip terminal cover, sync terminal cover Battery pack, battery charger, neck strap, USB cable, eyecup, battery cover, power cable, camera cover
Software Drivers & Utilities Drivers & Utilities, Canon PhotoStitch, Canon Digital Photo Professional, Canon Picture Style Editor, Canon ImageBrowser EX
Max Operating Temperature 40 °C 40 °C
Min Operating Temperature -10 °C 0 °C
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