Pentax K-3 vs. Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100

Camera Comparison, Reviews and Tests

Detailed comparison and review of Pentax K-3 and Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100. With our comprehensive overview, you can simply compare design, sensors, proximity characteristics, memory capacities, but also other key features of both cameras and easily decide which one is the right choice for you. Our goal is to help you identify the main differences between products and find the camera that best fits your needs and expectations.

Camera Specifications Comparison

Pentax K-3 vs. Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100 Comparison Chart
DESIGN AND DIMENSIONS Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Product Type Digital camera - SLR with movie recording Digital camera - mirrorless system
Lens Included Body only Body only
Height 10 cm 6.28 cm
Width 13.15 cm 10.96 cm
Depth 7.75 cm 3.57 cm
Weight 715 g 224 g
Body Material Magnesium alloy -
Enclosure Colour Black Black
Protection Weatherproof, freezeproof, dust-resistant -
Digital Zoom - 4x
SENSOR Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Sensor Resolution 23.35 Megapixel 24.3 Megapixel
Optical Sensor Type CMOS Exmor APS HD CMOS
Total Pixels 24,710,000 pixels 24,700,000 pixels
Effective Sensor Resolution 23,350,000 pixels 24,300,000 pixels
Optical Sensor Size APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm)
Sensor Dust Reduction - Yes
Sensor Features Dust Reduction (image sensor vibration), anti-aliasing simulator function Anti-Dust coating
Image Stabiliser Optical (image sensor shift mechanism) -
Built-in Optical Image Stabiliser Yes -
Sensors Dust alert sensor, digital level metre -
PROCESSOR Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Image Processor PRIME III BIONZ X
LENS Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Lens Mounting Type Pentax K Sony E-mount
FOCUSING Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Auto Focus TTL phase detection TTL contrast and phase detection
Auto Focus Points (Zones) Qty 27 179
Auto Focus Features - Predictive Focus Control
AE/AF Control - Eye detection AF, Predictive AI Servo AF
Face Detection Yes Eye Detect AF, Smile Shutter
VIEWFINDER Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Viewfinder Type Optical - fixed eye-level pentaprism -
Optical Viewfinder Field Coverage 100% -
Optical Viewfinder Magnification 0.95x -
Optical Viewfinder Dioptric Correction Range -2.5 to +1.5 -
Field of View Crop Factor - 1.5
Interchangeable Focusing Screens Yes -
EXPOSURE & WHITE BALANCE Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
ISO (Max) 51200 25600
Native ISO 100-51200 100-25600
Light Sensitivity ISO 100-51200, ISO auto (100-51200) ISO 100-25600, ISO auto (100-25600)
Exposure Metering Multi-segment, centre-weighted, spot Multi-segment, centre-weighted, spot
Exposure Metering Zones - 1200
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, macro, night portrait, night scene, sports mode, sunset, handheld twilight, anti-motion blur
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 Illustration, Water Colour, miniature, Retro, partial colour, Toy camera, Posterisation, High contrast monochrome, Pop Colour, HDR Painting, Rich-tone monochrome, Soft High-key
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) Incandescent, cloudy, Flash, daylight, shade, fluorescent light (cool white), fluorescent light (warm white), Underwater, 2500K - 9900K, fluorescent light (daylight white)
Shutter Type Mechanical electronically-controlled Electronic
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 ±3 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps
Auto Exposure Bracketing 2, 3 or 5 steps 3 steps
White Balance Bracketing - Yes
X-sync Speed 1/180 sec 1/160 sec
Exposure Range EV -3-20 (ISO 100) EV -1-20 (ISO 100)
DISPLAY Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Type 3.2" LCD display 3" LCD display
Touch Screen - Yes
Display Format 1,037,000 pixels 921,600 pixels
Display Form Factor Built-in Folding
Display Features Colour control Contrast control, display brightness control
FLASH Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Camera Flash Pop-up flash Pop-up flash
Guide Number (m / ISO 100) 13 4
Flash Modes Fill-in mode, rear curtain sync, slow synchro, auto mode, flash OFF mode, red-eye reduction Fill-in mode, rear curtain sync, slow synchro, 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 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Video Recording Modes - FH, FX, PS
Digital Video Format AVI, MJPEG, H.264 AVCHD, H.264, XAVC S
Image Recording Format JPEG, DNG (RAW) + JPEG, DNG (RAW) JPEG, RAW, RAW + JPEG
Max Video Resolution 1920 x 1080 1920 x 1080
Surround Sound - Dolby Digital AC-3 (2 channel) recording
Microphone Operation Mode Mono Stereo
Microphone Features Sensitivity control -
MEMORY Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Memory Card Slot Dual SD card Memory Stick PRO Duo 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, Memory Stick PRO Duo, SDXC Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo, SDHC UHS-I Memory Card, SDXC UHS-I Memory Card, Memory Stick XC-HG Duo
Image Storage RAW 6016 x 4000
JPEG 6016 x 4000
JPEG 4608 x 3072
JPEG 3072 x 2048
JPEG 1920 x 1280
JPEG 6000 x 4000
JPEG 4240 x 2832
JPEG 3008 x 2000
JPEG 6000 x 3376
JPEG 4240 x 2400
JPEG 3008 x 1688
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
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 - 60 fps - 28Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 - 60 fps - 24Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 - 60 fps - 17Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 - 24 fps - 24Mbps
H.264 - 1920 x 1080 - 24 fps - 17Mbps
H.264 - 1440 x 1080 - 30 fps - 12Mbps
H.264 - 640 x 480 - 30 fps - 3Mbps
BATTERY AND CHARGING Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Battery Type Pentax D-Li90 Lithium Ion Sony NP-FW50 Lithium Ion
Details Pentax D-Li90 Li-ion rechargeable battery (included) Sony NP-FW50 Li-ion rechargeable battery - 1080 mAh (included)
Battery Life Photo shooting - 560 shots (50% flash usage)
Photo shooting - 720 shots (flash off)
Playback - 6.2 hours
Photo shooting - 400 shots
Video recording - 1.84 hours
CONNECTIONS Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Interface HDMI, USB 3.0 HDMI, IEEE 802.11b/g/n, NFC (Near Field Communication)
Connectivity Features - Remote control via mobile devices, remote live view
Print Standard Exif Print support DPOF support, Exif Print support, PRINT Image Matching
Flash Terminal Hot shoe Hot shoe
Connector Type USB 2.0
HDMI output
Microphone
Headphones
Remote control
USB 2.0
HDMI output (19 pin micro HDMI Type D)
FEATURES Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Self-Timer Delay 2sec, 12sec 10 sec, 2sec
Continuous Shooting Speed 8.3 frames per second 3 frames per second, 6 frames per second
HDR Mode Auto 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 Built-in speaker, RGB primary colour filter, sharpness control, digital image rotation, camera orientation detection, histogram display, AE lock, AF lock, saturation control, Sweep Panorama technology, Dynamic Range Optimizer, face detection, USB charging, built-in help guide, 24p Cinema Mode, peripheral illumination correction, Dolby Digital Stereo Creator, Chromatic Aberration Compensation (CAC), Anti-motion Blur Mode, Intelligent AUTO (iAUTO), High ISO NR, Superior Auto mode, Clear Image Zoom, noise reduction over long exposures, Lens Distortion Correction, PlayMemories Camera Apps support, BRAVIA Sync function, PhotoTV HD, Auto Object Framing
OTHERS Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha5100 ILCE-5100
Included Accessories Battery charger, body cap, shoulder strap, USB cable, eyecup, shoe cap, battery grip terminal cover, sync terminal cover Lens hood, dust cap, body cap, lens cap, shoulder strap, AC power adaptor, micro-USB cable
Software Drivers & Utilities -
Max Operating Temperature 40 °C -
Min Operating Temperature -10 °C -
Other projects: