Pentax K-50 vs. Canon EOS 1D X Mark III

Camera Comparison, Reviews and Tests

In depth comparison and review of Pentax K-50 and Canon EOS 1D X Mark III. Compare design, sensors, proximity features, memory capacities and other important specifications and features to easily choose the right camera for you. Our goal is to help you uncover differences between the products and find the digital camera that will best fit your needs.

Camera Specifications Comparison

Pentax K-50 vs. Canon EOS 1D X Mark III Comparison Chart
DESIGN AND DIMENSIONS Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Product Type Digital camera - 1080p - SLR with Live View mode, movie recording Digital camera - 5.5K - SLR with Live View mode, movie recording
Lens Included Body only Body only
Height 9.65 cm 16.76 cm
Width 12.9 cm 15.8 cm
Depth 7 cm 8.26 cm
Weight 590 g 1.25 kg
Weight Details - Camera body only: 1.25 kg
Camera with battery and memory card: 1.44 kg
Body Material Stainless steel, fibre reinforced polycarbonate Magnesium alloy
Enclosure Colour Black | White | Red -
Protection Weatherproof, freezeproof, dust-resistant Weatherproof, dust-resistant
Navigation - GPS receiver
SENSOR Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Sensor Resolution 16.3 Megapixel 20.1 Megapixel
Optical Sensor Type CMOS CMOS
Total Pixels 16,500,000 pixels 21,400,000 pixels
Effective Sensor Resolution 16,300,000 pixels 20,100,000 pixels
Optical Sensor Size APS-C (23.7 x 15.7 mm) Full Frame (36 x 24 mm)
Frame Rate (Max Resolution) - 60 fps
Sensor Dust Reduction Yes Yes
Sensor Features Dust Reduction (image sensor vibration), Special Protect (SP) coating Self Cleaning Sensor Unit, High Detail Low Pass Filter
Image Stabiliser Optical (image sensor shift mechanism) -
Built-in Optical Image Stabiliser Yes -
PROCESSOR Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Image Processor PRIME M DIGIC X
LENS Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Lens Mounting Type Pentax KAF2 Canon EF
FOCUSING Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Auto Focus TTL contrast and phase detection Dual Pixel CMOS AF
Auto Focus Points (Zones) Qty 11 191
Auto Focus Features Focus Peaking function Deep Learning technology
AE/AF Control Face-priority AF, Subject-tracking AF Face-priority AF, Eye detection AF, Zone AF, AI Servo AF, Head Detection AF, Large Zone AF
Face Detection Yes -
VIEWFINDER Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Viewfinder Type Optical - fixed eye-level pentaprism Optical - fixed eye-level pentaprism
Optical Viewfinder Field Coverage 100% 100%
Optical Viewfinder Magnification 0.92x 0.76x
Optical Viewfinder Dioptric Correction Range -2.5 to +1.5 -3 to +1
Field of View Crop Factor - 1.0
Interchangeable Focusing Screens Yes -
EXPOSURE & WHITE BALANCE Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
ISO (Max) 51200 819200
Native ISO - 100-102400
Extended ISO (Max) - 204800 (H1), 409600 (H2), 819200 (H3)
Extended ISO (Min) - 50
Light Sensitivity ISO 100-51200, ISO auto (100-51200) ISO 50, ISO auto, ISO 100-102400, ISO 819200
Exposure Metering Multi-segment, centre-weighted, spot Evaluative, centre-weighted, spot (1.5%), partial (6.2%)
Exposure Metering Zones 77 216
Exposure Modes Programme, bulb, automatic, manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, ISO priority, shutter & aperture priority Programme, bulb, manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, E-TTL II program flash
Shooting Programs Landscape, portrait mode, macro, museum, surf & snow, PET, Blue Sky, food, night scene, sunset, candle, night snapshot, night scene with portrait, kids, Stage, night scene HDR, moving object, forest, backlight silhouette -
Special Effects Soft, Slim, Pastel, Colour, 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 -
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), fluorescent light (daylight white) Cloudy, tungsten light, Flash, daylight, shade, fluorescent light (white)
Shutter Type - Mechanical electronically-controlled
Max Shutter Speed 1/6000 sec 1/8000 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 3 steps in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps 3 steps in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps
X-sync Speed 1/180 sec 1/250sec
Exposure Range EV 0-22 (ISO 100) EV 0-20 (ISO 100)
DISPLAY Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Type 3" LCD display 3.2" LCD display
Display Format 921,000 pixels 2,100,000 pixels
Display Form Factor Built-in Built-in
Display Features Display brightness control, display colour control Display brightness control
FLASH Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Camera Flash Pop-up flash -
Guide Number (m / ISO 100) 12 -
Flash Modes Fill-in mode, rear curtain sync, slow synchro, auto mode, flash OFF mode, red-eye reduction, P-TTL -
Red-Eye Reduction Yes -
Features AF illuminator, flash +/- compensation, wireless off-camera control -
VIDEOGRAPHY / CAMCORDER Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Digital Video Format H.264 H.264, RAW, H.265
Image Recording Format JPEG, DNG (RAW) + JPEG, DNG (RAW) JPEG, RAW, RAW + JPEG, C-RAW, HEIF
Max Video Resolution 1920 x 1080 5472 x 2886
Microphone Operation Mode Mono Mono
Microphone Features Sensitivity control -
MEMORY Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Memory Card Slot SD card Dual CFexpress
Supported Memory Cards SD Memory Card, SDXC Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card CFexpress
Memory Card - 64 GB CFexpress
Memory Card Included - Yes
Image Storage RAW 4928 x 3264
JPEG 4928 x 3264
JPEG 4224 x 2816
JPEG 3456 x 2304
JPEG 2688 x 1792
5472 x 3648
4368 x 2912
3648 x 2432
2736 x 1824
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 - 640 x 480 - 30 fps
H.264 - 640 x 480 - 25 fps
H.264 - 640 x 480 - 24 fps
RAW - 5472 x 2286
4096 x 2160
3840 x 2160
1920 x 1080
BATTERY AND CHARGING Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Battery Type Pentax D-Li109 Lithium Ion Canon LP-E19 Lithium Ion
Details Pentax D-Li109 Li-ion rechargeable battery (included) Canon LP-E19 Li-ion rechargeable battery (included)
Battery Life Photo shooting - 480 shots (D-LI109 battery)
Photo shooting - 1250 shots (lithium AA batteries)
Playback - 4.5 hours (D-LI109 battery)
Playback - 9.3 hours (lithium AA batteries)
Photo shooting - 2850 shots (at 23 °C (LCD Monitor off))
Photo shooting - 2360 shots (at 0 °C (LCD Monitor off))
Photo shooting - 610 shots (at 23 °C (Live View mode))
Photo shooting - 530 shots (at 0 °C (Live View mode))
CONNECTIONS Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Interface Composite video/audio, USB 2.0 USB 3.1, Wireless LAN, Bluetooth
Print Standard DPOF support, PRINT Image Matching DPOF support, Exif Print support
Flash Terminal Hot shoe Hot shoe, PC terminal
Connector Type USB 2.0
Composite video/audio output
USB 3.1 Gen 2 (USB Type-C)
Microphone (mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm)
FEATURES Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Self-Timer Delay 2sec, 12sec 10 sec, 2sec
Continuous Shooting Speed 3 frames per second, 6 frames per second 8 frames per second, 3 frames per second, 20 frames per second, 10 frames per second, 16 frames per second
Additional Features RGB primary colour filter, digital image rotation, histogram display, cropping an image, resizing an image, Scene Detection Technology, interval shooting mode, Dynamic Range Adjustment, in-camera RAW processing, Chromatic Aberration Compensation (CAC), HDR image enhancement technology, Eye-Fi Card Ready, NR Slow Shutter, High ISO NR, Dual Axis Electronic Level, date stamp, Lens Distortion Correction Audio recording, RGB primary colour filter, auto power save, depth-of-field preview button, histogram display, AE lock, AF lock, FE lock, highlight point display, Dust Delete Data system, in-camera RAW processing
OTHERS Pentax K-50 Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
Included Accessories Battery charger, body cap, shoulder strap, USB cable, eyecup, shoe cap Body cap, neck strap, eyecup, interface cable, cable protector, dual battery charger
Software Drivers & Utilities, SILKYPIX Developer Studio 3.0 -
Max Operating Temperature 40 °C 45 °C
Min Operating Temperature -10 °C 0 °C
Service & Support - Limited warranty - 2 years
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