Pentax K-50 vs. Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500

Camera Comparison, Reviews and Tests

In depth comparison and review of Pentax K-50 and Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500. 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. Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500 Comparison Chart
DESIGN AND DIMENSIONS Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Product Type Digital camera - 1080p - SLR with Live View mode, movie recording Digital camera - 4K - mirrorless system
Lens Included Body only Body only
Height 9.65 cm 6.69 cm
Width 12.9 cm 12 cm
Depth 7 cm 5.33 cm
Weight 590 g 453 g
Weight Details - Camera with battery and memory card: 453 g
Body Material Stainless steel, fibre reinforced polycarbonate Magnesium alloy
Enclosure Colour Black | White | Red -
Protection Weatherproof, freezeproof, dust-resistant Dust-resistant, moisture-resistant
Digital Zoom - 4x
SENSOR Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Sensor Resolution 16.3 Megapixel 24.2 Megapixel
Optical Sensor Type CMOS Exmor CMOS
Total Pixels 16,500,000 pixels 25,000,000 pixels
Effective Sensor Resolution 16,300,000 pixels 24,200,000 pixels
Optical Sensor Size APS-C (23.7 x 15.7 mm) APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm)
Frame Rate (Max Resolution) - 30 fps
Sensor Dust Reduction Yes Yes
Sensor Features Dust Reduction (image sensor vibration), Special Protect (SP) coating Dust Reduction (image sensor vibration), Anti-Dust coating
Image Stabiliser Optical (image sensor shift mechanism) Optical (5-axis image sensor shift mechanism)
Built-in Optical Image Stabiliser Yes Yes
Sensors - Digital level metre
PROCESSOR Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Image Processor PRIME M BIONZ X
LENS Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Lens Mounting Type Pentax KAF2 Sony E-mount
FOCUSING Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Auto Focus TTL contrast and phase detection TTL contrast and phase detection
Auto Focus Points (Zones) Qty 11 425
Auto Focus Features Focus Peaking function Focus Peaking function, Predictive Focus Control
AE/AF Control Face-priority AF, Subject-tracking AF -
Face Detection Yes Smile Shutter
VIEWFINDER Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Viewfinder Type Optical - fixed eye-level pentaprism Electronic - OLED
Viewfinder Colour Support - Colour
Viewfinder Diagonal Size - 0.39"
Viewfinder Resolution - 2,359,296 pixels
Optical Viewfinder Field Coverage 100% 100%
Optical Viewfinder Magnification 0.92x 1.07x
Optical Viewfinder Dioptric Correction Range -2.5 to +1.5 -4 to +3
Field of View Crop Factor - 1.5
Interchangeable Focusing Screens Yes -
Features - Viewfinder brightness control, colour temperature control
EXPOSURE & WHITE BALANCE Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
ISO (Max) 51200 51200
Native ISO - 100-6400
Extended ISO (Max) - 25600
Light Sensitivity ISO 100-51200, ISO auto (100-51200) ISO 51200, ISO auto (100-6400), ISO 100-25600
Exposure Metering Multi-segment, centre-weighted, spot Spot, average, highlight spot
Exposure Metering Zones 77 1200
Exposure Modes Programme, bulb, automatic, manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, ISO priority, shutter & aperture priority Programme, bulb, automatic, manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority
Bracketing Modes - Dynamic Range Bracketing, Flash Exposure Bracketing, white balance bracketing
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 Landscape, portrait mode, macro, night portrait, night scene, sports mode, sunset, handheld twilight, anti-motion blur
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 Black & White, Sepia, Neutral, Vivid, sunset, soft focus, illustration, landscape, portrait, Water Colour, miniature, clear, deep, light, autumn leaves, Retro, partial colour, Toy camera, Posterisation, High contrast monochrome, Pop Colour, HDR Painting, Rich-tone monochrome, Soft High-key, Night Scene, Standard, Style Box
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) Incandescent, cloudy, Flash, daylight, shade, fluorescent light (cool white), fluorescent light (daylight), fluorescent light (warm white), Underwater, 2500K - 9900K, fluorescent light (daylight white)
Shutter Type - Mechanical electronically-controlled
Max Shutter Speed 1/6000 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 3 steps in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps 3, 5, 9 steps in 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 1, 2 or 3 EV steps
White Balance Bracketing - Yes
X-sync Speed 1/180 sec 1/160 sec
Exposure Range EV 0-22 (ISO 100) EV -2-20 (ISO 100)
DISPLAY Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Type 3" LCD display 3" LCD display
Touch Screen - Yes
Display Format 921,000 pixels 921,600 pixels
Display Form Factor Built-in Built-in
Display Features Display brightness control, display colour control Display brightness control
FLASH Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Camera Flash Pop-up flash Pop-up flash
Guide Number (m / ISO 100) 12 6
Flash Modes Fill-in mode, rear curtain sync, slow synchro, auto mode, flash OFF mode, red-eye reduction, P-TTL Fill-in mode, rear curtain sync, auto mode, flash OFF mode, red-eye reduction, slow sync
Red-Eye Reduction Yes Yes
Features AF illuminator, flash +/- compensation, wireless off-camera control AF illuminator, flash +/- compensation, wireless off-camera control, high-speed synchronization (HSS)
VIDEOGRAPHY / CAMCORDER Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Digital Video Format 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 3840 x 2160
Audio Signal Format - Dolby Digital AC-3 (2 channel), Linear PCM, AAC
Surround Sound - Dolby Digital AC-3 (2 channel) recording
Microphone Operation Mode Mono Stereo
Microphone Features Sensitivity control -
MEMORY Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Memory Card Slot SD card Memory Stick PRO Duo card, SD card
Supported Memory Cards SD Memory Card, SDXC Memory Card, SDHC 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 Card Included - No
Image Storage RAW 4928 x 3264
JPEG 4928 x 3264
JPEG 4224 x 2816
JPEG 3456 x 2304
JPEG 2688 x 1792
6000 x 4000
4240 x 2832
3008 x 2000
6000 x 3376
4240 x 2400
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 - 640 x 480 - 30 fps
H.264 - 640 x 480 - 25 fps
H.264 - 640 x 480 - 24 fps
XAVC S - 3840 x 2160 p - 30 fps - 100Mbps
XAVC S - 3840 x 2160 p - 24 fps - 100Mbps
XAVC S - 3840 x 2160 p - 30 fps - 60Mbps
XAVC S - 3840 x 2160 p - 24 fps - 60Mbps
XAVC S HD - 1920 x 1080 p - 60 fps - 50Mbps
XAVC S HD - 1920 x 1080 p - 30 fps - 50Mbps
XAVC S HD - 1920 x 1080 p - 24 fps - 50Mbps
XAVC S HD - 1920 x 1080 p - 120 fps - 100Mbps
XAVC S HD - 1920 x 1080 p - 120 fps - 60Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 p - 60 fps - 28Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 i - 60 fps - 24Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 i - 60 fps - 17Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 p - 24 fps - 24Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 p - 24 fps - 17Mbps
H.264 - 1920 x 1080 p - 60 fps - 28Mbps
H.264 - 1920 x 1080 p - 30 fps - 16Mbps
H.264 - 1280 x 720 p - 30 fps - 6Mbps
XAVC S - 3840 x 2160 p - 25 fps - 100Mbps
XAVC S - 3840 x 2160 p - 25 fps - 60Mbps
XAVC S HD - 1920 x 1080 p - 50 fps - 50Mbps
XAVC S HD - 1920 x 1080 p - 25 fps - 50Mbps
XAVC S HD - 1920 x 1080 p - 100 fps - 100Mbps
XAVC S HD - 1920 x 1080 p - 100 fps - 60Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 p - 50 fps - 28Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 i - 50 fps - 24Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 i - 50 fps - 17Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 p - 25 fps - 24Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 p - 25 fps - 17Mbps
H.264 - 1920 x 1080 p - 50 fps - 28Mbps
H.264 - 1920 x 1080 p - 25 fps - 16Mbps
H.264 - 1280 x 720 p - 25 fps - 6Mbps
BATTERY AND CHARGING Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Battery Type Pentax D-Li109 Lithium Ion Sony NP-FW50 Lithium Ion
Details Pentax D-Li109 Li-ion rechargeable battery (included) Sony NP-FW50 Li-ion rechargeable battery - 1080 mAh (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 - 310 shots (EVF on)
Photo shooting - 350 shots (LCD Monitor on)
Video recording - 1.08 hours (EVF on)
Video recording - 1.17 hours (LCD Monitor on)
CONNECTIONS Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Interface Composite video/audio, USB 2.0 HDMI, USB 2.0, IEEE 802.11b/g/n, NFC (Near Field Communication), Bluetooth 4.1
Print Standard DPOF support, PRINT Image Matching DPOF support, Exif Print support, PRINT Image Matching
Flash Terminal Hot shoe Hot shoe
Connector Type USB 2.0
Composite video/audio output
USB 2.0
HDMI output (19 pin micro HDMI Type D)
Microphone (mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm)
Remote control
FEATURES Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Self-Timer Delay 2sec, 12sec 10 sec, 2sec, 5 sec
Continuous Shooting Speed 3 frames per second, 6 frames per second 8 frames per second, 3 frames per second, 6 frames per second, 11 frames per second
HDR Mode - Auto HDR mode
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 Built-in speaker, sharpness control, camera orientation detection, histogram display, saturation control, Sweep Panorama technology, shadow point display, highlight point display, contrast control, Dynamic Range Optimizer, built-in help guide, Dolby Digital Stereo Creator, Chromatic Aberration Compensation (CAC), x.v.Colour technology, Multi-Frame Noise Reduction, Eye-Fi Card Ready, noise reduction over long exposures, high ISO speed noise reduction, PlayMemories Camera Apps support, silent shooting, distortion correction function, Clear Image Zoom 2.0x, peripheral shading correction
OTHERS Pentax K-50 Sony Alpha6500 ILCE-6500
Included Accessories Battery charger, body cap, shoulder strap, USB cable, eyecup, shoe cap Eyepiece cover, body cap, shoulder strap, AC power adaptor, micro-USB cable, hot shoe cap
Software Drivers & Utilities, SILKYPIX Developer Studio 3.0 -
Max Operating Temperature 40 °C 40 °C
Min Operating Temperature -10 °C 0 °C
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