K-500 Impressions

Canmannac · 11-10-2013, 06:16 AM

Seems K-50 & K-500 owners are in witness protection program

none seem to be around. I am an owner of the 500 version and so far have been happy with the camera. For me it was a leap ahead, as I stepped up from the masked Pentax, in the Samsung GL 10. There have been no issues as of yet with mechanics or electronics, And despite some good shots (so I think) I am still learning the ins & outs of the camera. Just wondering what any other users impressions are, even if it is the 50. My extra layer of learning is that I that I added several new lenses of varying focus, so that also plays into the learning experience

**tomwil** · 11-11-2013, 01:21 AM

Originally posted by Canmannac

Seems K-50 & K-500 owners are in witness protection program

none seem to be around. I am an owner of the 500 version and so far have been happy with the camera.

There appears to be 6 admitted owners of the K-500 doing a quick search on this forum: You, Adam, brelip, salb, black-kx, and myself.

salb mentions a problem with his K-500, and black-kx appears to be selling his K-500 to get a nearly free DA 50mm F1.8 lens.

I bought the K-500 to replace an obsolete *istDL, which also didn't have the focus points in the viewfinder or weather resistance. I just use the center focus point and recompose.

I was initially interested in the K-50, but even with all the extras included in the Adorama deal, it was still $700 total outlay. The K-500 was only $360 with the Hunt's deal.

Like you, I am also learning the features of this camera. It is more complicated than the earlier Pentax models I am used to.

DennisH · 11-11-2013, 01:39 PM

K-500 owner here!

I've only taken a handful of pics so far - some are great, some are, well...I have a thread in the beginners forum to figure out what I did wrong.

I like the build quality; I expected it to be lighter and flimsy. I'm coming from a Nikon D7000 mainly because I missed my 40mm Limited, and $360 was too good to pass up.

Canmannac · 11-11-2013, 02:06 PM

Originally posted by tomwil

There appears to be 6 admitted owners of the K-500 doing a quick search on this forum: You, Adam, brelip, salb, black-kx, and myself.

salb mentions a problem with his K-500, and black-kx appears to be selling his K-500 to get a nearly free DA 50mm F1.8 lens.

I bought the K-500 to replace an obsolete *istDL, which also didn't have the focus points in the viewfinder or weather resistance. I just use the center focus point and recompose.

I was initially interested in the K-50, but even with all the extras included in the Adorama deal, it was still $700 total outlay. The K-500 was only $360 with the Hunt's deal.

Like you, I am also learning the features of this camera. It is more complicated than the earlier Pentax models I am used to.

Interesting note I ran across is that the 500 does have some weather sealed points, like the jack flaps for example. And what pray tell does happen in the rain this cameras and just how much rain??? I used my Samsung GL 10(the masked ist pentax) in the rain and was fine.

Canmannac · 11-11-2013, 02:09 PM

Originally posted by DennisH

K-500 owner here!

I've only taken a handful of pics so far - some are great, some are, well...I have a thread in the beginners forum to figure out what I did wrong.

I like the build quality; I expected it to be lighter and flimsy. I'm coming from a Nikon D7000 mainly because I missed my 40mm Limited, and $360 was too good to pass up.

Hi Dennis, I guess we'll travel the 500 together and see what it brings us. I have a couple albums up for perusal :-).

cps1959 · 12-05-2013, 07:32 PM

Originally posted by Canmannac

Hi Dennis, I guess we'll travel the 500 together and see what it brings us. I have a couple albums up for perusal :-).

Hi,.
Well add me to your list.
I have just converted from Nikon and bought the K-500 as it packs a lot of punch for your money.
I will be doing mostly landscape and time-lapse and have the Samyang 14mm f2.8 as my main lens as I do some astro photography too and the coma is just brilliant. It's also as sharp as a pin.
I currently have the 18-55 DAL kit lens but want to replace this with a superior zoom. Any suggestions would be welcomed.
Love the build quality but am finding the menu set-up options a little difficult to get used to and there are no youtube tutorial videos unlike the multitude of Nikon ones you can find.
Any help there would be fantastic.
I will just have to wade through the manual best as I can. Lol.
Took my first pics today of a wicked sunrise (the redest I have seen) and used the kit lens as the Samyang manual lens wouldn't work.. I didn't realise you had to alter the setting within the menu ??????
The are going to be some quirks I will need to know coming from Nikon, but am looking forward to my journey with my new Pentax.

BerndM · 12-06-2013, 10:00 AM

You'll be able to add me to this list hopefully by late this afternoon (12/6/13) as my K500 with 18-55 AND 55-200 lenses is "Out For Delivery"
I needed to upgrade from my current Pentax K-m (K2000) for the Live View and the Video capability.
.

Canmannac · 12-07-2013, 03:11 PM

Originally posted by cps1959

Hi,.
Well add me to your list.
I have just converted from Nikon and bought the K-500 as it packs a lot of punch for your money.
I will be doing mostly landscape and time-lapse and have the Samyang 14mm f2.8 as my main lens as I do some astro photography too and the coma is just brilliant. It's also as sharp as a pin.
I currently have the 18-55 DAL kit lens but want to replace this with a superior zoom. Any suggestions would be welcomed.
Love the build quality but am finding the menu set-up options a little difficult to get used to and there are no youtube tutorial videos unlike the multitude of Nikon ones you can find.
Any help there would be fantastic.
I will just have to wade through the manual best as I can. Lol.
Took my first pics today of a wicked sunrise (the redest I have seen) and used the kit lens as the Samyang manual lens wouldn't work.. I didn't realise you had to alter the setting within the menu ??????
The are going to be some quirks I will need to know coming from Nikon, but am looking forward to my journey with my new Pentax.

Well welcome to the road! I hope you get many great moments from your 500. I can recommend joining the monthly challenge here in the forum. It will give the opportunity to get the camera in your hands and use it daily. I had both kit lens and unloaded them. I added the 17-70 and the sigma 18-200, both I think are great replacements!
I have to say so far I satisfied with my 500, we are getting along wonderfully and after a rough first 10 days I have gotten back to the level of pics I thought I could achieve. So fire away, and keep us updated!

Canmannac · 12-07-2013, 03:13 PM

Originally posted by BerndM

You'll be able to add me to this list hopefully by late this afternoon (12/6/13) as my K500 with 18-55 AND 55-200 lenses is "Out For Delivery"
I needed to upgrade from my current Pentax K-m (K2000) for the Live View and the Video capability.
.

Hey Welcome on board! I hope you will share what you learnt and discovered. I stepped up from a Samsung Gl 10 basically a D ist in disguise. So far I am content with my new shooting partner. Hope get lots of great photographic moments! Cheers!

rattydad · 12-22-2013, 05:36 AM

Just bought the unbelievable deal from Hunt for $350ish for the K--500 with kit zoom. I had been researching between the Nikon D5100/D3200, the Sony SLT A58, and the Canon SL1. I saw this deal and couldn't pass it up. The weather here in NJ has been wet the last week, so I haven't shot outside, but have done some inside with my dogs. Wow, what a difference from my pocket Panasonic ZS10 (not a bad camera). I'm certain there will be a learning curve, but the auto will help in the meantime. This is my first DSLR, years ago I used a Nikon F2 film camera. Ah, the good old days.

Trickortreat · 12-27-2013, 10:11 AM

Hi all!
I'm a brand new Pentax K-500 owner (upgraded from my beloved Fuji S6500fd), and the first thing i noticed is that my shoots have oversaturated blue/magenta colors. Is this the normal behavior of its sensor or it needs to get looked at.
I've tried playing with white balance settings, but cant fix those oversaturated colors unless i completely ruin other ones

I have attached some photos below, they are handheld at night so a bit blurry. As u can see, image color is rather warm as it has a strong yellow cast, but blue lights are way over saturated, as u can see from the blue car (the only one whose color is clearly visible) -.-
And even he lights that shouldnt b so blue have a strong saturation... gaaah

Parallax · 12-27-2013, 10:17 AM

That's always going to be a problem at night as you are dealing with multiple light sources. Fluorescent, sodium, various types of incandescent, moonlight, etc. it's only possible to get one right (in camera), and you'll likely have to do that manually.

Trickortreat · 12-27-2013, 10:25 AM

Didnt know that, i had much less problems with those kind of shots with my s6500fd (having a CCD sensor).
I am very new to cmos sensors and dSLR altogether so some things might surprise me

So the magnitude of saturation i those shots is an usual thing?
Stepping out from the city and taking pics of natural low light landscape would be much less of a problem i suppose?

Travis Butler · 12-27-2013, 11:06 AM

Another new K-500 owner from the Hunt's deal - in this case, adding to a K-01 (my first Pentax K-mount) that I've generally been happy with, but which had problems with the back LCD washing out in bright sunlight; MF lenses in particular were just about impossible to use, even with tools like the Delkin sunshade.

Overall, I like the handling, though I was surprised at just how much bigger and heavier it is compared to the K-01; will definitely be keeping it around!

Unfortunately, I'm having one serious problem with it. After the first couple of days taking pictures, I've started seeing a black horizontal line, about 2 pixels wide, stretching across every picture about 1/8 down from the top. (I can post sample pics if that'd help.) Any idea what's wrong, or am I going to need to send it back to Pentax?

Trickortreat · 12-27-2013, 11:20 AM

Another 2 examples, red colors are so much saturated that the flowers lose any detail in them. The other photo is taken with olympus p&s

11-10-2013, 06:16 AM	#1
Canmannac Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Prague Photos: Albums Posts: 272	K-500 Impressions Seems K-50 & K-500 owners are in witness protection program none seem to be around. I am an owner of the 500 version and so far have been happy with the camera. For me it was a leap ahead, as I stepped up from the masked Pentax, in the Samsung GL 10. There have been no issues as of yet with mechanics or electronics, And despite some good shots (so I think) I am still learning the ins & outs of the camera. Just wondering what any other users impressions are, even if it is the 50. My extra layer of learning is that I that I added several new lenses of varying focus, so that also plays into the learning experience

12-22-2013, 05:36 AM	#10
rattydad New Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 2	New owner here Just bought the unbelievable deal from Hunt for $350ish for the K--500 with kit zoom. I had been researching between the Nikon D5100/D3200, the Sony SLT A58, and the Canon SL1. I saw this deal and couldn't pass it up. The weather here in NJ has been wet the last week, so I haven't shot outside, but have done some inside with my dogs. Wow, what a difference from my pocket Panasonic ZS10 (not a bad camera). I'm certain there will be a learning curve, but the auto will help in the meantime. This is my first DSLR, years ago I used a Nikon F2 film camera. Ah, the good old days.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
New Firmware for K-500, K-50, K-5 II, K-5 IIs, K-5, K-30, K-01, K-r, and 645D is out	Adam	Pentax News and Rumors	60	09-16-2013 05:46 AM
Pentax K-500, first day impressions	knaster	Pentax K-30 & K-50	10	07-21-2013 04:08 AM
K-30 first impressions of a K-x user	mee	Pentax K-30 & K-50	10	03-02-2013 05:00 PM
K-30 First Impressions Coming from a K-x	Sagitta	Pentax K-30 & K-50	8	02-15-2013 01:50 AM

11-11-2013, 01:21 AM	#2
tomwil Site Supporter Join Date: May 2009 Location: Maryland USA Posts: 778	Originally posted by Canmannac Seems K-50 & K-500 owners are in witness protection program none seem to be around. I am an owner of the 500 version and so far have been happy with the camera. There appears to be 6 admitted owners of the K-500 doing a quick search on this forum: You, Adam, brelip, salb, black-kx, and myself. salb mentions a problem with his K-500, and black-kx appears to be selling his K-500 to get a nearly free DA 50mm F1.8 lens. I bought the K-500 to replace an obsolete *istDL, which also didn't have the focus points in the viewfinder or weather resistance. I just use the center focus point and recompose. I was initially interested in the K-50, but even with all the extras included in the Adorama deal, it was still $700 total outlay. The K-500 was only $360 with the Hunt's deal. Like you, I am also learning the features of this camera. It is more complicated than the earlier Pentax models I am used to.

11-11-2013, 01:39 PM	#3
DennisH Pentaxian Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Stratford, CT Photos: Gallery Posts: 730	K-500 owner here! I've only taken a handful of pics so far - some are great, some are, well...I have a thread in the beginners forum to figure out what I did wrong. I like the build quality; I expected it to be lighter and flimsy. I'm coming from a Nikon D7000 mainly because I missed my 40mm Limited, and $360 was too good to pass up.

11-11-2013, 02:06 PM	#4
Canmannac Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Prague Photos: Albums Posts: 272 Original Poster	Originally posted by tomwil There appears to be 6 admitted owners of the K-500 doing a quick search on this forum: You, Adam, brelip, salb, black-kx, and myself. salb mentions a problem with his K-500, and black-kx appears to be selling his K-500 to get a nearly free DA 50mm F1.8 lens. I bought the K-500 to replace an obsolete *istDL, which also didn't have the focus points in the viewfinder or weather resistance. I just use the center focus point and recompose. I was initially interested in the K-50, but even with all the extras included in the Adorama deal, it was still $700 total outlay. The K-500 was only $360 with the Hunt's deal. Like you, I am also learning the features of this camera. It is more complicated than the earlier Pentax models I am used to. Interesting note I ran across is that the 500 does have some weather sealed points, like the jack flaps for example. And what pray tell does happen in the rain this cameras and just how much rain??? I used my Samsung GL 10(the masked ist pentax) in the rain and was fine.

11-11-2013, 02:09 PM	#5
Canmannac Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Prague Photos: Albums Posts: 272 Original Poster	Originally posted by DennisH K-500 owner here! I've only taken a handful of pics so far - some are great, some are, well...I have a thread in the beginners forum to figure out what I did wrong. I like the build quality; I expected it to be lighter and flimsy. I'm coming from a Nikon D7000 mainly because I missed my 40mm Limited, and $360 was too good to pass up. Hi Dennis, I guess we'll travel the 500 together and see what it brings us. I have a couple albums up for perusal :-).

12-05-2013, 07:32 PM	#6
cps1959 Inactive Account Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: United Kingdom Photos: Albums Posts: 7	Originally posted by Canmannac Hi Dennis, I guess we'll travel the 500 together and see what it brings us. I have a couple albums up for perusal :-). Hi,. Well add me to your list. I have just converted from Nikon and bought the K-500 as it packs a lot of punch for your money. I will be doing mostly landscape and time-lapse and have the Samyang 14mm f2.8 as my main lens as I do some astro photography too and the coma is just brilliant. It's also as sharp as a pin. I currently have the 18-55 DAL kit lens but want to replace this with a superior zoom. Any suggestions would be welcomed. Love the build quality but am finding the menu set-up options a little difficult to get used to and there are no youtube tutorial videos unlike the multitude of Nikon ones you can find. Any help there would be fantastic. I will just have to wade through the manual best as I can. Lol. Took my first pics today of a wicked sunrise (the redest I have seen) and used the kit lens as the Samyang manual lens wouldn't work.. I didn't realise you had to alter the setting within the menu ?????? The are going to be some quirks I will need to know coming from Nikon, but am looking forward to my journey with my new Pentax.

12-06-2013, 10:00 AM	#7
BerndM Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Placentia, California Posts: 86	You'll be able to add me to this list hopefully by late this afternoon (12/6/13) as my K500 with 18-55 AND 55-200 lenses is "Out For Delivery" I needed to upgrade from my current Pentax K-m (K2000) for the Live View and the Video capability. .

12-07-2013, 03:11 PM	#8
Canmannac Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Prague Photos: Albums Posts: 272 Original Poster	Originally posted by cps1959 Hi,. Well add me to your list. I have just converted from Nikon and bought the K-500 as it packs a lot of punch for your money. I will be doing mostly landscape and time-lapse and have the Samyang 14mm f2.8 as my main lens as I do some astro photography too and the coma is just brilliant. It's also as sharp as a pin. I currently have the 18-55 DAL kit lens but want to replace this with a superior zoom. Any suggestions would be welcomed. Love the build quality but am finding the menu set-up options a little difficult to get used to and there are no youtube tutorial videos unlike the multitude of Nikon ones you can find. Any help there would be fantastic. I will just have to wade through the manual best as I can. Lol. Took my first pics today of a wicked sunrise (the redest I have seen) and used the kit lens as the Samyang manual lens wouldn't work.. I didn't realise you had to alter the setting within the menu ?????? The are going to be some quirks I will need to know coming from Nikon, but am looking forward to my journey with my new Pentax. Well welcome to the road! I hope you get many great moments from your 500. I can recommend joining the monthly challenge here in the forum. It will give the opportunity to get the camera in your hands and use it daily. I had both kit lens and unloaded them. I added the 17-70 and the sigma 18-200, both I think are great replacements! I have to say so far I satisfied with my 500, we are getting along wonderfully and after a rough first 10 days I have gotten back to the level of pics I thought I could achieve. So fire away, and keep us updated!

12-07-2013, 03:13 PM	#9
Canmannac Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Prague Photos: Albums Posts: 272 Original Poster	Originally posted by BerndM You'll be able to add me to this list hopefully by late this afternoon (12/6/13) as my K500 with 18-55 AND 55-200 lenses is "Out For Delivery" I needed to upgrade from my current Pentax K-m (K2000) for the Live View and the Video capability. . Hey Welcome on board! I hope you will share what you learnt and discovered. I stepped up from a Samsung Gl 10 basically a D ist in disguise. So far I am content with my new shooting partner. Hope get lots of great photographic moments! Cheers!

12-27-2013, 10:17 AM	#12
Parallax Senior Moderator Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: South Dakota Photos: Gallery Posts: 19,332	That's always going to be a problem at night as you are dealing with multiple light sources. Fluorescent, sodium, various types of incandescent, moonlight, etc. it's only possible to get one right (in camera), and you'll likely have to do that manually.

12-27-2013, 10:25 AM	#13
Trickortreat Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 561	Didnt know that, i had much less problems with those kind of shots with my s6500fd (having a CCD sensor). I am very new to cmos sensors and dSLR altogether so some things might surprise me So the magnitude of saturation i those shots is an usual thing? Stepping out from the city and taking pics of natural low light landscape would be much less of a problem i suppose?

12-27-2013, 11:06 AM	#14
Travis Butler Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Kansas City Posts: 55	Another new K-500 owner from the Hunt's deal - in this case, adding to a K-01 (my first Pentax K-mount) that I've generally been happy with, but which had problems with the back LCD washing out in bright sunlight; MF lenses in particular were just about impossible to use, even with tools like the Delkin sunshade. Overall, I like the handling, though I was surprised at just how much bigger and heavier it is compared to the K-01; will definitely be keeping it around! Unfortunately, I'm having one serious problem with it. After the first couple of days taking pictures, I've started seeing a black horizontal line, about 2 pixels wide, stretching across every picture about 1/8 down from the top. (I can post sample pics if that'd help.) Any idea what's wrong, or am I going to need to send it back to Pentax?