[starbase218]

AF-C? Shallow DOF? Selectable focus points?

We're talking about a base-level camera with an 18-55 kit lens that will never see an exposed rear mount. The kind of person who buys this camera won't even know what DOF is, nor will he use AF-C and probably won't know how to compose either (much less focus and recompose). Any buyer who wants and would use those features would also be willing to buy a K-50.

Someone earlier complained about CF&R not working for a wide angle lens. Who is going to mount a 12-24 on a K-500?

In the real world the little red dot won't matter to the target buyers of this camera, and shouldn't be reviewed negatively either. Green Mode shooting has a focus area the size of a house - I just tried it - and in my little experiment auto focus point selecting NEVER hit what I wanted..

Mental self-abuse.

If it's only going to be used by noobs, then why on earth did they put 2 control wheels on it? Why did they make it so heavy (with the pentaprism VF) compared to entry-level Canons or Nikons? It just doesn't make sense. These features make the camera more attractive to enthusiast shooters who want to have greater control over the camera and don't mind the weight so much. People who are never going to take the kit lens of are not going to want to lug around 646 grams of camera when they can get a D3200 that is 505 grams. The Canon 1100D is even lighter.

I'm not so good at determining what should or shouldn't be done. I'm just trying to understand the decision Pentax made, and I honestly don't.

[Kunzite]

Maybe the idea was to attract the attention of those price-conscious people, with almost no R&D cost? It doesn't matter what they would chose, the K-500 or the K-50/30, as long as it's Pentax.

[mecrox]

If it's only going to be used by noobs, then why on earth did they put 2 control wheels on it? Why did they make it so heavy (with the pentaprism VF) compared to entry-level Canons or Nikons? It just doesn't make sense. These features make the camera more attractive to enthusiast shooters who want to have greater control over the camera and don't mind the weight so much. People who are never going to take the kit lens of are not going to want to lug around 646 grams of camera when they can get a D3200 that is 505 grams. The Canon 1100D is even lighter.

I'm not so good at determining what should or shouldn't be done. I'm just trying to understand the decision Pentax made, and I honestly don't.

There are many places in the world where $500 is a very great deal of money and the price difference between the K50 and the K500 likewise puts a much larger dent in the wallet. Maybe Pentax has these places in mind? They don't seem to have representation in places like India and Latin America, so maybe a sales push there with a camera like the K500 would pay dividends? It makes sense if you think that for this kind of money you are getting a proper camera (pentaprism, quality sensor) with proper controls (two wheels), not a plastic fantastic. "Entry level" can be a bit of a movable depending on where you live. Remember the Nikon D40, a basic camera if ever there was one but which outsold all other Nikon cameras of the time by a massive margin? Some very talented photographers used that camera. Just speculating.

[Rondec]

If it's only going to be used by noobs, then why on earth did they put 2 control wheels on it? Why did they make it so heavy (with the pentaprism VF) compared to entry-level Canons or Nikons? It just doesn't make sense. These features make the camera more attractive to enthusiast shooters who want to have greater control over the camera and don't mind the weight so much. People who are never going to take the kit lens of are not going to want to lug around 646 grams of camera when they can get a D3200 that is 505 grams. The Canon 1100D is even lighter.

I'm not so good at determining what should or shouldn't be done. I'm just trying to understand the decision Pentax made, and I honestly don't.

How much weight does a pentaprism add versus no pentaprism and how much does the second wheel weigh?

The point is to have a camera that reviews well, even if almost no one buys it in favor of the K50. I do think it was foolish to leave the auto focus indicators off, but honestly, this is an entry level camera and as monochrome says, the folks buying this camera will be entry level folks. End of story.

Anyone who (a) knows about Pentax cameras and (b) has lots of lenses and (c) cares about of focus points is going to either get a K50, a K30 or buy a used camera that is more capable in those respects than the D500. You won't even be able to buy the K500 without a kit lens. What does that tell you?

The reality is that there are some folks for whom price is everything and for whom extra features are wasted and this is their camera.

[Fogel70]

If it's only going to be used by noobs, then why on earth did they put 2 control wheels on it? Why did they make it so heavy (with the pentaprism VF) compared to entry-level Canons or Nikons? It just doesn't make sense. These features make the camera more attractive to enthusiast shooters who want to have greater control over the camera and don't mind the weight so much. People who are never going to take the kit lens of are not going to want to lug around 646 grams of camera when they can get a D3200 that is 505 grams. The Canon 1100D is even lighter.

What adds weight on a Pentax DSLR is probably mostly SR which need a steel frame in the body + weight of the SR mechanism. Pentax smallest and lightest DSLR with SR is K-x, and it weight 580g. Which is about 10% less than K-500.

K-500 is also not much larger than K-x. and about the same size of Nikon D3200.

But if you intend to use the camera with lenses the weight difference will level out as Canikon kit lenses is heavier as they include optical stabilization.

[Fogel70]

How much weight does a pentaprism add versus no pentaprism and how much does the second wheel weigh?
.

By comparing *ist DL with *ist DS, then there is 75g difference between then. And I don't think there are anything else than pentaprism than make DS heavier than DL.

The difference between K-x and K-500 is less than that, so by using pentamirrors in K-500 it could maybe have been lighter than K-x.

[starbase218]

Sigh... it's not the weight I was concerned about regarding the second wheel. I also mentioned greater control over the camera...

Thanks for trying to help me understand, but it hasn't entirely worked. But whatever. I wouldn't buy it anyway.

[mamethot]

I wouldn't buy it either.

I guess that my perception of the entry level models is different since I have already a good deal of experience and know what I want to look at when buying a camera.

If I were a newcomer in the dslr category, maybe the k-500 would make sense, though I agree with an earlier poster that this camera was meant to promote sales of the K-50.

[monochrome]

A strategy such as "two zeros == entry, one zero == prosumer, no zeros == pro" could work. So could another strategy - just pick one, dammit, communicate coherently, and stick with it.

Can I get an Amen?

[Ivan Glisin]

Hm, I do not know that I agree with that analysis. First off, I couldn't care one hoot about if the names are 50/500 or 50/55...it's all about what they do with them

Although I wrote it, neither do I! I was just trying to think like Pentax marketing (playing devil's advocate) aiming at the general population that does not ask for more Beethovens and Mozarts, but for more Justin Biebers and PSYs. I guess that's what Pentax is trying to adjust to, widest possible general population, instead of being focused on us "Pentaxians" - people who generally know what they want and how to use what they get.

Somebody considered that Pentax didn't plan on selling a lot of K-500, but rather use it as a way to drag people in to then sell K-50. That's likely very true.

That would be me

A strategy such as "two zeros == entry, one zero == prosumer, no zeros == pro" could work. So could another strategy - just pick one, dammit, communicate coherently, and stick with it.

Precisely! The way they were doing it so far required an updated Rosetta Stone counterpart following each release! I hope that is now past.

[IchabodCrane]

Can I get an Amen?

I agree. The naming convention is logical and can be easily understood.

[ElJamoquio]

The only problem I have with it is that there's only 9 (10 if you count 0) digits to use, so then you have to use another naming convention anyway (K-5 becomes K-5II, 5D becomes 5D-Mark III, etc). You can't use K-7 again for quite some time, too.

Everyone's used to the 'higher numbers means less features', and the roman numeral stuff, so Pentax is following the herd.

[starbase218]

The only problem I have with it is that there's only 9 (10 if you count 0) digits to use, so then you have to use another naming convention anyway (K-5 becomes K-5II, 5D becomes 5D-Mark III, etc). You can't use K-7 again for quite some time, too.

Everyone's used to the 'higher numbers means less features', and the roman numeral stuff, so Pentax is following the herd.

I've been thinking about that, but why can't they use K-7 II or something like that, to differentiate from the old K-7. And when they get to 10, they could just name its successor K-11. They won't get into trouble until they reach 30 (K10D and K20D are a different naming convention, without the "-" and with the "D").

If they want to make a really future-proof naming system, they would have to let the numbers just represent the generation, not the camera level. But by the time they get to the K-29/290/2900, the world will probably have changed anyway, beyond what we can imagine right now.

edit: or... we got it all wrong and the 5 indicates APS-C format or something, with successors getting the 5.1, 51 and 510 numericals.

[ElJamoquio]

Personally I'd think it'd be a good thing to encode the format into the model number. The only problem is the K-30 was APS-C, otherwise the K-3 and K-30 could've been FF cameras.

[monochrome]

Personally I'd think it'd be a good thing to encode the format into the model number. The only problem is the K-30 was APS-C, otherwise the K-3 and K-30 could've been FF cameras.

If they do FF it will be L-x or LX-x.