Originally posted by Dewman My question narrows down to the ability to render reds. My K-50 simply will not render reds - the deep, rose-red colors - with anything close to what I'd like. So, aside from having more MP, is the K-3's sensor more capable of color rendition?
This has nothing to do with the sensor but with how the sensor raw data are processed. Depending on JPG settings and especially the color profile (i.e. how raw data are translated to RGB values) you can get dramatically different results with the same Raw data.
When shooting JPG or Raw using the Pentax software you cannot change color profile settings but only fiddle with the JPG settings. In proper Raw development software (Raw Therapee, Lightroom) you can also use different DCP color profiles, even create your own if you have e.g. a Colorchecker24.