Pentax K-3 vs. Sony Alpha SLT-A58

Camera Comparison, Reviews and Tests

In depth comparison and review of Pentax K-3 and Sony Alpha SLT-A58. 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-3 vs. Sony Alpha SLT-A58 Comparison Chart
DESIGN AND DIMENSIONS Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Product Type Digital camera - SLR with movie recording Digital camera - SLR with Live View mode, movie recording
Lens Included Body only Body only
Height 10 cm 9.55 cm
Width 13.15 cm 12.86 cm
Depth 7.75 cm 7.77 cm
Weight 715 g 492 g
Body Material Magnesium alloy -
Enclosure Colour Black Black
Protection Weatherproof, freezeproof, dust-resistant -
SENSOR Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Sensor Resolution 23.35 Megapixel 20.1 Megapixel
Optical Sensor Type CMOS Exmor APS HD CMOS
Total Pixels 24,710,000 pixels 20,400,000 pixels
Effective Sensor Resolution 23,350,000 pixels 20,100,000 pixels
Optical Sensor Size APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) APS-C (23.2 x 15.4 mm)
Sensor Dust Reduction - Yes
Sensor Features Dust Reduction (image sensor vibration), anti-aliasing simulator function Dust Reduction (image sensor vibration), Anti-Dust coating
Image Stabiliser Optical (image sensor shift mechanism) Optical (SteadyShot INSIDE)
Built-in Optical Image Stabiliser Yes Yes
Sensors Dust alert sensor, digital level metre -
PROCESSOR Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Image Processor PRIME III BIONZ
LENS Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Lens Mounting Type Pentax K -
FOCUSING Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Auto Focus TTL phase detection TTL phase detection
Auto Focus Points (Zones) Qty 27 15
Auto Focus Features - Manual Focus Check Live View
AE/AF Control - Face-priority AF, Subject-tracking AF
Face Detection Yes Face Detection AF/AE/FE/WB, Face Recognition, Smile Shutter
VIEWFINDER Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Viewfinder Type Optical - fixed eye-level pentaprism Electronic - OLED
Viewfinder Colour Support - Colour
Viewfinder Diagonal Size - 0.5"
Viewfinder Resolution - 1,440,000 pixels
Optical Viewfinder Field Coverage 100% 100%
Optical Viewfinder Magnification 0.95x 0.88x
Optical Viewfinder Dioptric Correction Range -2.5 to +1.5 -4 to +4
Field of View Crop Factor - 1.5
Interchangeable Focusing Screens Yes -
Features - Auto eye sensor
EXPOSURE & WHITE BALANCE Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
ISO (Max) 51200 16000
Native ISO 100-51200 -
Light Sensitivity ISO 100-51200, ISO auto (100-51200) ISO auto, ISO 100-16000
Exposure Metering Multi-segment, centre-weighted, spot Multi-segment, centre-weighted, spot
Exposure Metering Zones - 1200
Exposure Modes Programme, bulb, automatic, manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, ISO priority, shutter & aperture priority Programme, bulb, automatic, manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority
Shooting Programs - Landscape, portrait mode, macro, night portrait, sports mode, sunset, handheld twilight, Night View
Special Effects Soft, Slim, Pastel, 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, Bold Monochrome, Unicolour Bold Black & White, Vivid, sunset, soft focus, landscape, portrait, miniature, Retro, partial colour, Toy camera, Posterisation, High contrast monochrome, Pop Colour, HDR Painting, Rich-tone monochrome, Soft High-key
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), Color Temperature Enhancement (CTE), fluorescent light (daylight white) Incandescent, cloudy, Flash, daylight, shade, fluorescent light (cool white), fluorescent light (daylight), fluorescent light (warm white), 2500K - 9900K, fluorescent light (daylight white)
Shutter Type Mechanical electronically-controlled -
Max Shutter Speed 1/8000 sec 1/4000 sec
Min Shutter Speed 30 sec 30 sec
Exposure Compensation ±5 EV range, in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps ±3 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps
Auto Exposure Bracketing 2, 3 or 5 steps 5 steps in 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 2 or 3 EV steps
White Balance Bracketing - Yes
X-sync Speed 1/180 sec 1/160 sec
Exposure Range EV -3-20 (ISO 100) EV -2-17 (ISO 100)
DISPLAY Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Type 3.2" LCD display 2.7" LCD display
Display Format 1,037,000 pixels 460,800 pixels
Display Form Factor Built-in Folding
Display Features Colour control Contrast control, display brightness control
FLASH Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Camera Flash Pop-up flash Pop-up flash
Guide Number (m / ISO 100) 13 10
Flash Modes Fill-in mode, rear curtain sync, slow synchro, auto mode, flash OFF mode, red-eye reduction Fill-in mode, rear curtain sync, slow synchro, auto mode, flash OFF mode, red-eye reduction
Red-Eye Reduction Yes Yes
Features AF illuminator, flash +/- compensation, wireless off-camera control AF illuminator, flash +/- compensation, wireless off-camera control, flash exposure bracketing
VIDEOGRAPHY / CAMCORDER Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Digital Video Format AVI, MJPEG, H.264 AVCHD, H.264
Image Recording Format JPEG, DNG (RAW) + JPEG, DNG (RAW) JPEG, RAW, RAW + JPEG
Max Video Resolution 1920 x 1080 1920 x 1080
Surround Sound - Dolby Digital AC-3 (2 channel) recording
Microphone Operation Mode Mono Stereo
Microphone Features Sensitivity control -
MEMORY Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Memory Card Slot Dual SD card Memory Stick PRO Duo card, SD card
Supported Memory Cards SD Memory Card, SDXC Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, SDHC UHS-I Memory Card, SDXC UHS-I Memory Card SD Memory Card, Memory Stick PRO Duo, SDXC Memory Card, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX, SDHC Memory Card, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo
Image Storage RAW 6016 x 4000
JPEG 6016 x 4000
JPEG 4608 x 3072
JPEG 3072 x 2048
JPEG 1920 x 1280
5456 x 3632
3872 x 2576
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 - 1920 x 1080 - 60 fps
H.264 - 1920 x 1080 - 50 fps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 - 50 fps - 24Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 - 50 fps - 17Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 - 25 fps - 24Mbps
AVCHD - 1920 x 1080 - 25 fps - 17Mbps
H.264 - 1440 x 1080 - 25 fps - 12Mbps
BATTERY AND CHARGING Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Battery Type Pentax D-Li90 Lithium Ion Sony NP-FM500H Lithium Ion
Details Pentax D-Li90 Li-ion rechargeable battery (included) Sony NP-FM500H Li-ion rechargeable battery - 1600 mAh (included)
Battery Life Photo shooting - 560 shots (50% flash usage)
Photo shooting - 720 shots (flash off)
Playback - 6.2 hours
Photo shooting - 690 shots (EVF on)
Photo shooting - 700 shots (LCD Monitor on)
CONNECTIONS Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Interface HDMI, USB 3.0 HDMI, USB 2.0
Print Standard Exif Print support DPOF support, Exif Print support, PRINT Image Matching
Flash Terminal Hot shoe Hot shoe
Connector Type USB 2.0
HDMI output
Microphone
Headphones
Remote control
HDMI output (19 pin micro HDMI Type D)
USB 2.0 (5 pin Micro-USB Type B)
Microphone (mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm)
FEATURES Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Self-Timer Delay 2sec, 12sec 10 sec, 2sec
Continuous Shooting Speed 8.3 frames per second 8 frames per second
HDR Mode Auto HDR mode -
Additional Features Audio recording, digital image rotation, camera orientation detection, histogram display, AE lock, AF lock, cropping an image, resizing an image, saturation control, GPS ready, interval shooting mode, mirror lock, in-camera RAW processing, peripheral illumination correction, HDR image enhancement technology, Shade Correction, Eye-Fi Card Ready, NR Slow Shutter, High ISO NR, Dynamic Range Compensation, no anti-aliasing filter, Lens Distortion Correction, primary colour filter, Interval Movie Record, Automatic composition correction function, colour moire correction, Lateral Chromatic Aberration Correction, Flucard Ready RGB primary colour filter, depth-of-field preview button, sharpness control, digital image rotation, camera orientation detection, histogram display, saturation control, Sweep Panorama technology, shadow point display, highlight point display, Dynamic Range Optimizer, built-in help guide, automatic display brightness adjustment, Multi-Frame Noise Reduction, Intelligent AUTO (iAUTO), AUTO+ (Advanced AUTO) mode, Superior Auto mode, noise reduction over long exposures, high ISO speed noise reduction, BRAVIA Sync function, Auto Object Framing, Translucent Mirror technology
OTHERS Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha SLT-A58
Included Accessories Battery charger, body cap, shoulder strap, USB cable, eyecup, shoe cap, battery grip terminal cover, sync terminal cover Battery charger, body cap, shoulder strap, eyecup, micro-USB cable
Software Drivers & Utilities Sony PlayMemories Home, Sony Image Data Converter 4.0
Max Operating Temperature 40 °C 40 °C
Min Operating Temperature -10 °C 0 °C
Service & Support - Limited warranty - 1 year
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