Pentax K-3 vs. Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9

Camera Comparison, Reviews and Tests

In depth comparison and review of Pentax K-3 and Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9. 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 Alpha9 ILCE-9 Comparison Chart
DESIGN AND DIMENSIONS Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Product Type Digital camera - SLR with movie recording Digital camera - 4K - mirrorless system
Lens Included Body only Body only
Height 10 cm 9.56 cm
Width 13.15 cm 12.69 cm
Depth 7.75 cm 6.3 cm
Weight 715 g 673 g
Weight Details - Camera with battery and memory card: 673 g
Body Material Magnesium alloy Magnesium alloy
Enclosure Colour Black Black
Protection Weatherproof, freezeproof, dust-resistant Dust-resistant, moisture-resistant
Digital Zoom - 4x
SENSOR Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Sensor Resolution 23.35 Megapixel 24.2 Megapixel
Optical Sensor Type CMOS Exmor RS CMOS
Total Pixels 24,710,000 pixels 28,300,000 pixels
Effective Sensor Resolution 23,350,000 pixels 24,200,000 pixels
Optical Sensor Size APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) Full Frame (35.6 x 23.8 mm)
Frame Rate (Max Resolution) - 30 fps
Sensor Dust Reduction - Yes
Sensor Features Dust Reduction (image sensor vibration), anti-aliasing simulator function Dust Reduction (image sensor vibration), Anti-Dust coating, APS-C compatible mode
Image Stabiliser Optical (image sensor shift mechanism) Optical (5-axis image sensor shift mechanism)
Built-in Optical Image Stabiliser Yes Yes
Sensors Dust alert sensor, digital level metre Digital level metre
PROCESSOR Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Image Processor PRIME III BIONZ X
LENS Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Lens Mounting Type Pentax K Sony E-mount
FOCUSING Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Auto Focus TTL phase detection TTL contrast and phase detection
Auto Focus Points (Zones) Qty 27 693
Auto Focus Features - Focus Peaking function
AE/AF Control - Touch Area AF, Eye detection AF, Predictive AI Servo AF, Zone AF
Face Detection Yes Yes
VIEWFINDER Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Viewfinder Type Optical - fixed eye-level pentaprism Electronic - OLED
Viewfinder Colour Support - Colour
Viewfinder Diagonal Size - 0.5"
Viewfinder Resolution - 3,686,400 pixels
Optical Viewfinder Field Coverage 100% 100%
Optical Viewfinder Magnification 0.95x 0.78x
Optical Viewfinder Dioptric Correction Range -2.5 to +1.5 -4 to +3
Field of View Crop Factor - 1.0
Interchangeable Focusing Screens Yes -
Features - Viewfinder brightness control, colour temperature control
EXPOSURE & WHITE BALANCE Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
ISO (Max) 51200 204800
Native ISO 100-51200 100-51200
Extended ISO (Max) - 204800
Extended ISO (Min) - 50
Light Sensitivity ISO 100-51200, ISO auto (100-51200) ISO 50, ISO auto, ISO 102400, ISO 204800, ISO 100-51200
Exposure Metering Multi-segment, centre-weighted, spot Multi-segment, centre-weighted, spot, average, highlight-weighted
Exposure Metering Zones - 1200
Exposure Modes Programme, bulb, automatic, manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority, ISO priority, shutter & aperture priority Bulb, automatic, manual, aperture-priority, shutter-priority
Bracketing Modes - Dynamic Range Bracketing, white balance bracketing
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, Sepia, Neutral, Vivid, sunset, landscape, portrait, clear, deep, light, autumn leaves, Retro, partial colour, Toy camera, Posterisation, High contrast monochrome, Pop Colour, 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), Color Temperature Enhancement (CTE), 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 Mechanical
Max Shutter Speed 1/8000 sec 1/32000 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 2, 3 or 5 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 1/250sec
Exposure Range EV -3-20 (ISO 100) EV -3-20 (ISO 100)
DISPLAY Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Type 3.2" LCD display 3" LCD display
Touch Screen - Yes
Display Format 1,037,000 pixels 1,440,000 pixels
Display Form Factor Built-in Folding
Display Features Colour control Display brightness control
FLASH Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Camera Flash Pop-up flash -
Guide Number (m / ISO 100) 13 -
Flash Modes Fill-in mode, rear curtain sync, slow synchro, auto mode, flash OFF mode, red-eye reduction -
Red-Eye Reduction Yes -
Features AF illuminator, flash +/- compensation, wireless off-camera control AF illuminator
VIDEOGRAPHY / CAMCORDER Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Digital Video Format AVI, MJPEG, 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
Microphone Operation Mode Mono Stereo
Microphone Features Sensitivity control -
MEMORY Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Memory Card Slot Dual SD card 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, SDHC Memory Card, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo, SDHC UHS-I Memory Card, SDXC UHS-I Memory Card, SDHC UHS-II Memory Card, SDXC UHS-II Memory Card
Memory Card Included - No
Image Storage RAW 6016 x 4000
JPEG 6016 x 4000
JPEG 4608 x 3072
JPEG 3072 x 2048
JPEG 1920 x 1280
6000 x 4000
3936 x 2624
3008 x 2000
1968 x 1312
6000 x 3376
3936 x 2216
3008 x 1688
1968 x 1112
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
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 - 1920 x 1080 p - 120 fps - 100Mbps
XAVC S - 1920 x 1080 p - 120 fps - 60Mbps
XAVC S - 1920 x 1080 p - 60 fps - 50Mbps
XAVC S - 1920 x 1080 p - 30 fps - 50Mbps
XAVC S - 1920 x 1080 p - 24 fps - 50Mbps
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 - 1920 x 1080 p - 100 fps - 100Mbps
XAVC S - 1920 x 1080 p - 100 fps - 60Mbps
XAVC S - 1920 x 1080 p - 50 fps - 50Mbps
XAVC S - 1920 x 1080 p - 25 fps - 50Mbps
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-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Battery Type Pentax D-Li90 Lithium Ion Sony NP-FZ100 Lithium Ion
Details Pentax D-Li90 Li-ion rechargeable battery (included) Sony NP-FZ100 Li-ion rechargeable battery - 2280 mAh (included)
Battery Life Photo shooting - 560 shots (50% flash usage)
Photo shooting - 720 shots (flash off)
Playback - 6.2 hours
Photo shooting - 650 shots (LCD Monitor on)
Photo shooting - 480 shots (LCD Monitor off)
CONNECTIONS Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Interface HDMI, USB 3.0 HDMI, USB 2.0, IEEE 802.11b/g/n, NFC (Near Field Communication), Bluetooth 4.1
Print Standard Exif Print support DPOF support, Exif Print support, PRINT Image Matching
Flash Terminal Hot shoe Hot shoe, PC terminal
Connector Type USB 2.0
HDMI output
Microphone
Headphones
Remote control
USB 2.0
HDMI output (19 pin micro HDMI Type D)
Microphone (mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm)
Headphones (mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm)
Network (RJ-45)
FEATURES Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Self-Timer Delay 2sec, 12sec 10 sec, 2sec, 5 sec
Continuous Shooting Speed 8.3 frames per second 20 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 Built-in speaker, sharpness control, digital image rotation, histogram display, saturation control, takes photos while film recording, contrast control, Dynamic Range Optimizer, built-in help guide, Dolby Digital Stereo Creator, Chromatic Aberration Compensation (CAC), Clear Image Zoom, noise reduction over long exposures, Lens Distortion Correction, high ISO speed noise reduction, silent shooting, BRAVIA Sync function, PhotoTV HD, simultaneous multi-format recording, peripheral shading correction
OTHERS Pentax K-3 Sony Alpha9 ILCE-9
Included Accessories Battery charger, body cap, shoulder strap, USB cable, eyecup, shoe cap, battery grip terminal cover, sync terminal cover Eyepiece cover, body cap, shoulder strap, AC power adaptor, USB cable, shoe cap
Software Drivers & Utilities -
Max Operating Temperature 40 °C 40 °C
Min Operating Temperature -10 °C 0 °C
Other projects: