The Pentax K-500 ($599.95 direct with 18-55mm lens) is the company's current entry-level D-SLR. It boasts a number of refinements that are unheard of in this class, including a solid glass pentaprism viewfinder that delivers 100-percent frame coverage and continuous shooting that clocked in at 5fps. The 16-megapixel camera is essentially the company's midrange K-50, minus weather-sealing, so it's not surprising that it performs better than its price would have you believe. It doesn't manage to oust our favorite sub-$1,000 D-SLR, the Nikon D5200 as Editors' Choice, but it's a solid option for photographers who want are looking for a low-priced D-SLR that doesn't cut corners on performance or image quality.

Design and Features
The K-50 is fairly compact, measuring just 3.8 by 5.1 by 2.8 inches (HWD) and weighing in at 1.4 pounds. It's not that far off in size from Nikon's entry-level D3200 is a bit lighter at 1 pound, but its size is about the same (3.8 by 5 by 3.1 inches). The K-500's pentaprism viewfinder accounts for its extra mass. A pentaprism is a solid piece of glass that redirects light from the camera's mirror to your eye, correcting its position as it does so. It delivers a larger, brighter image to your eye than the series of mirrors, referred to as a pentamirror, found in other entry-level and midrange D-SLRs. If you want a viewfinder of similar quality in another camera system you'll need to move up to the Nikon D7100 or Canon EOS 70D.

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There is one key difference between the viewfinder in the K-500 and K-50: The K-500 does not show you the active autofocus point in the optical finder, you'll have to move up to the K-50 if you want that feature. The active focal point does show on the rear display, assuming you've set it to manual control. If you set it to automatic control you'll just need to place your trust in the camera.

Also setting the camera apart from others in this class is a dual dial control system with programmable functionality. Advanced shooters will love the ability to assign EV compensation, ISO control, and other common shooting settings to a dial that would normally go unused when shooting in aperture or shutter priority modes. If you're not as knowledgeable about the ins and outs of photography, you can set the K-500 to operate in auto or program mode and fire away as it takes control of settings. There are also a number of Scene modes available. These aren't quite as user-friendly as the Guide Mode found on the D3200, but do give some explanation as to when they are applicable.

There are enough physical controls packed into the K-500's compact body to keep advanced shooters happy, though not as many as the the company's top-end K-3—a more advanced camera that features a PC flash sync connector and a dedicated control to select the active AF point, both of which are absent here. You'll find buttons that adjust the ISO, activate exposure lock, control the flash, set the self-timer and drive mode, and control white balance on the rear, as well as a reprogrammable Raw button and a switch to toggle between autofocus modes on its left side.

The rear LCD is 3 inches in size and has a 921k-dot resolution. It's fixed, unlike the tilting display found on the Sony Alpha 58, which makes it a bit harder to use the camera if you need to shoot from an odd angle. The display is extremely sharp, though, and when you activate live view mode you have the option of using focus peaking as a focusing aid. This feature highlights in-focus areas of your frame to improve accuracy when focusing manually. Peaking works for stills only—the camera's processor isn't quite up to the task of keeping it active during video recording—but is a boon to anyone with a library of older, manual focus Pentax lenses. Like the company's other D-SLRs, you can use any K-mount lens without the need for adapters—that's close to 40 years worth of glass at your disposal. Like other Pentax SLRs, the shake reduction is built into the body, not into the lens, so any glass that you attach will benefit from stabilization. In-body stabilization allows the company to deliver some impressively small prime lenses for the system, including the 40mm and 35mm Macro lenses that were used to capture the sample images in this review.

Unlike most D-SLRs, the K-500 ships in a configuration that supports AA battery power. It uses four cells, and you can actually get more life out of a set as compared to rechargeable Li-Ion battery. The camera is rated to capture 1,250 shots with a set of Lithium AAs, but only 480 with the standard rechargeable battery. If you do want to swap out the AAs for a rechargeable battery you'll need to buy a battery and charger separately—to the tune of about $120. If you prefer a rechargeable battery, the weather-sealed K-50 becomes a more attractive option; its price is $180 more than the K-500 if you get the camera with an 18-55mm lens.