Sony DSLR-A290 vs Pentax K-50

Pentax K-50 advantages over Sony DSLR-A290

• Lens selection
  Excellent vs Good
  Better lens selection gives you more options
• Focus peaking
  Peaker vs Non-peaker
  Your camera will highlight what's in focus
• Higher effective ISO

  Higher effective ISO

  Maximum effective ISO is an estimate of the highest sensitivity at which a camera can capture excellent quality photos.

  Cameras with higher effective ISO will be better choices for indoor photography, night shooting, and indoor sports photography, especially if you intend to make large prints.

  You can learn more at our glossary entry.

  Maximum effective ISO test data courtesy of DxO Mark.

  K-50 test data on DxO Mark DSLR-A290 test data on DxO Mark
  1,120 vs 615 iso
  Take photos in low light with less noise
• More dynamic range

  More dynamic range

  Cameras with more dynamic range allow you to take photos with dramatic differences in highlight and shadow areas while retaining detail in both.

  Think of a brilliant sunset on a rocky beach: Bright sunset in the background, with dark rocks in the foreground. High dynamic range means more of the extremes will be faithfully reproduced.

  Dynamic range test data courtesy of DxO Mark.

  K-50 test data on DxO Mark DSLR-A290 test data on DxO Mark
  13.0 vs 11.5 evs
  Retain detail in highlight and shadows
• More cross-type AF points
  9 vs 1
  Cross-type AF points improve autofocus performance
• Pentaprism viewfinder
  Pentaprism vs Pentamirror
  Much better viewfinder picture fidelity
• Shoots 24p video
  Yes vs No
  Gives your movies a big-screen feel
• More dots on screen
  922k vs 230k dots
  Can mean greater resolution or a brighter screen
• Shoots 1080p video
  Yes vs No
  You'll want this if you shoot video
• More viewfinder magnification
  0.61x vs 0.55x
  Get a bigger view of the scene through the eye-level viewfinder
• Shoots 60p video
  Yes vs No
  A faster framerate can give you more editing options
• Faster JPEG shooting
  6.0 fps vs 2.4 fps
  Faster JPEG shooting (burst mode)
• Bigger JPEG buffer
  30 vs 18 shots
  Take more JPEG shots before waiting (burst mode)
• Faster shutter
  1/6000 vs 1/4000 sec
  Shoot wide open in bright light
• Higher extended ISO
  51200 vs 3200 ISO
  Higher extended ISO can give more low-light flexibility