Pentax K-50

kyrcy wrote:

Does the K-50 have focus peaking?

Yes, I have its sibling K30, which has been my working horse for the last two years. It is the same camera in a slightly different design, and it has focus peaking.

How does AF focus work in low light?

AF-S works accurately in K30 even in low light, as long as there is some contrast on the target. AF illumination is efficient up to 8 meters range.

On my K30 I noticed that if all lenses focused accurately, some were more efficient in low light, for instance DA 18-135 focuses fast and doesnt hunt.

I did not test DA 18-55 in low light AF in K30, because I dont use this lens much since I have DA 18-135.

Some samples of low light AF shooting with K30 in the Spain and Nice carnaval albums in my flickr account.

IMO, good IQ at current magnifications up to ISO 3200 in JPEG and 6400 in RAW/DNG. But of course not very sharp at pixel level, it is not full frame.

Never tried higher but, provided the scene shows enough contrast, I thing it should be usable in DNG.

AF-C tracking with K30 did not convinced me but I never really tried, as I didnt really need it for my kind of shooting. I have a brand new  K3 (mark 1), I am testing at AF-C tracking, which seems quite efficient.

Is it easy to manually focus in low light using the kit lenses?

Never tried, but IMO manual focusing with any lens and camera on a tripod using live view is OK. Manual focusing hand held using the OVF is hit and miss. Pentax add-on eyecup magnifier (30 €/$) improves things a little, but you need to train yourself, and I prefer to trust PDAF, which is accurate in AF-S even with legacy FA or F lenses.

Some photographers in this forum report a really good experience with trap-in-focus, an exlusive pentax DSLR's feature in which you continuously press the shutter and it fires when the target on the selected focus point gets in focus. Did not try it, as I very seldom play with non AF lenses, and I am not a wildlife or birding shooter.

How is the quality of the LCD?

On my K30, good, it does the job and the colours and contrast when reviewing look accurate.