Pentax vs Canon vs Nikon | Best Brands for Astrophotography

I recently got my hands on a Pentax K-70 DSLR, and even though I’m a beginner photographer and a Canon user, I have to admit that Pentax positively surprised me.

Pricing & Value for Money

Pricing is a big factor when purchasing a digital camera. It is important to know what you are paying for. The cost of a camera largely depends on the features, quality, and options that it offers.

Pentax

The expense of the equipment is more heavily invested in the gear since Pentax sells its products mostly online and through a small number of specialized outlets, with little to no promotion.

One would think that Pentax has plenty of low-budget options to choose from. However, this cannot be further from the truth. The cheapest one has a price tag of about $700, which is not ideal for beginner photographers who want to spend less than $500.

Nevertheless, in the mid-range and high-end spectrum, getting Pentax gear offers greater value for money since they offer superior features at the same price point.

Canon-Nikon

Canon is the most widely used DSLR manufacturer. With the idea that the photographer would later upgrade to a better Canon product, it has continued the habit of luring novice photographers(like me) with affordable, easily accessible, low-end cameras for beginners.

Let’s be honest, if you want an entry-level DSLR, you are possibly going with Canon(or Nikon). I certainly did! Additionally, Dual-Pixel Auto Focus is available for most models.

The price of a decent Canon camera starts at about $250 while a Nikon will cost you about $350.

The best-known characteristics of Nikon cameras are their crisp images, build quality and simple menus. Not necessarily because of their affordable solutions.

Build & Image Quality

As far as build quality goes, Pentax cameras have large and bright optical viewfinders. With weather-sealed lenses being both ever-present and inexpensive, all modern versions are pretty much waterproof.

That’s the big advantage that they have over Canon and Nikon. I am not saying that I can’t do nature photography with my Canon 800D. I certainly can. It will just cost me more to purchase a rain cover or a waterproof casing.

The majority of Pentax cameras have features like dual-wheel controls that are only available on more expensive Canon and Nikon models. That’s when the value for money of Pentax comes in.

A second control wheel makes menu scrolling easier and makes it simpler to browse images while in playback mode. Finally, every Pentax camera comes with in-body sensor-shift image stabilization, which means that you can stabilize any lens.

It’s very often that lenses without a stabilizer are better since the manufacturer only uses the resources on the quality and sharpness of the lens.

I don’t have a bunch of cameras to compare so let’s take a look at some image comparisons from The CameraVille. Make sure you check his channel on YouTube for even more detailed comparisons.

As you can see, the image quality and sharpness are almost identical. When it comes to the colors, however, Canon is much warmer in the first and second images and slightly overexposed while the Pentax is much more saturated.

The Nikon seems to be something in between. The third image looks like it’s shot on the same camera for some reason.

These results are just an indication so it might not be true for every camera. Nevertheless, I have noticed that my Canon photos are also quite bright and they lean towards the warm temperature side so it could be just a thing of Canon.

For landscape photography, you can go with either of these brands and you’ll most likely be satisfied.

Low-Light Photography and Dynamic Range

These images from The CameraVille were shot in low light and then the exposure was pushed to see how much detail remained in the image. It’s the classic dynamic range test you can perform on your camera.

This is probably the nightmare of Canon, especially if you make a direct comparison with Nikon. In general, the latter has a much higher dynamic range in every single camera, whether it’s a DSLR, compact, or mirrorless.

As for Pentax, I was shocked by how well it did in that scenario. The final result is actually superior to both Canon and Nikon.

However, in the last image, a similar experiment is performed in a landscape shot during the day with a shutter speed of 8000/1. Nikon is the clear winner here, while Pentax seems to completely fall apart and start to turn everything into magenta.

On the other hand, Canon retains most of its color balance but still has a ton of noise to clear in post-production.

I am not completely sure why the Pentax performs like that. While it does have less noise than Canon, it seems like the high shutter is too much for the camera to handle. Maybe it’s better to get it up to only 4000/1 to avoid the color shift.

If there is an experienced Pentax user, I would like to get some insights in the comments section.

Pentax for Astrophotography

The Pentax brand is the perfect choice if you want a simple way to take some stunning pictures of the stars and the galaxy in general. This is most likely their strongest feature, especially for people who are interested in astrophotography.

ASTROTRACER is a feature that moves the camera’s image sensor in time with celestial body motion, creating photographs in which stars and planets appear to be stationary.

Don’t expect it to replace a real tracking mount, but on the other hand, the fact that it simply requires a tripod to work is unquestionably a plus.

You can definitely do astrophotography with Canon and Nikon, but I believe(correct me if I’m wrong) it’s going to cost you more to get the same results.