The Pentax K70 has been one of the best-value DSLRs on the market for a long time. How’s it holding up in 2023?

To start with, yes, the Pentax K70 is still a great camera! Despite coming out in 2016, the K70 still holds up very well against other entry-level cameras. Now Pentax has mildly updated it in the form of the KF. If you’re interested in the Pentax KF, most of this applies to it as well.

The Good:

• Excellent image quality from the 24mp sensor
• IBIS with auto horizon correction, pixel shift, and star tracking with an optional GPS attachment
• Small size
• Good ergonomics
• Good lens selection
• Built tough and weather sealed
• Nice prism viewfinder, not a mirror like other intro-DSLRs

The less good:

• The autofocus isn’t great, but with some technique it’s usable
• Pentax isn’t known for video, and the K70 isn’t either
• Not the best rear screen, but the KF does update that
• Mediocre battery life for a DSLR

Pentax K70: Too long, didn’t read

The Pentax K70 is a 24-megapixel APS-C entry-level DSLR. It comes stuffed with IBIS, a pixel-shift resolution mode, astrotracer, weather sealing, and all of the usual things you’d expect in a DSLR. At its current body-only price of under $600, it’s one loaded camera.

When it comes to image quality, it still holds up pretty well. Sure, the new Fuji cameras have more resolution and perform better at high ISO. However, they also cost at least twice as much. Also, the Pentax K70 has excellent dynamic range, and the RAW files are quite flexible. Not much to be upset about here.

The downsides to the camera are its autofocus and video. It does fine in single AF, even if it isn’t blisteringly fast. However, the newer PLM lenses do help with speed. In continuous AF, getting a decent hit rate takes practice. It’s nowhere near as simple and easy to use as some modern mirrorless cameras are. In terms of video, it can shoot 1080 and that’s it. It doesn’t look horrible, but it isn’t great either.

Ergonomically, the Pentax K-70 is a small camera. It’s quite compact, even with its fully articulating screen. However, it’s still pretty comfortable in my larger hands. The buttons are all well-placed and the camera is pretty customizable. In terms of an entry-level camera, it’s hard to beat.

Pentax K70: Does it photo?

The Pentax K-70 certainly photos well! It’s the one digital camera I haven’t been able to let go of over the last several years. I’ve been on several hikes and bike rides with it. It’s taken many photos of backyard birds. I’ve even used it as a second camera at a wedding. That said, I’ve made quite a few photos with the K-70!

Autofocus

Let’s get this section out of the way first. Pentax has a bad rep for autofocus. Aside from their new K3iii, none of Pentax’s cameras have amazing autofocus. However, with some good technique, it’s not as bad as people make it out to be. As you can see, I’ve used the Pentax K-70 to good effect on action photos and small birds.

Also, it’s worth noting lens choice can make a difference in terms of autofocus on the K-70. I took the above bird and squirrel photos with an old film-era screw drive lens. This is probably the worst-case scenario, and it still worked out okay. If I had a newer SDM or PLM lens, it would’ve only been easier and better.

However, Pentax cameras do have that rep for a reason. You can’t just put the Pentax K70 into continuous autofocus and expect it to find the subject and track it for you. It expects you to put in most of the work with getting it where it needs to be.

Video

Video is another of the shortcomings of the Pentax K-70. However, it’s not all bad. With a decent lens, you can get good enough footage for a lot of cases. That said, you only get 1080p up to 30fps. There are no fancy AF modes, no slow-mo, and no log profiles here. The video above is a review I did of the K-70 a few years ago and includes some footage from the camera.

Image Quality

Image quality is something that Pentax delivers in spades. The Pentax K70 is no exception. It’s an excellent camera for landscape photography. With its pixel-shift mode and great dynamic range, making beautiful photos is well within its capabilities. I’ve taken a few of my favorite photos of 2022 with this camera.

The dynamic range of the K-70 can keep up with current APS-C cameras easily. Expose for your highlights and lift the shadows to your heart’s content, because the K-70 can handle it well. It does a pretty good job at high ISO as well. However, with new photo software like DXO Photolab, I really don’t worry about ISO much anymore.

When it comes to color, the Pentax K70 is a great performer as well. The JPEG engine does a good job of giving you nice, neutral, almost film-like color. Likewise, the RAW files don’t take much work. Most of the images in this blog post are RAW files I lightly edited to taste, with minimum tweaks to color.

Pentax K70 – Touch test

When it comes to ergos, Pentax knows how to make a camera. Despite its small size, the K70 is quite a comfortable camera. The grip is just large enough to provide a good purchase. While my pinky tends to hang over a bit, I still find it comfortable. There’s enough space between the grip and the lens as well. This is something a lot of small cameras get wrong.

The controls of the camera are simple. There’s a front and rear dial to handle the camera settings. It has a mode dial up top, a comfortable shutter button with a power switch around it, and some function buttons up top. The rear of the camera has a standard D-pad to handle many other functions.

The rear D-pad is probably my biggest complaint about the Pentax K70. While it’s easy to adjust to with practice, I feel that Pentax taxed it with too many functions. In it’s stock form, it’s buttons are used to access different settings such as ISO. If you set it up to move the AF point, it takes a weird set of operations to get to the ISO. However, with some setup and practice, it’s not a deal-breaking issue.

Build Quality

The build quality of the Pentax K-70 is typical Pentax: awesome. While it’s not quite as robust as the K3 or K1 series, it destroys the entry-level competition. It’s fully weather sealed and can take a beating. I, unfortunately, launched mine out of a camera bag and onto a concrete parking lot and I think the parking lot got the bad end of that deal.

Pentax K70 – Good when it was new, still good now

So now you know that the Pentax K-70 has a lot of pros and a few cons. However, if you’re a videographer or a sports and wildlife photographer, those are some pretty big cons. Its autofocus can be difficult and its video features are lacking.

Outside of those specific genres of work, the K-70 is a pretty versatile camera. It’s still a pretty feature-laden camera today. If you’re considering it or the new Pentax KF, keep in mind that Pentax has some pretty awesome lenses as well. I buy into the whole “Pentax magic fairy dust” thing, especially when it comes to the Limited series lenses.

All in all, I can’t tell you if the Pentax K70 or KF is the right camera for you. I can tell you it’s tough, has great IQ, offers a lot of features for the money, and that Pentax lenses are full of character. If those things mean more to you than video and tracking autofocus, maybe it’s worth looking at!