Canon EOS Rebel SL3 vs Pentax K-5

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Canon EOS Rebel SL3 and the Pentax K-5, highlighting the advantages of each over the other, discussing their pros and cons, shared strengths and weaknesses, and providing a rating based on their available features and specifications to assist you in choosing the one that best suits your needs.

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 was introduced in April 2019 and Pentax K-5 was introduced in December 2010. Let us first list highlights of the models.

Now that we've looked at the most essential specifications and gained a basic understanding of these cameras, we can delve into more details and see the differences between them.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Canon EOS Rebel SL3 over Pentax K-5.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Pentax K-5 over Canon EOS Rebel SL3.

We already listed pros and cons of each model. However, you may also find useful to look at their common strengths and weaknesses shown side-by-side.

Screen

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 and Pentax K-5 have 3.0" screens with 1,040k dot and 921k dot resolutions respectively. Canon EOS Rebel SL3 has a Fully Articulated screen which makes it selfie and vlogger friendly and generally very useful for video shooting. Pentax K-5 has a Fixed screen Canon EOS Rebel SL3 also features touchscreen which has advantages such as easy menu navigation, intuitive controls, quick setting adjustment and most importantly a Touch-to-Focus functionality allowing users to select a specific point on the screen where they want the camera to focus. This feature can be helpful for achieving precise focus in both photo and video recording.

Viewfinder

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 has a built-in Optical (pentamirror) viewfinderPentax K-5 has a built-in Optical (pentaprism) viewfinder. Canon EOS Rebel SL3 has 95% coverage with 0.87x (0.54x 35mm equivalent) magnification and Pentax K-5 has 100% coverage with 0.92x (0.61x 35mm equivalent) magnification.

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 features a 24.1 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with dimensions of 22.3 x 14.9 mm and a total area of 332.3 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 25,600 and expands to 100 - 51,200 in boosted mode. Pentax K-5 features a 16.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with dimensions of 23.7 x 15.7 mm and a total area of 246.5 mm². Its native ISO range is 80 - 12,800 and expands to 80 - 25,600 in boosted mode.

Here is a sensor size comparison chart where you can see how different sensors compare with each other:

Sensor size chart

	Sensor	Dimensions	Area	Aspect Ratio	Crop Factor
	Medium Format	44 x 33 mm	1452 mm2	4:3	0.79x
	Full Frame	36 x 24 mm	864 mm2	3:2	1x
	APS-H	27 x 18 mm	486 mm2	3:2	1.3x
	APS-C	23.6 x 15.6 mm	368.2 mm2	3:2	1.5x
	APS-C (Canon)	22.3 x 14.9 mm	332.3 mm2	3:2	1.6x
	Micro Four Thirds	17.4 x 13 mm	226.2 mm2	4:3	2x
	1-inch	13.2 x 8.8 mm	116.2 mm2	3:2	2.7x
	1/1.7-inch	7.44 x 5.58 mm	41.5 mm2	4:3	4.7x
	1/2.3-inch	6.17 x 4.55 mm	28.1 mm2	4:3	5.6x

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 is equipped with DIGIC 8 processor and can take pictures up to 6000 x 4000 resolution. Pentax K-5 is equipped with PRIME II processor and can take pictures up to 4928 x 3264 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like 3936 x 2624, 3072 x 2048, 1728 x 1152 with 3:2 aspect ratios.

Lens Mount

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 has Canon EF/EF-S lens mount and Pentax K-5 has Pentax K_AF2 lens mount. They both have APS-C sensor but because of a small size difference their crop factors (also called lens multiplier) differ from each other. Canon EOS Rebel SL3 has the crop factor of 1.6x which means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length times 1.6. Pentax K-5 has the crop factor of 1.5x which means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length times 1.5.

In-Body Image Stabilization on Pentax K-5

Pentax K-5 has a built-in Sensor Shift in-body image stabilization (IBIS). This means that you are still getting vibration reduction when camera is paired with non-image stabilizied lenses. It also works with lenses with optical image stabilization and in combination can achieve even better compensation.

Built-in Wi-Fi on Canon EOS Rebel SL3

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 has a built-in Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n, 2.4 GHz) which allows to easily transfer photos and videos from the camera to other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as smartphones, tablets, printers, or computers. This eliminates the need for cables and allows for quick and convenient media sharing and social media integration. It gives you the ability to control your camera remotely using a smartphone or tablet. This is particularly useful for taking self-portraits, group shots, or capturing images in challenging conditions without having to touch the camera. Firmware updates can also be downloaded and installed wirelessly.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in WiFi.

Bluetooth on Canon EOS Rebel SL3

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 has a built-in Bluetooth which lets you to connect the camera to a smartphone or a dedicated remote control device. This allows you to remotely trigger the camera, adjust settings and controls remotely through a paired mobile app. While Wi-Fi is generally faster for transferring larger files, Bluetooth can be used for small, selective transfers, it can provide real-time information about your camera's battery status, memory card capacity, and other key settings directly on your paired smartphone or smartwatch.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in Bluetooth.

USB Inputs and HDMI Outputs

Both models have USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec) inputs for data transfer. Canon EOS Rebel SL3 has a Mini HDMI and Pentax K-5 has an HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 comes with LP-E17 battery pack with battery life of 1070 shots and Pentax K-5 comes with D-LI90 battery pack with battery life of 980 shots.

External Storage Slots

Cameras have a single SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I) card slot.

Shutter

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 has Electronic shutter and Mechanical Focal Plane shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/4000 sec on Canon EOS Rebel SL3, and up to 1/8000 sec on Pentax K-5. Canon EOS Rebel SL3 can shoot continuously up to 5.0 fps. Pentax K-5 can shoot continuously up to 7.0 fps.

Focusing

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 has Dual Pixel CMOS AF system with 9 (1 cross-type) focusing points and Pentax K-5 has 11 (9 cross-type) focusing points. Canon EOS Rebel SL3 has detection range from -4 to +18 EV.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Canon EOS Rebel SL3 ranges from +1 to +20 EV and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±5 EV range. You can also do exposure lock, exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Canon EOS Rebel SL3 and exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Pentax K-5.

Flash

Cameras have built-in flash with maximum range of 13.00 m at ISO 100 on Pentax K-5. They also accept external flash which can be connected via Hot Shoe to Canon EOS Rebel SL3 and via Hot Shoe or Wireless connection to Pentax K-5. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/200 sec on Canon EOS Rebel SL3 and 1/180 sec on Pentax K-5.

Canon EOS Rebel SL3 body has dimensions of 122 x 93 x 70 mm (4.8 x 3.66 x 2.76") and Pentax K-5 body has dimensions of 131 x 97 x 73 mm (5.16 x 3.82 x 2.87"). Canon EOS Rebel SL3 weighs 449 g (0.99 lb / 15.84 oz) and Pentax K-5 weighs 740 g (1.63 lb / 26.10 oz).

Canon EOS Rebel SL3

Pentax K-5

122 mm

93 mm

131 mm

97 mm

93 mm

97 mm

70 mm

73 mm