AP First Look at K7

The clue is in the name, Shim: AMATEUR photographer. The 'Blad, in case you don't know, is aimed at professionals.

G

If the graphics and publishing pros all used PCs then Microsoft would have a monopoly.

I think you're confusing what magazines feature in their publications/articles with what they use to actually get the job done.

Product placement and samples are legitimate marketing techniques employed by a lot of companies, but there is such a thing as journalistic integrity and personally I think the case for magazine reviewers struggling home with mountains of free kit each month is overstated.

But sure, in isolated cases it must happen that some reviews are 'coloured' by pressure, either direct or implied, from the manufacturer.

I know a favourite mountain bike magazine of mine lost all it's advertising from a bike manufacturer for a while because it printed a poor review of one of its products.

They got that advertising back though, as the manufacturer concerned couldn't ignore the circulation figures of the magazine, and the potential customers, and wanted back in. That is the powerful influence that magazines have, and because of that most of them manage to maintain their independence with reviews, certainly in the UK.

I've read a few publications that are blatantly just one big 'advertorial', but AP isn't one of them...

This week's AP. Please tell me where the Canon-Nikon bias is!

You can't draw any conclusions from a snapshot - a single magazine - but you can from the general run of them over a period of months.

I think that AP have really taken on board their perceived bias and do try to be impartial to a degree beyond what most magazines do.

"Pentax's first DSLR camera to enter the highly competitive 'pro-sumer' market".

Really?

G

Microsoft . . . monopoly . . . surely not.

We were talking about the pro equipment used in the production of magazines.

shim

I totally agree with what your comment implies George, and it's one of the things that does irritate me. That is, when the headlines don't really reflect what the main text is saying. They are just there to grab attention and they aren't well thought out. I suspect it may be a sub-editor somewhere who does that and they just go for the catchy line.

I'm not even sure I like the "prosumer" tag in this respect - I would put cameras like the X70 more in that bracket. DSLRs are for "professional" use, in the sense of proficient amateurs and professionals. The latter are sometime proficient too!

The same is often true of MTF graphs. The conclusions are often not borne out by the graphs, or maybe sometimes the text doesn't really get borne out by the supporting images.

It's all a bit sloppy really.

Of course it's a 'Prosumer' camera. Professional DSLR users have Nikons or Canons!

Or am I being unfair?

I actually think you are being unfair .. I saw one with a Sony the other day.

Benjikan (Ben Kanerek) springs to mind as a professional still using Pentax, inspite of losing his sponsorship. At least that's the impression I get from his postings on Pentaxforums.

OK, The point I was making (very badly) was that as far as the press is concerned, a professional would not be using a Pentax.

Therefore any Pentax offering, not matter how good will at best be called a Prosumer camera. They simply cannot imagine anything else.

i'm sure if Pentax revive medium format they would change their minds...

I do not care what they call Pentax, I like mine, it's their hard luck if they want any other make.