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Camera of the year!

jules
Posted 14/01/2016 - 05:53 Link
http://www.photographyblog.com/news/dslr_camera_of_the_year_2015/


Ok Ok Don't get to excited, it's only Photography Blog but an award is an award none the less! Kudos Pentax.
Cheers Jules...

My viewfinder is 576,000,000 pixels.
My other viewfinder is 5.76,000,000.

www.exaggeratedperspectives.com
BruceStrachan
Posted 14/01/2016 - 06:46 Link
Yes Jules agree totally, they had some stiff competition last year as well from both the big boys.
Well done Pentax....(2016 already in the bag with the K-1)
Cheers,

Bruce
bjolester
Posted 14/01/2016 - 09:18 Link
Thanks for the link!

BTW: Have you read the malicious comments on Pentax below the article? One could almost suspect that someone is being paid by competitors to bring Pentax down ( although such a notion would probably be classified as a bit paranoid:shock.
Bjørn

PPG
Flickr
jules
Posted 14/01/2016 - 09:41 Link
bjolester wrote:
Thanks for the link!

BTW: Have you read the malicious comments on Pentax below the article? One could almost suspect that someone is being paid by competitors to bring Pentax down ( although such a notion would probably be classified as a bit paranoid:shock.

I've seen this more and more recently.
Lots of "Pentax, why bother posts", it doesn't matter if Pentax/Ricoh isn't No1 in camera sales as long as they make enough for the parent company to want to keep doing it, which they do.
Cheers Jules...

My viewfinder is 576,000,000 pixels.
My other viewfinder is 5.76,000,000.

www.exaggeratedperspectives.com
McGregNi
Posted 14/01/2016 - 09:43 Link
Wow, yes, rather vehement! It's a pity to hear someone feel they have been misled by Pentax forum members (he did single out DPR and PF in particular).

My own response is that I haven't received the same general impression from the Pentax forums regarding the SDM issues ... He seems to say that everyone tries to deny it and cover it up. On the contrary, I have read commentary over the last few years from SDM lens owners and enquiries about the lenses, on 3 forums including this .... And I resolved NEVER to buy one of the SDM lenses, EVER .... That's the conclusion I came to based on my forum reading on the matter!

There newer DC types are a different matter I think .... There seems to be enough evidence that these have no particular reliability problems.
My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver
Edited by McGregNi: 14/01/2016 - 09:44
Jonathan-Mac
Posted 14/01/2016 - 09:50 Link
The comments are rather strong, as are the ridiculous accusations. Still, Pentax do need to get rid of SDM if for nothing else than the dubious reputation it's developed.

I don't remember hearing anything about mirror problems on Pentax cameras.
Pentax hybrid user - Digital K3, film 645 and 35mm SLR and Pentax (&other) lenses adapted to Fuji X and Panasonic L digital
Fan of DA limited and old manual lenses
BruceStrachan
Posted 14/01/2016 - 16:51 Link
Maybe some more of us should head over to that page and lay out a defence for Pentax....
Cheers,

Bruce
johnriley
Posted 14/01/2016 - 17:02 Link
Doing that only validates the original statement though, which perhaps was made with winding people up in mind. Fortunately, it will have no impact on the wider world and just become part of the general internet noise.....
Best regards, John
robbiec
Posted 14/01/2016 - 19:02 Link
I got bored and replied to the two guys. IRC there was a bit of an issue with some K-5s having mirror flap syndrome at one stage (I bought a second hand example on here that had it) and I think the K-X had it as well. I did not hear of it with the K-5II's so will assume it was either a bad batch or Pentax tweaked the design during manufacturing.

PhotographyBlog .. don't know how to react to this, if you read the K-3II review it is a cut and paste of the original K-3 review and does not show examples of pixel shift. They also forgot about the GPS and Astro while keeping the onboard flash. So.... ok its an award of sorts, but a dubious one.
My Gallery
[url=http://pentaxphotogallery.com/Robbie Corrigan]ppg[/url]
bjolester
Posted 16/01/2016 - 10:55 Link
Unfortunately I went over to photographyblog to check this article once more, and yes: The Pentax bashing is still going strong.

Insted of wasting my time trying to reason with these spammers, I wrote an email to Mark Goldstein, the editor of photographyblog.

************************************************************************

Dear Sir

I thank you for the interesting Pentax K3ii review. It is also great that you have awarded this camera the DSLR of the year award. However, prominent anongst the comments there are some extreme anti-Pentax sentiments without roots in any facts or empirical data. These sentiments destroy the whole article for me, and probably for other potential readers as well.

I have mentioned these comments on a thread on the British Pentax forum "www.pentaxuser.com", and some people from that forum have posted intelligent comments as an answer to the Pentax-hate promoted by at least two commentators on your blog. But possibly all in vain, the Pentax-haters are still posting extremely negative things (non-documented) about my favourite brand.

Is there anything you can do about this?

http://www.photographyblog.com/news/dslr_camera_of_the_year_2015/


Best regards
Bjørn XXXXXXX
Bjørn

PPG
Flickr
OldTaffy
Posted 16/01/2016 - 16:14 Link
I have often noticed that Which?, the organisation that tests consumer products, consistently rates Pentax dslr cameras poorly. There seems to be an institutional prejudice there. I have taken it up with the guy who heads the section dealing with camera reviews, and his replies have revealed a serious ignorance of the technical specifications of Pentax dslrs. I have posted some of my comments here in the past.

Martin
A few of my photographs in flickr.
Lizars 1910 "Challenge" quarter-plate camera; and some more recent stuff.
whatsthisbuttondo
Posted 16/01/2016 - 16:36 Link
When i worked at hotpoint we had bad review for a dishwasher bosch had an excellent one only difference was name on front, both made by bosch if i remember correctly they had to pay hotpoint money
RobL
Posted 16/01/2016 - 17:39 Link
I am a bit bemused by hysterical and vulgarly expressed comments on some websites, many of them from the US, and so far have resisted the temptation to respond. In this case I am guessing the author(s) are that breed of dedicated Canon/Nikon nuts who relate to their chosen brand like football fans and their chosen team; we have all met them, victims of their brand's hype. Pentax has had its issues, but so has every other brand.

I have been frustrated by a magazine review of the K-3II (forget which one) which said the differences between it and the K-3 were minor and failed to mention any of the real differences other than the GPS, and I guess this indifference is down to the lack of advertising paid for by Ricoh. A new model by one of the favoured brands get far more coverage and Ricoh's publicity agents need to get more savvy.

On another thread I posted a comment which is probably more relevant here, regarding a 2012 survey http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/07/04/pentax-dslrs-top-global-consumer-sa... which rated user satisfaction of manufacturers out of a possible score of 1000 thus: Pentax 899; Nikon 891; Canon 888. Compare this with a 2007 survey by the same analysts: Nikon D series 820; Sony Alpha 793; Canon EOS 788; Pentax K 787; Olympus 783.

Says it all doesn't it.
Edited by RobL: 16/01/2016 - 17:42
JAK
Posted 16/01/2016 - 18:49 Link
RobL wrote:
On another thread I posted a comment which is probably more relevant here, regarding a 2012 survey http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/07/04/pentax-dslrs-top-global-consumer-sa... which rated user satisfaction of manufacturers out of a possible score of 1000 thus: Pentax 899; Nikon 891; Canon 888. Compare this with a 2007 survey by the same analysts: Nikon D series 820; Sony Alpha 793; Canon EOS 788; Pentax K 787; Olympus 783.

It might be worth posting that in Photographyblog's comment section.
John K
Edited by JAK: 16/01/2016 - 18:49
richandfleur
Posted 16/01/2016 - 20:26 Link
On the flip side, how common were these lens motor drive failures, and what did Pentax do about them?

I've never heard of mirror flap on the K-5 series, but with the advent of youtube, I've seen it on the K-3, and it looked nasty. Pentax never really addressed the root cause of this, releasing a firmware that identified it was happening and pulling the power for you.

The Aperture motor failure on the K-30/K-50 range has been unfortunate, with Pentax being noticeably absent for any of these that fail outside of warranty periods. It's clear there is a faulty part in these, but there's no avenue to raise this with Pentax themselves, only via the store you purchased it from.

And from memory some sensors developed green lines through them, something like that?

All up that's not a lot of failure points really, and I'm sure that compares to other brands. My personal point of view though is that it's not necessarily if something fails, but more how the company deals with these problems. Not sure I'd rate Pentax particularly well at that latter point...

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