October 2010 "Which?" magazine

Flicking through a copy of this today, as I noticed the cover feature "Star Cameras: Our Lab Tests Put The Big Brands Under The Spotlight"

Apparently Pentax aren't a "Big Brand" as those tested were Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Olympus, Samsung and Sony. They even comment on the "huge range of Nikkor lenses" for the Nikon DSLR. I think the fact that all Pentax DSLRs can use any K mount lens (so anything made since 1975) evidently passed them by.

Does anyone else get fed up with reviewers failing to even notice Pentax? It's especially galling when they feature a Samsung which most likely has a bit of Pentax design/experience in it (the NX10).

Which reviews are appalling even in the days of the K10D it won awards all over the place apart from Which. They used to go for Zeniths in a big way years ago. I nearly bought a Panasonic TV on their say so a few months ago luckily I found quite a few internet sites slagging it off so I bought a Sony instead (still not as good as the Hitachi it replaced).

The Dutch equivalent did a similar test. Pentax don't exist as far as they are concerned. Unfortunately my written Dutch isn't up to writing a nasty letter to them about it.

Gwyn, my Brother-in-Law, is Dutch and works here in Scotland as a translator, he could probably supply all the swear words you need

The swear words weren't the problem .

I thought not,

I know one... Klootzak!

Perhaps we should be glad Which? don't review Pentax cameras anymore. The last one I read - for the K200D - was completely innaccurate and misleading. It omitted most of the key features... like weathersealing, surely the K200D's USP!

The NX10 has an upgraded K20D sensor in it, does that count?

As far as lenses are concerned, most camera buyers aren't interested in 35-year old second-hand lenses on eBay: the current lens lineup, which one can buy new from a camera store, is what differentiates between brands. On versatility/choice/whatever you want to call it Pentax clearly loses by quite some distance - though the lenses Pentax does have are very good.

I have always thought that Which is rubbish, no matter what they are testing

Yep, but equally they seemed to be implying that backwards compatibility was an advantage on the Nikon.

I did wonder whether the sort of person who takes camera buying advice from which is really likely to buy a £1500 Nikon DSLR!

Their car reviews are dire. I remember them having a real moan at the Discovery 1 and talking about mechanical problems which can't all affect the same vehicle - they'd be possible on the 200TDI or 300TDI but not both!

In this internet age I am surprised that a magazine like Which survives at all no matter how good or bad it is.

K.

Kloten !





An interesting name of a town in Switzerland!