Originally posted by Eigengrau Seems that nobody here has bothered mentioning this - but traditionally cameras have been exceedingly uninteresting in terms of design. The most lauded designs recently (looking at Fuji) have been what amount to carbon copies of older designs - not bad, but certainly not original or forward-thinking. I find most of the mirrorless segment to be either unoriginally copying old cameras, or taking cues from the totally uninspired compact point-and-shoot segment.
DSLR's are even worse. The K-5 (and K-7) are the only DSLRs in recent memory that exhibit design worth making any noise about, and even then they are not making waves or new statements. For the average consumer, DSLRs are literally indistinguishable from one another, and none of them offer anything visually interesting in terms of design. We've progressed hardly at all since the 90s, and if you didn't know what the models were going in, you wouldn't be able to tell from looking at the front whether the k-5 came before or after the *ist. Other manufacturers are as bad or worse.
While I don't cherish the "planned obsolescence", fashion-focused development of the automotive industry, the constant competition for an inspired, compelling design keeps things interesting, and many of the cars are pieces of art in their own right. I think we should applaud Pentax for doing something different, even if the design isn't universally appealing. It's a welcome change from the stagnant state of SLR design, and I think that many people outside of the change-wary DSLR crowd will find it appealing, or at least not boring for once.
Consider that the reason for why cameras look the way they do is because it gives a good, ergonomic tool to work with. Car exteriors are a somewhat different kettle of fish because they are not operated from the outside. Get into a car, pretty much any car, and you will find that the designer has gone to some effort to ensure things work, and most cars are, to a great extent, carbon copies of each other WRT control placement. Also, a lot of those nice, work of art designs have styling that erodes the functionality of the car.
It might make a nice design statement to alter the pedal placement, but it would make the care dangerous to drive.
I suspect if Newson designed a car interior, the pedals would be in the back seat and the steering wheel on the passenger side.