[Erik]

See, I don't know about you guys, but personally I think this is a real improvement right here, and nothing has changed except it's all black and the ugly 70's logos are gone (is there ANY good reason to bring back the awful, old Pentax logo? This is not a retro camera, so what are you really trying to communicate here?) Stick some leatherette instead of the ribbed rubber on there, and you're pretty much done. Camera's ugliness would have been a non-issue in the marketplace.

Pentax has a real problem these days with coming up with a solid foundation of a design language, and sticking to it coherently. The early DA lenses looked great, but now there's the new, stretched-Helvetica lenses like the 18-55 WR, DA35 and new DA50 which just look cheap and bad. Why is this?

The K10D had one Pentax logo, the K20D had another, and now the K-01 has a third. Why three logos? Pick a style! Stick to it!

Sorry, I'm ranting, at the end of the day it doesn't matter what a camera or lens looks like, but the design nerd in me gets really upset that Pentax so often comes up with good ideas (the styling of the Limited lenses and the DA 17-70 were awesome, for instance) just to abandon them for a remarkably more terrible one the next week.

[ihasa]

Nope, I like the 70's logo. They should put it on the Q too, as Ricehigh pointed out.

I don't like the 'K-01' logo though, particularly as the 'K' is in a different font to the '01'.

[JFN]

With an optional EVF priced at max $129 everything will be just perfect with K-01. It's a cool lil almost pocket DSLR...

[wlachan]

Sorry but your fonts make it looked cheap. Personally I dislike the lump under the main dial and the vertical pattern too. Kind of dated looking.

[JinDesu]

That's all you need to do. Alternative substitutions - 77 limited. 43 limited. DA*55. Any proper looking prime.

[Docrwm]

That's all you need to do. Alternative substitutions - 77 limited. 43 limited. DA*55. Any proper looking prime.

I must say that the silver with silver lens looks great!

[wlachan]

I wonder why none of the silver bodies matches the silver Limited which has a slightly warmer tone.

[Erik]

Sorry but your fonts make it looked cheap.

It is what it is, but it at least makes the look consistent with all their other cameras, which is undoubtedly a marketing advantage. There is a very good reason other camera/electronics companies don't futz about with putting different logos and typefaces on different devices.

[wlachan]

I am not much of an expert but if something doesn't look quite right, then change it. Company logos have been updated from time to time and often they did them so well the public paid little attention to. But in this case, they actually reuse the one from 3 decades ago. Works for me (although "01" doesn't quite match the 'K').

[anthony mazzeri]

(although "01" doesn't quite match the 'K').

Yeah, it should be like the 2 in K2.

[Erik]

I know they're reusing an old logo, but they're doing it for no good reason -- if this new camera was a retro-style body, the equivalent of a digital MX, sure! I could maybe* see them bringing back the old logo. But it isn't -- it's something else entirely. The fairly contemporary DIN typeface on letters "01" and the body (which is kind of reminiscient of Leica and such due to the German heritage) clashes spectacularly with both the old-style "K" and the old Pentax logo. That logo, like the Fujica logo below, looks severely dated today and is very much a product of a 70's design zeitgeist. It has no place on a supposedly contemporary camera, supposedly a member of a family of modern system cameras. All it does is make the design a bad in-joke that no one gets.

Without almost a single doubt, the next K-mirrorless camera (not designed by Newson) will go back to using the regular Pentax logo that they use in all other corporate and product branding. So why is this there? I'd like to see a rationale because to me it's easily the most offensive part of the design. It is very clear Marc Newson is a product designer, not a graphic designer.


* Maybe -- Fuji is making a big splash with retro-cool design yet you don't see them dragging out this abomination of a logo. Some things are best left where they belong; firmly in the past...

[wlachan]

I am only speaking as a clueless consumer, and a 2 decade old Pentax fan. The K-01 PENTAX logo works for me, yours not. Rules are made to be broken?

[Erik]

Yeah, I acknowledge that this stuff doesn't matter to a lot of people. I personally am very interested in typefaces, graphic design and such, and it is really irritating to me how Pentax chooses to squander the good material they have and frequently emphasise the bad.

But I do think that this camera is ugly, and I'm not alone in thinking that. I'm almost certain the changes in the first post, if made, would have elicited fewer "OH MY GOD THAT IS HIDEOUS" responses from "clueless consumers" as well as Pentax fans... instead, a lot more lukewarm "mehs." Not sure which is better, honestly


EDIT: ...and to clarify, the thread was basically just made to show off something I threw together in Photoshop, which looks infinitely better to me. Not a big deal, just a picture. Maybe others would agree, and realize as I did, that the biggest problem is not really the shape of the camera, but the colours and logos.

[wlachan]

I thought it was pretty ugly too and the top was like being hammered flat. But I guess it's like anything in life, you will get used to it given enough time.

[monochrome]

A good camera, like its design, needn't announce itself. The K-01 (good though it may be) shouts its name every time it enters the room - then again, with this camera, maybe Pentax is announcing their entry into the mirrorless segment and the follow-on offerings will be more conservative and more traditionally Pentax.

I would label the design derivative, but it isn't. Newson flogged the metaphor. Somehow visually all these dissonances don't complement each other and come together, they conflict and are discomfiting. Maybe that's the idea or maybe its just sloppy.

I pre-ordered the camera - the US Black version, which I hope has silver accents, not white. It is irrational and uncharacteristic for me so to do - but something compelled me. The final word on the shape and size will be how it feels in the hand. The final word on the logotype(s) will be how they look on the actual camera in natural light.

I like the blocky physical design. I like the K and the PENTAX. Anything reminiscent of a K-series body makes my blood move quicker. I question the hues of the green and red buttons. I question the selection of the 01 font (though it may be from the new lens style book).

Be of good cheer, Pentaxians. Ricoh has a plan and you will be happy.