Originally posted by smc I think the Samsung sensors are better than their reputation, but they did give Pentax a black eye. The K10d and the K-x were a surprise when they were released against the competition (not Samsung). The sensor from the K20d and K-7 (Samsung) and their ISO performance compared to the competition were contentious to say the least.
It turns out the K20D had when it was released the best APS sensor available. It has less noise even today compared to Nikon's D300 in RAW. All tests done back then were JPEG at default settings; no one knew how good it was until DPR reviewed the K-7 and found the older K20D outperformed it and the Canon 50D and Nikons D300s in RAW noise and detail.
Now that was a black eye. Samsung had to make the two channel K20D sensor into a 4 channel sensor (4 channels = more noise versus 2) and make it able to do video. This is said to have added just a touch of noise. But even just a touch was going backward in the ISO war. I bet Sony was a bit worried Samsung would take a large chunk of its sensor market and gave Pentax a sensor like no other (in the un-real K-x), and really made Samsung look bad.
Just IMHO the K20D did not give Pentax a black eye in anyway, the K-7 gave Samsung one in sensors. Now look at what Sony is putting out.
I like Samsung and wish they would compete in sensors, we all would win.