[PaulAndAPentax]

Well, I went to check the new site and it is up. Trying to figure out navigation. I was hoping to read what many people wrote but don't see links just to be able to read. Must be they only have certain excerpts up at any given time on the big map of the world...

[roentarre]

Oops, I did not even know this site exists already.

I am little confused about how to navigate around the place...

[cutterpup]

Help, all I get is a blank red page when I go there

[ZaphodB]

Interesting.

Glad to see some actual evidence of marketing. This is all good stuff. A shame they're shown using lenses that we can't possibly get our hands on (all those FA* zooms) but that's another matter...


... at least it's a start. IMO their marketing has been less than stellar.

Warning: Random long-winded post approaching...

Personally I think "For your precious moments" is a terrible slogan.

As for the ads at the last PMA... again just my opinion but... really not very good at all. The arch-fiend, antichrist and despoiler of all good things (K*n R*ckwell) said that at the PMA Pentax was "grovelling" to Canon and Nikon... and sadly he actually had a point this time...
... take a look at one of those Pentax ads, which actually included the words "You can't buy a digital SLR from anyone other than the big two"... even in the rhetorical context, just printing those words looks bad.
Now clearly Pentax needs to get people to consider options other than Canon and Nikon. But please advertise the product on it's own merits, instead of saying "Look! Us too! Wait, don't go over there!" or "Hey look at this, it's just like that other one but cheaper!" It just doesn't put out the right image IMO.

The Pentaxian site is one step in the right direction. The Pentax Photo Gallery is a giant leap in the right direction and is really, really good. Hopefully Pentax marketing will continue to improve in this way.

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Last edited by ZaphodB; 09-06-2007 at 06:42 AM.

[fwbigd]

Help, all I get is a blank red page when I go there

The site does not work appear to work with an Apple computer with Firefox. However, it works with the Apple Safari software.

[MRRiley]

Oh man have they made a big mistake....

In the list of "clubhouse message boards" they left out "PentaxForums" and included "DPReview" at the top of the list. Don't they realize how hostile DPReview is to Pentax in general and how crappy the people over there treat each other...

We all need to send them e-mails to correct this situation (I have to wait till I get home though).

[BrendanPK]

Ok, its an ok site, but they need to organise the community of users some how better. Have something like in the gallery I cant find anyone and the pictures and quotes are often cut off etc. BAD BAD PR there.
As for the Forums, Yah where are we??? PentaxForums Rocks!
The rest of the site??? well its nice, but I think Flash is getting over used JMO

[ZaphodB]

I agree, they are doing themselves no favours by linking to DPreview. New or potential Pentaxians going there will quickly be informed that a Rebel or D40 inherently takes better photos than a Pentax

[SLC Flyfishing]

DP review is biased garbage, but all of you already new that. What is all this about soft jpegs? I never had a problem.

SLC

[ZaphodB]

Soft jpegs are a problem which only the keen minds at DPreview can spot.

The rest of us can focus properly, and have worked out how to increase sharpness in the menu if we want.

[mattdm]

Help, all I get is a blank red page when I go there

It appears to be all done in Flash. I'm not really impressed -- seems to just be some sort of big clickable advertisement. What's the point, exactly?

[ccallana]

You answered your own question - its an advertisement

[Tom Lusk]

"DP review is biased garbage, but all of you already new that."

Gee - I didn't know that.

The main problem I have with DPReview is the number of posters that refuse to admit there is EVER anything wrong with ANY Pentax products.

Try posting that a certain lens has problems and you're opening yourself up for attack!

But my take was that even the die-hards conceded that to get a top quality image with the K10 that RAW was the way to go.

I guess all the QC problems reported about the new lenses are being instigated by the site owners? Part of a conspiracy...

[mattdm]

DP review is biased garbage, but all of you already new that. What is all this about soft jpegs? I never had a problem.

Oh come on. Must everything be a fight?

No one said you have a problem. But you may not have been reading closely enough. There's a reason everyone here makes a big deal about always shooting in RAW.

Note these comments in the K10D review when talking about the RAW output (emphasis added):

• Removing the camera's built-in image processor and instead processing using a standard converter (in this case Adobe Camera RAW) we see the K10D's true colors, clear crisp images with lots of detail and sharp edges. Indeed there are several parts of the image which look more detailed than the D80. It makes you wonder why Pentax couldn't achieve this quality with their processor.
• Shooting RAW and using the same conversion workflow we can see that the K10D does indeed manage to extract slightly more detail from the scene than the EOS 30D, however there's no huge leap in image resolution from eight to ten megapixels.

Meanwhile, the JPEG tests came out behind. (And note, by the way, that the review clearly notes that it's not a matter of in-camera settings -- changing those doesn't affect the specific complaint)

And there's a lot of other positive commentary on the K10D's other great features especially in light of its price point.

Now, many people here think it's unfair to put so much weight in the review's conclusion to the JPEG processing, but despite the general consensus of highly active forum posters that RAW is the only one true way, JPEG is and important factor because many real photographers rely on it.

Reviewers are only human, and some bias inevitably creeps in, but there's no sign at all that there's some sort of malicious intent. To the contrary, they appear to really try to be fair. It's just whenever they say anything negative about someone's favorite toy, all the knee-jerk fanboys get all offended.

Here's some great "biased" quotes from the review of the K100D:

• With its improved image processor the K100D has now stepped ahead of the [Nikon] D50 with better definition of fine detail, it's easy to work your way down the crops and see a real difference in the amount of information delivered.
• As we expected a better performance than the *ist DS, but surprisingly also better than the Nikon D50. A performance which brings the K100D (and K110D for that matter) to the top of the six megapixel pile (at least for resolution).
• The clear step forward in image processing and the addition of Shake Reduction are enough to tip the K100D into our Highly Recommended category, this is the camera the *ist DS should have been and is a refreshing change from another strong Canon or Nikon.

So, a fair way to characterize the bias in these reviews is: they put a lot of emphasis on the JPEG processing engine. I don't see any sign in this review of brand bias -- just the emphasis on how well the camera performs in JPEG as well as in RAW mode.

[Marc Langille]

I've taken some great images in JPEG with the K10D... very crisp. Yes, I changed my menu settings a bit...

That being said, I still prefer RAW for several reasons...

However, back to the OP's post: I looked at it with interest, and viewed Mark D.'s video - very good!

Cheers,
Marc