Hi falconeye, what a delight to see you posting at pentaxforums. I missed you and will be missing you again, once you disappear again.
Originally posted by falconeye To me it means that Pentax does still matter to Chris and Jordan and that they hoped better from Pentax.
If that had been their objective, they could have done a much better job.
First of all, I hoped better from Pentax as well. I agree with Chris that the K-1 is the better buy and I wouldn't recommend an "upgrade" to the K-1 II either. I agree with pointing out that the K-1 II wasn't an impressive upgrade and that introducing mandatory denoising of RAW(!) data is indeed "
not the way to go".
Originally posted by falconeye Pentax is important enough to be on the list after all ...
Well, it should be their journalistic duty to include Pentax whenever relevant.
Unfortunately, DPReview has a habit of leaving Pentax off the list, even if it would have been important for accuracy to include them.
DPReview has a habit of mentioning Pentax when they can make a negative remark. I won't 100% exclude the notion of "confirmation bias" on my part, but I can provide you with tons of evidence where DPReview has not done justice to Pentax and where they let get other brands away with similar or worse downsides.
BTW, I'm not viewing the video as "Chris and Jordan's private inofficial opinions" because it aired on the DPReview channel and a lot of DPReview staff were present and did not make corrective statements. This has to be viewed as being sanctioned by DPReview and hiding behind a "that's their personal view" pretext is pretty lame, if there is not at least a disclaimer that DPReview does not endorse the statements made.
Originally posted by falconeye And yes, there is a difference between worst camera and most disappointing launch. Without further context. But further context was provided.
With one subordinate clause (seven words), he acknowledged that the K-1 "
was" an "
innovative fantastic product with beautiful image quality".
The rest of his statements are all (potentially just sloppily) worded to transport incorrect messages:
"This camera isn't bringing anything to the table."
critically omits "
new" as in "
isn't bringing anything new to the table".
"The fact that you can take your old camera and upgrade it to this [K-1 II]
really speaks at what they do at this company."
turns a positive into a negative.
Even for minor upgrades, it isn't common that a manufacturer allows one to spend an upgrade price to acquire the perks of a new model instead of having to sell one's old model and pay the full new price for the new model.
The fact that the PCB of the K-1 has to be replaced with a new one to turn it into a K-1 II means that it is inappropriate to use the existence of the upgrade option as evidence of how little difference there is between the cameras. Is the K-1 II a disappointing update? In my view, yes, but still the reasoning by Chris is wrong and could be viewed as populist in nature.
Chris also, probably unintentionally, denigrates the Pentax brand and Pentaxians by attributing the "
zealousness" of Pentaxians to "loyalty":
"You are loyal to your company, I think that's commendable"
I'd say that many Pentaxians are not sticking to the brand due to some blind or ill-conceived "loyaltiy" but because the Pentax products work for them (and better than other products would).
Chris essentially implies that Pentaxians continue to buy Pentax products and vocally disagree with unfair treatment of the brand, because they have bought Pentax in the past and want to culture their "loyalty".
Maybe Chris hasn't reflected about the implications of identifying Pentaxians with "loyality" but I think there can be no denying that this tacitly sends the message that if only technical merit would count, they'd choose a Sony or Fuji as well (I guess Nikon also makes their "darlings" list).
Note that DPReview, in their "2019 camera and lens manufacturers' New Year's resolutions", use the phrase "...
we respect the way that many of them react to anything short of uncritically gushing praise for their favorite camera maker...". This would be "tongue in cheek" in private communication but as part of an official article, it's an insult. Yes, one could be super relaxed about it, but there is no denying that, overall, their narrative portrays Pentax as a brand that is not to be taken seriously and Pentaxians as irate sheep. If that's not what they want, they should change the way they write about Pentax/Pentaxians.
Chris finishes with
"So unfortunately, this is the worst camera."
which is simply a wrong statement. No self-respecting journalist should say something like that. I respect Chris a lot. I'm grateful that he overall appreciated the K-1 a lot in his review. I'm not so impressed by how he handled the K-1 II "award" and that he called "
every entry-level DSLR the "
worst camera of 2018". I think that's an outrageous statement to make. We've come to expect the mirrorless love from DPReview but I thought Chris was better than that.
Originally posted by falconeye And this is no official award, not to be takes as serious as is done here. It is sort of a joke and it would be better for the image of Pentaxians to take it as that.
I know that you want to help Pentaxians to not ruin their image (if that's possible
).
However, I don't accept that the "award"/video passes as a joke because it has the blessing of DPReview and Chris has to realise that his choice and his wording will be used by fanboys all over the internet to throw mud at Pentax.
Note that DPReview don't seem to regard the whole thing as "joke" either, if they make
retractions about "unofficial" verdicts made during the video.
To clarify: I don't care in the least that people do not approve of my camera brand choice. I'm only in favour of actively counteracting the unfair treatment of Pentax by DPReview because I'm concerned about the brand. Pentax sales are low as they are. There is no need to present Pentax in a worse than adequate light.
In your benevolence towards Chris/Dpreview, I believe you also have to acknowledge that "Othering" is a common phenomenon and that viewing numbers/website hits are DPReview's success metric. A controversial statement is good for DPReview but bad for Pentax. I don't think Pentaxians should stay quiet in order to avoid this situation (and I know fully well that you didn't suggest the latter).