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01-30-2009, 09:48 AM   #1
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DPReview of the k2000

Pentax K2000 Review: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review

They seem to like it, but as always with dpreview, they don't like the jpeg (which I find silly, but hey, if that's the only thing they can come up with against Pentax, I guesss we are doing okay).

Not to happy with the AF system, where you can't see which point is being used, either, and they end up giving it "Recommended".

01-30-2009, 10:14 AM   #2
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It's "Recommended (with reservations)", in fact, which is basically dpreview's D- grade.

It's a fair point about the autofocus indicators. And I didn't realize that they didn't have an orientation sensor — I found that horribly frustrating on the K100D.

This quote is a good summation:

QuoteQuote:
The fact that it gets so much right makes the bits it gets wrong especially disappointing, and means our final rating ends up far more lukewarm than we'd like it to be.

Like dpreview, I really want this camera to succeed, because it's got so much going for it. But Pentax really can't afford to miss on the details.
01-30-2009, 10:20 AM   #3
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I was beaten to a pulp by the fanboys for sayign the lack of orientation sensor was unforgiveable (drives me nuts on the 100D) and the AF issue was petty, petty de-featuring for no apparent reason at all.

Bunch of absolute lunatics at Pentax product development frankly, they have dead set lost the plot.
01-30-2009, 10:35 AM   #4
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Mine will be here next week so I'll give my own review. I couldn't care less about the AF issue as I only shoot center point AF. The orientation will be a minor annoyance but not a deal breaker imho. I spent many years with digicams that didn't rotate images.

I'm most interested in the handling and the iq. I'm hoping that the K2000 body with 43ltd will be a near-perfect street camera. We'll see...

01-30-2009, 10:45 AM   #5
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Well that's not too good. Newbs love DPR, and Recommended (with reservations) is pretty much as low as they go (why they just don't give letter grades I don't know). I'm having flashbacks to the K10D when all other review sites loved it, but the one that really counts couldn't get past the JPEG issue.
01-30-2009, 10:53 AM   #6
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What jpeg issue? I always thought it's something dpreview invented
01-30-2009, 11:28 AM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by Art Vandelay II Quote
Well that's not too good. Newbs love DPR, and Recommended (with reservations) is pretty much as low as they go (why they just don't give letter grades I don't know). I'm having flashbacks to the K10D when all other review sites loved it, but the one that really counts couldn't get past the JPEG issue.
Yup, that's a failing grade at DPReview for sure. Seems rather harsh considering they rubber stamp almost every DSLR with 'Highly Recommended'.

QuoteOriginally posted by Kunzite Quote
What jpeg issue? I always thought it's something dpreview invented
This is what I hate most about DPReview: they insist on judging image quality primarily by JPEG defaults (and ignore the fact that Pentax JPEG output is highly customizeable), justified by their claim that it's what most newbs would do, and then pixel-peep this output in a way that no newb would ever do. A very schizophrenic, unfair approach, IMO.

01-30-2009, 11:53 AM   #8
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The schizophrenic approach, is what bugs me the most about dpreviews reviews.
[About the AF system] While this is delightfully unthreatening to newcomers, it's a system that most people will quickly out-grow and one that is likely to make many experienced users simply walk away
Yeah, you could choose to view that very negatively. But with just a small twist, you could change it to:
While this is delightfully unthreatening to newcomers, it's a system that most people will quickly out-grow, but luckily the K2000 allows the more experienced users to use the center AF point for total control
Which is how I feel about it. In my experience, most users either leaves it to the camera or uses the "focus with center and re-compose" technique.

I never really understood DPreviews tendency to view small issues, that could easily be viewed as a matter of personal taste, as grave errors that warrant giving a camera a bad grade.

Three-four years ago, I recommended dpreview to most people who asked me for advice, and I went there first my self. Not so much today. I use it for comparing facts about camera's and I view their test shots, but more or less never read their opinions.
01-30-2009, 12:07 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by GaryM Quote
This is what I hate most about DPReview: they insist on judging image quality primarily by JPEG defaults (and ignore the fact that Pentax JPEG output is highly customizeable), justified by their claim that it's what most newbs would do, and then pixel-peep this output in a way that no newb would ever do. A very schizophrenic, unfair approach, IMO.
If you want to really get pissed about that go back and look at the Nikon D200 and the K10D reviews. They just complained about, then took away points on the K10D for "soft jpegs", but the D200 had the exact same problem, but on that camera they did a separate test after adjusting the JPEG output more to their liking.

I stopped caring about DPR the second I noticed that. I prefer both Trusted Reviews and dcresource.com now. I especially like the way dcresource.com does their ISO tests. Much more useful than cropping in on a little blue face and gray patch like DPR does.
01-30-2009, 12:08 PM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by tcdk Quote
The schizophrenic approach, is what bugs me the most about dpreviews reviews.
[About the AF system] While this is delightfully unthreatening to newcomers, it's a system that most people will quickly out-grow and one that is likely to make many experienced users simply walk away
.
What I wished they wrote about jpegs instead of many pages full of b.s. was something like:
[About jpeg] While this is delightfully unthreatening to newcomers, it's a file format that most people will quickly out-grow and one that is likely to make many experienced users simply never use. This is one BIG reason one buys a DSLR to command the camera not the other way around.
End of story ...

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01-30-2009, 12:13 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by tcdk Quote
The schizophrenic approach, is what bugs me the most about dpreviews reviews.
[About the AF system] While this is delightfully unthreatening to newcomers, it's a system that most people will quickly out-grow and one that is likely to make many experienced users simply walk away
Yeah, you could choose to view that very negatively. But with just a small twist, you could change it to:
While this is delightfully unthreatening to newcomers, it's a system that most people will quickly out-grow, but luckily the K2000 allows the more experienced users to use the center AF point for total control
Which is how I feel about it. In my experience, most users either leaves it to the camera or uses the "focus with center and re-compose" technique.

I never really understood DPreviews tendency to view small issues, that could easily be viewed as a matter of personal taste, as grave errors that warrant giving a camera a bad grade.

Three-four years ago, I recommended dpreview to most people who asked me for advice, and I went there first my self. Not so much today. I use it for comparing facts about camera's and I view their test shots, but more or less never read their opinions.
There are plenty of situation when leave it to the camera or use center point and recompose will just not fly. Especially with moving targets. I am fully backing up DPreview on this one and think this was quite stupid of Pentax to make such "AF improvement".
01-30-2009, 12:17 PM   #12
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It worked for Nikon
01-30-2009, 12:24 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by Art Vandelay II Quote
I stopped caring about DPR the second I noticed that. I prefer both Trusted Reviews and dcresource.com now. I especially like the way dcresource.com does their ISO tests. Much more useful than cropping in on a little blue face and gray patch like DPR does.
I think the most telling line is at the bottom of every page of the review: "Unfortunately none of our merchants are currently listing this product". Not much motiviation for the DPReview 'Highly Recommended' rubber stamp.

What's really silly is their rating system - the Km got the lowest rating I've seen for a DSLR in a while: 'Recommended (with reservations)', but you know what the next lowest rating is on their scale? Above Average! I think they're using the Lake Wobegon rating system ;P
01-30-2009, 12:33 PM   #14
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This is one of the great myths about the K10D and let it be known I don't defend the rather odd reviews DPR can produce. However, the 10D did not improve upon increasing in camera sharpening, the D200 did.

The thing is, the much more candid and shall we say "less pixel obsessed" reviewer over on DC review found the EXACT same thing on the K10D. No matter what he tried he just could not coax a JPG out of the thing that was in any way comparable to competing models.


QuoteOriginally posted by Art Vandelay II Quote
If you want to really get pissed about that go back and look at the Nikon D200 and the K10D reviews. They just complained about, then took away points on the K10D for "soft jpegs", but the D200 had the exact same problem, but on that camera they did a separate test after adjusting the JPEG output more to their liking.

I stopped caring about DPR the second I noticed that. I prefer both Trusted Reviews and dcresource.com now. I especially like the way dcresource.com does their ISO tests. Much more useful than cropping in on a little blue face and gray patch like DPR does.
01-30-2009, 01:36 PM   #15
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Good points to fix for the 2nd generation.

Anyway even Ricehigh liked the k-m
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