[JeffJS]

Okay that's funny because this isn't the first time I've read someone dissing this dude. lol What gives? Is he a tool bag or something?

There are those who think he walks on water and there are those who think he's a tool bag. Even in his blog, the little I bothered to read, he says he's just someone with a camera and an opinion. I for one don't care enough about him, his photos, his cameras, or his opinions to give much thought to the walks on water vs tool bag debate. After all, we all know people just as opinionated, don't we?

[flippedgazelle]

Okay that's funny because this isn't the first time I've read someone dissing this dude. lol What gives? Is he a tool bag or something?

Check out kenrockwell.com and you can make up your own mind.

I don't think of him as a tool so much as being overly - and overtly - full of himself.

[jct us101]

Well, you can't win them all. I was actually fairly amazed at how good high marks DPreview initially gave it. Although now, it seems as though they are trying to go back on it with their Canon 550D review. Oh well.

[Peter Zack]

Humm we could swamp his blog as well..... Nah that would be childish now wouldn't it????

[audiobomber]

Humm we could swamp his blog as well..... Nah that would be childish now wouldn't it????

There's nothing left to say. NOIR said it all. - Get The Picture

Who is NOIR? I don't recognize the moniker. Nice post, whoever you are.

[StepOne]

Damn...i bought a K-x...if only i could have seen this review sooner....i would have laughed and still bought K-x. I'm newbie in photography, but can't really call that a "review".

[Perrumpo]

First off, anyone incapable of proofreading their review automatically does not get taken seriously by me.

All I said was:

"Kim, I, too, approached the K-x as a user without reading the manual first. This was mainly because I was excited to try it out immediately. I have to tell you, I got some amazing shots with this camera with the kit lens the very first day. I've gotten countless amazing shots since then while hardly trying, and I've only suffered some user error.

But do you know what the funny thing is, Kim? When I got my K-x, I knew absolutely nothing about photography and had never used a DSLR before. I didn't know what any of the settings meant, yet on auto, the K-x made me look like I knew what I was doing! Now, a month later, I'm taking excellent pictures in manual mode. I've obviously learned about photography more, but I haven't read the manual in its entirety.

Surely I'm not a genius who can have user instructions uploaded to my brain Matrix style, so what does my experience say about the K-x's usability for a beginner? Well, it makes your review laughable."

Aww, I was nice 'til the end.

[johnmflores]

So have we extracted a pound of flesh yet?

[Peter Zack]

So have we extracted a pound of flesh yet?

Most likely but I just can't get over that he keeps defending his "Skill" and blaming all sorts of things. DPS should have proof read that before allowing it. odd they have been silent.

[bikecoboss]

DPS should have proof read that before allowing it. odd they have been silent.

Since the K-x review has more than 2x the comments of other reviews on the site, they may be pretty happy. He may just be fishing for hits.

[Daedbird]

Its just odd what some of these reviews have been saying lately.....Its almost like a conspiracy becaus Pentax is infringin on Canikons' terrotiry

[Mister Guy]

I hate to say it, but DPSchools, as a community, is a bit tightly focused. I like DPS and I hang out there a lot, but it's a got a specific point of view that should be kept in mind. There's always going to be some outliers, but your average board member there is going to either be Nikon or Canon, and the average board member is either trying to figure out how to professional or is trying to run a small photography business. The most active members appear to be middle age women with families attempting to break into photography as a side business.

Pentax Forums, on the other hand, is tightly focused in a very different way. There's much more testosterone and spittle flying around here. The average board member is an enthusiast, and likely has been involved in photography as a hobby for 10 or more years. The most active members appear to be middle age men with technical backgrounds.

It's unfortunate that he took the tactic he took with his review, and honestly, his reaction can be entirely expected given his target audience. Our response isn't all that helpful, either, because the responses I'm reading on their forums and his blog aren't targeted to his target audience either.

His review could have been much shorter if he'd simply said:

The K-x isn't going to appeal to users looking to switch from one brand to another if they aren't willing to research the difference between the cameras.


Quite frankly, Nikons and Canon out of the box factory settings are very similar to what you're going to see on many point and shoot settings, and since they are the market leaders, it's what many people will expect. If you expect your K-x to behave like a Nikon, you're going to try and make it do things you aren't going to be able to do, and you're going to be annoyed. Those differences don't really matter, from a design standpoint. You're completely capable of changing all those settings yourself. Out of the box, it gives you a perfectly good image. It's also perfectly possibly to make those settings completely screw you, particularly if you're expecting different things.

What we do know, for a fact, is that Pentax makes different design decisions as Nikon and Canon. Some of those decisions aren't well documented. It's typically expressed as saying Pentax tries to preserve the spirit of their film cameras in their digital cameras. Pentax tends towards preserving detail at the cost of noise, while (IMO) Nikon and Canon tend to "bubble" out noise and lose detail. Pentax defaults toward protecting highlights, while Nikon and Canon protect and preserve the midrange aggressively. Pentax default settings are less sharp and less saturated than Nikon and Canon default settings.

Any of those things is enough to make a user scratch their heads if they don't know why it's happening. However, the biggest problem:

Picture 1, across harbor:

Camera Maker: PENTAX
Camera Model: PENTAX K-x
Image Date: 2010:03:17 18:27:19
Focal Length: 50.0mm (35mm equivalent: 75mm)
Aperture: f/9.0
Exposure Time: 0.0010 s (1/1000)
ISO equiv: 200
Exposure Bias: -1.30 EV
Metering Mode: Spot
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Manual
Flash Fired: No
Color Space: sRGB

Picture 2, under bridge:

Camera Maker: PENTAX
Camera Model: PENTAX K-x
Image Date: 2010:03:17 19:18:01
Focal Length: 21.3mm (35mm equivalent: 31mm)
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60)
ISO equiv: 1600
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Spot
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Manual
Flash Fired: No
Color Space: sRGB


Usually, they don't call that a flaw in the camera. Usually they call that "under exposing". Then he complains about the level of detail in a picture taken in harsh lighting conditions (shooting into shadows, against the sun, with a kit lens, from 90+ feet away) when viewed at 100% crop. 100% crop which is twice as large as his D40 comparison. For good measure, he confusedly mentions that when viewed at the same pixel density, the K-x looks oddly better than when pixel peeping. Go figure.

Then he passively notes that for some unfathomable reason, his D40 took a pretty picture of a different but similar flower on different days under different lighting conditions.

The important thing, really, to note is the numerous objective and procedural flaws in his testing. The really important thing is that anyone in that target audience is extremely likely to make the same mistakes. You'll notice that most of that target audience is reacting to his criticisms without pointing out the glaring fallacies, mostly because they either don't recognize the problems, or they relate to the bias.

What I'd suggest doing, as an academic exercise, is responding by putting together a point by point break down of the flaws in his methodology without resorting to fanboyism or name calling. Then, we can post THAT in the DPS forums, and invite open discussion for the education of all users.

[Shub]

Holy.
For being a Pentaxian of less than 5 months, I can read this review and honestly say it makes my blood boil.
Even scrolling down and looking at all the comments...
"something wrong with this kit"

RIIIGHTTTTT.

I think we need to show Kim this thread.

And also, another note, when the hell did any random person without any expertise on cameras be allowed to start reviewing them?
Like for the high ISO image... I have a 12800 shot edited with Noise Ninja, that looks amazingly clean (even on a 27" screen!)

3248932hbfd743g4nf89432fgy489egheghedloubfesyufs


/end rant.


P.S. As an additional note, my friend has a d40, and I let him try my camera... Lets just say his next camera purchase will 90% most likely be a Pentax K-x.

[KxBlaze]

I just read the review and it got me extremely angry. I began to write a very nasty comment and by the time I was done writing it had a lot of explatives in it. So I took a deep breath, calmed down and re-wrote it trying to be unbias. I think I did a good job of trying to tell the reviewer that she sounded like she had never handled a SLR before and was not fit to review a topic she knew nothing about. Some of the comments left by other people refleted what I just said so hopfully she gets the idea that she has NO IDEA and changes professions.

[mattdm]

KxBlaze -- the reviewer is still a "he".

Honestly, at this point, I don't think more comments will help. The point is made.

And I think getting so angry is overreacting. That site has some pretentions of being a big deal, but it's really just one of a million photography blogs.