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06-07-2018, 10:10 AM - 1 Like   #1
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Just thinking out loud here. DPR speculation.

Looking at DxO, it has long been suspected that DxO didn't get to Pentax gear, because Pentax wasn't footing the bill for the testing. After all with it's limited user base it's unlikely there were ever enough Pentax DxO users to justify the support. I think Optical limits , which is donation supported stopped supporting Pentax for the same reason.

But now at DPR there is this whole corporate thing going on. If Consumer Repors was owned by GM, would I trust a single word written in it?

How do we know that the current negativity towards Pentax gear is not the result of failed negotiations, between Pentax and Amazon with Amazon asking for reduced prices on Pentax gear? Now that DPR are no longer a user supported organization, how can anything they print be considered un-biased. I'd find it very hard to believe that Amazon would allow them to sing the praises of product they don't sell.

It all now comes down to, does DPR have any credibility left?

It is quite possible that DPR is just becoming the equivalent of the Canadian Tire catalogue, singing the praises of their corporate partners. Meanwhile I believe it's possible Amazon is leveraging DPR's reputation as a relatively unbiased organization to get Pentax to give away the farm and sign on the dotted line.

What is certain is that, true or false, Amazon and DPR will deny it if someone suggests it to them. Pentax won't comment one way or the other. Anyone who might know the real situation over at DPR, especially about how much direction they get from Amazon, probably won't talk.

None the less, given DPRs repeated abuse of Pentax in their reviews, it's time to start looking for alternative explanations. I don't believe some of the things they've said in justification of their approach. They either think we are stupid, or they are just following Amazon's orders and lying. This has gone on for way to long for it to be a coincidence. There is intent.

There are no reviews to Home Hardware product in the Canadian Tire catalogue. The are no fair reviews of Pentax gear at DPR (the Amazon Camera Catalogue) . Coincidence? I think not.


Last edited by normhead; 06-07-2018 at 10:17 AM.
06-07-2018, 10:33 AM - 1 Like   #2
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I distinctly remember the anti-Pentax bias being present at DPR even before the Amazon merger. Maybe the merger strengthened the
bias, but I don't think Amazon created it.

Or maybe it did. DPR was pimping sales back to Amazon even before the acquisition. I have little doubt those sales are in large part
what prompted Amazon in the first place to look at DPR for acquisition.

QuoteOriginally posted by normhead Quote
It all now comes down to, does DPR have any credibility left?
No. IMO, they haven't been very credible for a very long time, going back to even before the acquisition.
06-07-2018, 10:48 AM   #3
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I used to read DPR regularly, but now I just avoid it and look elsewhere for unbiased analysis and reporting.
06-07-2018, 10:56 AM - 2 Likes   #4
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If Sony generates 2/3rd of my revenue, I will want to keep getting more and more Sony contracts, I'd spend a lot more time reviewing and fine tuning the reviews for Sony, as opposed to spending as little time as possible for customers that contribute little to my revenue.


Last edited by biz-engineer; 06-07-2018 at 11:23 AM.
06-07-2018, 11:05 AM   #5
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Don't badmouth the Canadian Tire catalogue! I still like to browse it and their weekly flyers. If only to remember me that there's always a few things that i need. BTW, Watkins spray bottles are on sale this week. Could be useful for both you and me, and certainly will in a few weeks.
06-07-2018, 12:02 PM   #6
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There is an arrogance within the DPR review staff that reminds me of STEREO REVIEW magazine which morphed into SOUND & VISION. The review staff was always right, making arguments that measured technical stats revealed all, that listening tests didn't matter. We've seen the same with DPR in their approach to AF testing. Minor issues are blown out of proportion, making the comments sections a haven for trolls.

The reality is that for test reviews and comparison images, in my opinion, Imaging Resource is a far better site with more even handed reviews for photographers amateur and professional, and less oriented to pixel peepers and hobbyist gear heads.

Fredmiranda.com is another site that I read with some regularity and is far more oriented to those who practice photography for the sake of photography. That said, it is heavily Canon oriented.

I wouldn't suggest this site needs to test other brands of gear but perhaps it's time for a column on this site to offer other photographic news in general.
06-07-2018, 12:39 PM   #7
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It is difficult to come up with the websites that were pro-pentax. I am using DPR and Photo.net as example.

AMZ is data driven company and they will be measuring the performance of DPR and also the employees based on traffic. Employees of DPR should be aware of this reality. Even if they shoot Pentax in their personal life, they will be promoting Sony or Canon because it is connected with their livelihood.

06-07-2018, 12:55 PM - 1 Like   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by normhead Quote
How do we know that the current negativity towards Pentax gear is not the result of failed negotiations, between Pentax and Amazon with Amazon asking for reduced prices on Pentax gear?
DPR has problems but that is just wild conjecture. Amazon is too large and it would require many employees for a concerted retaliation against Pentax, a brand that's so small that most at Amazon have never heard of it. If Amazon stopped selling Pentax, yes, maybe a failed business deal, but you are suggesting a corporate conspiracy where one part of the company sells a product and gets another part of the company to undermine it.
06-07-2018, 01:21 PM - 1 Like   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by DeadJohn Quote
DPR has problems but that is just wild conjecture. Amazon is too large and it would require many employees for a concerted retaliation against Pentax, a brand that's so small that most at Amazon have never heard of it. If Amazon stopped selling Pentax, yes, maybe a failed business deal, but you are suggesting a corporate conspiracy where one part of the company sells a product and gets another part of the company to undermine it.
Stranger things have happened. My point is, your mind should be open to the possibility it is happening. You don't have to make a conclusion, but, lets start the search fo evidence.

Ya, I still love the Canadian Tire Catalogue. It reminds me that all the stuff I used to wear out in a few years and have to replace nows last 10 years, because I use it so little. It used to be I couldn't get out of Canadian Tire without spending at least $300. Now that only happens a couple time a year.
06-07-2018, 01:22 PM   #10
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I spent a lot of effort and money last year rushing to back-fill my Pentax Q system,
once it became clear that we could no longer expect long-term support there from Ricoh.

Ironically, given the apparent premise of this thread that Amazon is anti-Pentax,
it was mainly Amazon that I had to turn to as a source for Q system items.
06-07-2018, 01:29 PM   #11
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Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by lytrytyr Quote
I spent a lot of effort and money last year rushing to back-fill my Pentax Q system,
once it became clear that we could no longer expect long-term support there from Ricoh.

Ironically, given the apparent premise of this thread that Amazon is anti-Pentax,
it was mainly Amazon that I had to turn to as a source for Q system items.
I did that too, but it was 3rd party vendors, not Amazon itself which supplied my 05. ( And I waited months or delivery.) Tess is really starting to enjoy the Q system in any case. We often take a long time to warm up to things,
06-07-2018, 01:36 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by normhead Quote
We often take a long time to warm up to things,
Especially when they break the mold, the way the Q system did.
06-07-2018, 02:19 PM   #13
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DPR is...

...fake news.

It's in the time...there is a war going on!

Who started all this and who followed?
06-07-2018, 03:22 PM   #14
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I’ve never read any of their reviews but I can think of several reasons why they are negative to Pentax.

They could be so use to Canon,Nikon,Sony and Fuji who seem to always have something new coming out that they are more familiar with those brands so when Pentax finally does come out with something new they are just not use to the menu,setup and layout of buttons. I know when I switched brands it took me awhile to get comfortable with the layout and menu.

Another reason maybe is that other brands just have better products and because they have access to all types of gear they know this. I have only used two brands, Pentax and Canon, that’s all I could really give a honest review on. I know several people who shoot Nikons and I know specs on them and know how my friends like shooting them but have no real knowledge of how they actually perform and I never even seen a Sony, Fuji, Panasonic in the wild so I couldn’t tell you anything other than megapixels and frame rate on some of them.

Or maybe Normhead is right and Amazon is out to crush Pentax. Maybe Jeff Bezos had a K30/50 that suffered from aperture block failure and had to deal with Precision to try to fix it and received horrible customer service so he took it personal and became vindictive.

I don’t know the answer but I know I would love to have a completely independent source to provide a non bias test for cameras and lenses. Something like Consumer reports that doesn’t take free equipment, a company that just goes to the store and buys products to test with a standardized procedure that is open source and presents all the data for review good or bad.
06-07-2018, 03:58 PM   #15
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I'd love to hear about any free, public, truly independent reviewers that exist... DPR may well be brown-nosing their main financial backers (be that directly by sponsorship or indirectly by ad revenue), but what reviewers aren't? Even if they attempt to be unbiased, it is a foolhardy business that drops a bad review on their no.1 advertiser, or a great review on their rival.

This is the unavoidable result of the 'free, paid by advertising' world we are told we want online.
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