[Dan]

Has anybody noticed that we are undergoing pretty intense inflation. The cost to power and heat my house is up well over 60%. The twin pack of bread that we buy has increased from $2.79 to $5.89 (111%) in under a year. My property taxes are up 35%. Gasoline is up a 50% if not more etc, etc, etc. On top of this our state legislators are about to give themselves a 30% raise.

The cost of the camera did not go up. The value of our currencies has gone down.

Cameras are imported goods. The value of our currency--the U.S. dollar--has RISEN over the past year against most currencies, including the yen and the yuan. For example, year-over-year, the value of the dollar is up 16 percent versus the Japanese yen and almost 10 percent versus the Chinese yuan. Many of the imported electronics goods that I buy on a regular basis are actually cheaper now than they were a year ago. As for general consumer price inflation, the examples you give are cherry picked and are not a representative sample. U.S. consumer prices overall are up an average of 7.1 percent year-over-year.

The price of the KF is 46 percent higher than the current price of the K-70 based on street price, and is 31 percent higher based on the official retail price. This cannot be explained by changes in the value of our currency, by the rate of inflation for consumer electronics, or by the general rate of consumer inflation.

[biz-engineer]

The value of our currencies has gone down.

Not yet, wages increase was insignificant compared to prices. When wages will be leveled to prices, then we'll say that money has been diluted, until then we can only say that our purchasing power went down. Same in the Euro zone as in N.A., the prices of commodities doubled compared to last year.

[texandrews]

I am not a Northrup H8R. That said, they do get stuff wrong. And they did here, sort of. The problem is that the KF is indeed a minor upgrade to the K-70, and so "disappointing". Buried in all of this is that some parts for the K-70 could not be had, but it was a perfectly good entry level camera that should continue. I don't think Pentax should be wasting energy on a complete re-design of an entry level camera in 2022, when the market has moved on from those "halcyon days of multitudes of entry level offerings" (sarcasm alert). The problem was, Pentax shot themselves in the foot by not just saying why they did what they did. Would have headed off the inevitable criticism at the pass. As always, Pentax winds up being a little tone deaf...

[biz-engineer]

"Worst camera" doesn't mean "bad camera", price being excluded from evaluation.

[Wasp]

The Nikon Z30 may get an honorable mention in worst new release for the year but at least it is well priced.

[pres589]

How this is known for solenoid of Kf to be unreliable. Are there any reports about Kf failures?

I believe there are K-70's with solenoid failures already showing up in the wild. And the list of changed components does not discuss a change to these subsystems. The camera is a K-70 with some limited tweaks. It seems like a safe assumption that this will be the same situation as the other cameras before it.

[slartibartfast01]

I believe there are K-70's with solenoid failures already showing up in the wild. And the list of changed components does not discuss a change to these subsystems. The camera is a K-70 with some limited tweaks. It seems like a safe assumption that this will be the same situation as the other cameras before it.

If you haven't been following the story of the solenoid failures you may well think it is still an issue. If you had paid attention to it you would know that the solenoids in more recent K-70s and the KF no longer have the same issue.

[Madaboutpix]

I believe there are K-70's with solenoid failures already showing up in the wild. And the list of changed components does not discuss a change to these subsystems. The camera is a K-70 with some limited tweaks. It seems like a safe assumption that this will be the same situation as the other cameras before it.

Recommended reading for anyone commenting on the issue of the aperture block failure related to the China selenoid and the modifications of the same (and what slartibartfast01 is likely referring to):

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY: Development of the solenoid in Pentax cameras - Page 9 - PentaxForums.com

photogem's expertise in the topic strikes me as hard to beat. Basically, the KF should have the 3rd-generation China selenoid inside that was introduced with the K-70's some time in model year 2021, which photogem considers "fine" due to a good holding force.

Of course, it's early days with the KF, and we don't really know yet how well it will stand the test of time. But maybe we should be careful about assuming that it is still plagued with the dreaded ABF Syndrome when the odds are that the issue has been essentially solved with the latest-model K-70's.

[pschlute]

For a camera that still uses unreliable white solenoids.

Inaccurate. The solenoid issue was solved while the K-70 was still in production a few years ago.

Posting mis-information is not helpful.

[pschlute]

I believe there are K-70's with solenoid failures already showing up in the wild. And the list of changed components does not discuss a change to these subsystems. The camera is a K-70 with some limited tweaks. It seems like a safe assumption that this will be the same situation as the other cameras before it.

Where is your proof of recent K-70's with solenoid issues ?

The only safe assumption in your post is I am afraid that you are wrong.

[Dan]

I believe there are K-70's with solenoid failures already showing up in the wild. And the list of changed components does not discuss a change to these subsystems. The camera is a K-70 with some limited tweaks. It seems like a safe assumption that this will be the same situation as the other cameras before it.

The K-70 first went on sale over 6 years ago in July 2016. Yes, some failures are "already showing up", but after 6 years there has not been the flood of failures that we had with earlier models at the same stage of their life cycle. It's been more of a trickle. This probably reflects the fact that there were some improvements made with late-model K-S2s that carried over to the early K-70s. Moreover, late-model K-70s incorporate further improvements to the solenoid mechanism. The KF will of course benefit from these latest improvements to the K-70.

[pres589]

Reading through, it seems as if later K-70's are much less likely to suffer solenoid failure, so that's great. I still wouldn't bother with a body based on the K-70 for this reason.


I'm not sure what the mod squad wants to do with posts where I said the K-70 was problematic. I'm really okay with whatever.

[Digitalis]

They named the Kf as the 'Worst Camera of the Year' because of its price and that it is essentially a K70.

T&C:This products sucks because it doesn't pander to our demographic. Not everything has to be a bell and whistle festooned flagship with a spirit crushing price tag, there is strength to simplicity. Personally I'm surprised Tony and Chelsea don't act like real pros and shoot Hassy and Leica.

Sorry, it's a tendency of mine to break out in sarcasm when confronted with this confounding degree stupidity and narcissism....

[Jonathan Mac]

Just off the top of my head, the Nikon Z30 is a far worse camera than the KF. And the Z30 is a "new" model, not a very slightly modified one. The Sony ZV-1F seems pretty lame, too, although at least it is very cheap by current standards.

I agree.The Z30 is a €700 camera that has no viewfinder of any kind. It's hard to imagine who would buy such a thing. As for the Sony compact, even DPR's review basically states "just use your phone". Both are worse than the KF but because they're from Nikon and Sony, there is much hesitance in labeling them as such.

Why must there be a "worst" camera and a "best" camera?

- Craig

To increase views and sell more cameras of course!

[Madaboutpix]

The main thing that would stop me from getting a KF right now is the rather steep pricing at launch compared to late-model K-70's that may still be available, TBH. But that price may well reflect the current state of the econonomy. Once the price comes down a little, the KF should do reasonably well in its assigned role.