[BigMackCam]

Not wanting to extend this thread any longer than necessary.... however:

Though I normally shower, this evening I fancied soaking in a hot bath to ease the discomfort in my hip joints. Since I intended to soak for a while, I grabbed a magazine at random from the rack in my living room, and it turned out to be a 2018 issue of Amateur Photographer. I thought I'd thrown it out (I tend not to hang onto magazines unless they contain articles I might wish to refer to later, and frankly that's rarely the case).

Settling into my steaming bath, I began reading Andy Westlake's editorial, and instantly recalled why I stopped buying Amateur Photographer - and why this was the last issue I bought. He'd written about the then-new K-1II, but focused more on the slow release of new Pentax products in recent years, and how that "doesn't bode well" for the brand's future (sound familiar?). He mused that the K-1II may be the last new Pentax camera that Ricoh releases.

That was three years ago

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Last edited by BigMackCam; 08-01-2021 at 01:45 PM.

[normhead]

Not wanting to extend this thread any longer than necessary.... however:

Though I normally shower, this evening I fancied soaking in a hot bath to ease the discomfort in my hip joints. Since I intended to soak for a while, I grabbed a magazine at random from the rack in my living room, and it turned out to be a 2018 issue of Amateur Photographer. I thought I'd thrown it out (I tend not to hang onto magazines unless they contain articles I might wish to refer to later, and frankly that's rarely the case).

Settling into my steaming bath, I began reading Andy Westlake's editorial, and instantly recalled why I stopped buying Amateur Photographer - and why this was the last issue I bought. He'd written about the then-new K-1II, but focused more on the slow release of new Pentax products in recent years, and how that "doesn't bode well" for the brand's future (sound familiar?). He mused that the K-1II may be the last new Pentax camera that Ricoh releases.

That was three years ago

For some people apparently every Pentax camera release is possibly the last new release.

[Rondec]

Not wanting to extend this thread any longer than necessary.... however:

Though I normally shower, this evening I fancied soaking in a hot bath to ease the discomfort in my hip joints. Since I intended to soak for a while, I grabbed a magazine at random from the rack in my living room, and it turned out to be a 2018 issue of Amateur Photographer. I thought I'd thrown it out (I tend not to hang onto magazines unless they contain articles I might wish to refer to later, and frankly that's rarely the case).

Settling into my steaming bath, I began reading Andy Westlake's editorial, and instantly recalled why I stopped buying Amateur Photographer - and why this was the last issue I bought. He'd written about the then-new K-1II, but focused more on the slow release of new Pentax products in recent years, and how that "doesn't bode well" for the brand's future (sound familiar?). He mused that the K-1II may be the last new Pentax camera that Ricoh releases.

That was three years ago

I think it is amusing that some think that the Internet invented "click bait" articles. It seems to me that editors have tried to have as spicy headlines and articles as possible to draw people in, long before the internet was even dreamed of. This feels like that sort of an article. Pentax has always been a little easier to pick on due to their smaller size and smaller number of users. It turned out that Olympus was in worse shape, but they never seemed to draw as much negativity. Of course, in the end Pentax seems likely to out last AP -- at least with respect to print media.

I do think it is sad that print magazines are on the way out. I still read Outdoor Photographer, but it seems to be a shell of what it was four or five years ago -- fewer issues and not as many articles as a few years ago. Reading journals online is not the same.

[slartibartfast01]

Does anyone know which issue of the print version contains this review? I can't find it.

[RichardJ]

It is in the latest print edition of Amateur Photographer, dated Saturday 7th August 2021. Interestingly, the verdict in the printed version differs a little from the online version. In the online version, the verdict reads:

"It’s all too easy to see Pentax as a brand that’s on its last legs; this is, after all, its first new camera for three years, while releases of genuinely new lenses have slowed to a trickle. The fact that it’s now apparently banking on surviving off sales to die-hard DSLR users, with no intention of making a new mirrorless system to succeed the ill-fated Q, doesn’t bode well for its long-term future, either. But this shouldn’t take away from the fact that the K-3 Mark III is a fine APS-C DSLR which in many respects is a match for the best on the market."

The printed version is more positive, as it drops the sentence about the "apparently banking on surviving off sales to die-hard DSLR users":

"It’s all too easy to see Pentax as a brand that’s on its last legs; this is, after all, its first new camera for three years, while releases of genuinely new lenses have slowed to a trickle. But this shouldn’t take away from the fact that the K-3 Mark III is a fine APS-C DSLR which in many respects is a match for the best on the market."

It's also billed on the cover as "Pentax K-3 Mark III The most advanced APS-C DSLR ever made - was it worth the wait?"

[normhead]

"It’s all too easy to see Pentax as a brand that’s on its last legs; this is, after all, its first new camera for three years, while releases of genuinely new lenses have slowed to a trickle. But this shouldn’t take away from the fact that the K-3 Mark III is a fine APS-C DSLR which in many respects is a match for the best on the market."

"It’s all too easy to see Pentax as a brand that’s on its last legs;" because the media have been saying that for the whole 14 years I've been on the forum. The thing about the media, they tend to repeat their erroneous (but accepted by their readership) views from the past to try and build up credibility among the masses. So I guess they can't say something different. He could have left that out. Or at least pointed out how many times that's been stated over the last 14 years, and been wrong. According to so many of the critics and their syncophant followers this camera should never have happened because Pentax was dead. Funny how they never come back and admit they were wrong. Here we are, 14 years after I first found out on the internet of the impending death of Pentax, and people still make reference to the fallacies.

You'd think after 14 years of being wrong, they would modify thier predictions, or at least be more selective in which of thier predictions they choose to repeat.

"It’s all too easy to see Pentax as a brand that’s on its last legs and I've been saying that for 14 years" would have put it in perspective.

Meanwhile how many camera companies have gone down the drain without warning from the internet prognosticators?

The whole "Pentax is doomed" scenario? It's become joke among those paying attention. In fact it's been joke on here for a lot longer than that. At his point its moved through joke status, and it's not even funny any more. Pentaxforums wore out the stupidity, first responding to it, then joking about it, now forgetting it.

I wonder if all these internet geniuses are aware of how stupid they look. "Pentax is doomed.' is so passé in the Pentax community. I don't even sneeze , go pffft or make fart noises with my mouth anymore. Even rolling my eyes is too much energy to waste on that proposal.

[slartibartfast01]

It is in the latest print edition of Amateur Photographer, dated Saturday 7th August 2021. Interestingly, the verdict in the printed version differs a little from the online version. In the online version, the verdict reads:

"It’s all too easy to see Pentax as a brand that’s on its last legs; this is, after all, its first new camera for three years, while releases of genuinely new lenses have slowed to a trickle. The fact that it’s now apparently banking on surviving off sales to die-hard DSLR users, with no intention of making a new mirrorless system to succeed the ill-fated Q, doesn’t bode well for its long-term future, either. But this shouldn’t take away from the fact that the K-3 Mark III is a fine APS-C DSLR which in many respects is a match for the best on the market."

The printed version is more positive, as it drops the sentence about the "apparently banking on surviving off sales to die-hard DSLR users":

"It’s all too easy to see Pentax as a brand that’s on its last legs; this is, after all, its first new camera for three years, while releases of genuinely new lenses have slowed to a trickle. But this shouldn’t take away from the fact that the K-3 Mark III is a fine APS-C DSLR which in many respects is a match for the best on the market."

It's also billed on the cover as "Pentax K-3 Mark III The most advanced APS-C DSLR ever made - was it worth the wait?"

They also mention the recently added electronic shutter in the review.

[normhead]

They also mention the recently added electronic shutter in the review.

Their bottom line is there's no reason for anyone not already shooting Pentax to buy the camera. It wouldn't have changed that.

Because IBIS isn't worth it.
Because Pixel Shift isn't worth it.
Because astro-tracer isn't worth it
Because the 2 stops of better NR isn't worth it.

All those things taken together don't make the camera worth buying.... just add the electronic shutter to the already long list of features that aren't worth switching brands for.

[Jeff]

It's as expected.

Mirrorless, Fuji, blah blah blah.

As has already been mentioned it is a superficial review and borders on ignorance.

I too have discontinued giving them any of my hard earned pounds.

You'd think any camera magazine would look for positives when new models are brought out in an ever-shrinking market.

Before long they will have to call themselves Amateur Mirrorless Photographer as they cannot see beyond that system. Their review of the Canon 90D referred to it as the last of its kind. Shame on them. I hope they continue to shed readers and then fold abruptly.

My K-1 will happily outlive them.

Metaphorically and literally...