Originally posted by rburgoss the salesperson literally said: "Forget it, the Nikon D40 is light years ahead of any Pentax stuff...."
Robert B
The thing that's so frustrating is that Nikon usually releases gear that has about the same specs and IQ as Pentax, but everybody acts like it's a big deal when it's from Nikon.
The d40 was roughly equivalent to the K110D, except the K110D had some extra features. Compare the hype and sales of the d40 to the K110D, or the K100D for that matter.
How many D80's sold compared to the K10D? Was the D80 really that much better? I doubt it from what I've read.
I'll also point out a couple of other things. Commission. Dpreview.
Commission is an obvious one.
And Dpreview has lots of influence on opinions. Right or wrong, it's a fact. If you want a chuckle or two, read the D200 review and the K10D review. In the D200 review, the default soft jpegs are noted but then dismissed as "normal" for the class. But similar looking soft jpegs out of the K10D are their biggest knock against it, and probably the main reason it barely squeaked by with a recommended. In fact, dpreview mentions that they adjusted jpeg settings to improve output from the D200 when compared with a Canon, to help the read better understand what the D200 was capable of. It's kind of funny. And read the kit lens reviews and scores too. Hilarious. So it's understandable when you read comments on dpreview forums about how pentax gear would be good if you could use it to actually take pictures with. A little stupid perhaps, but understandable, the posters are only aping what they've read on the site.