Originally posted by DIGIDOWNUNDER I seriously think you should only listen to people that have owned both. Anything else is purely just hypothesis.
Fellow Aussie Ed Husrt's comments mirrors mine pretty closely in using both. First thing I did was try to get a scene color matched but never could quite get the Z to look exactly like the D, even after considerable tweaking. There is a luminant glow to The D CCD sensor which I find particularly appealing for landscapes despite the lower dynamic range. I tend to use the Z more for professional portraits and commercial work but grab the D for personal work or landscapes. Even though I've got the latest glass I really enjoy using more my D with modified microprism/ split focusing screen and the old A series 35,75,150 & 200 lenses in a pretty compact travel bag. The old A lenses combined with the D is I think Pentax's best kept secret.
I agree with much of this post, but I will also say that it underlines the use-case scenario. In my professional work, "pleasing" really isn't the goal. Accuracy is, and that cannot be achieved with OOC results no matter how you shoot. I won't go into why here, but people doing product photography that requires accuracy (and I throw in fine arts repro, a subset) will already know what I mean.
OTOH, "pleasing" may indeed be the prime goal for many shooters, and so everything must be optimized for that. But note here that "pleasing" is a subjective criterion---which does not mean illegitimate!----and so it's something that the maker needs to assess holistically in all ways. If you throw in viewer response, then things can get complex fast.
Some commercial work may require "pleasing" or something else---just look at fashion photography as an example. So the maker really needs to carefully parse what's needed. I reject the idea that CCD colors are "superior" to CMOS. No doubt they are different.