[storm]

CR reviewed the latest batch of DLSRs, and Pentax came out at the bottom. This is very surprising given the following:

-Many major publications have had nothing but good things to say about the K10D
-The K10D scores far below the Nikon D80 and D200 (surprisingly the D80 is rated 2nd, the D200 4th).
-The Sonly Alpha received a high score, despite having known issues with noise

I was hoping Pentax would do better, but in reality, I wonder what the tests involved, there are no specific details. We all know that the image quality, features, and usability of the K10D should be much better than the Alpha.

I'm disheartened since many people take CR's ratings seriously, and this could hurt Pentax's sales when mainstream buyers are considering a camera. The enthusiasts on the other hand, they'll hopefully make the *right* choice

[benjikan]

CR reviewed the latest batch of DLSRs, and Pentax came out at the bottom. This is very surprising given the following:

-Many major publications have had nothing but good things to say about the K10D
-The K10D scores far below the Nikon D80 and D200 (surprisingly the D80 is rated 2nd, the D200 4th).
-The Sonly Alpha received a high score, despite having known issues with noise

I was hoping Pentax would do better, but in reality, I wonder what the tests involved, there are no specific details. We all know that the image quality, features, and usability of the K10D should be much better than the Alpha.

I'm disheartened since many people take CR's ratings seriously, and this could hurt Pentax's sales when mainstream buyers are considering a camera. The enthusiasts on the other hand, they'll hopefully make the *right* choice

Who advertises in the magazine?

[maleek]

That's surprising. But knowing that the K10D has recieved great press (in Europe), and probably in the USA as well, I am not that worried. Yes, it is a pity that they rate the K10D in the bottom. But in reality the word is already out that this is not the case. Then there's the issue of bloody bias, which when it rears it's ugly head results in fanboy-ism. (Ooh, nothing beats the Canon/Nikon/insert brand of choice here).

But you are probably right that that much (non-photomag) press like this might alienate Pentax from regular folks.

Btw, I happen to like the Alpha, aside from noise it's quite a good camera (to my mind). I have a family member who owns one, so I've had the chance of comparing it with my K100D (they are in different price catagories, so it's not quite fair, but nonetheless I prefer my camera, probably cause I have gotten around to learn the manual controls now).

[PeterAM]

Consumer Reports doesn't take advertising. Haven't seen the report, but it's unfortunate as many consumers use it a "bible" for making purchasing decisions.

[benjikan]

Consumer Reports doesn't take advertising. Haven't seen the report, but it's unfortunate as many consumers use it a "bible" for making purchasing decisions.

Can someone get me the e-mail address..I have some buttons to push

[jasko]

Not particularly surprising to me. I have found that my tastes and CR are as often as not, quite different.

[cbrfreak]

There seems to be a learning curve when using the K10 unless you are shooting RAW... I wonder if that had anything to do with the ranking? It took me a few days to figure the camera out and get past the learning curve. Now, I doubt I could shoot better photos with ANY camera. And I'm slowly learning PP with RAW files.

[storm]

Can someone get me the e-mail address..I have some buttons to push

I believe you need a subscription, their website is at ConsumerReports.org - Consumer Reports: Ratings, Buying Guides & Product Reviews.

They are extremely well known as they don't take advertising, and claim to be unbiased. I believe that this is extremely beneficial when there is "hard data" to be tracked such as the number of defects in a car, or problems over 5 years. Defect rate of Plasma televisions, etc.

However, this isn't very useful when the product being tested is quite subjective to personal tastes (high end DSLRs, taste tests, etc.). What may be pleasing to me may not be pleasing at all to someone else.

FWIW, Pentax received the same score on image quality as nearly every other DSLR. But that just makes the argument more confusing, since it mainly means that the cameras were rated poorly for reasons which much be subjective and not measurable.

[storm]

I started another thread in the lens section relating to CRs very poor rating of Pentax's 18-55mm lens. Is it really that poor compared to the kit lenses included with Nikon and Canon?

Other reviews seemed to indicate that Pentax's kit lens was quite comparable to the others.

[jasko]

FWIW, Pentax received the same score on image quality as nearly every other DSLR. But that just makes the argument more confusing, since it mainly means that the cameras were rated poorly for reasons which much be subjective and not measurable.

This is what I suspected, but since I no longer subscribe, couldn't comment to that effect.

[carpents]

'Consumer' Reports is a terrible organization and a worthless magazine for everything except the most banal products. They regard the cheap over the expensive, and 'dumbed down' products over feature-rich ones. (Think the Rolex will score better than the Timex? Think again!) The worst part is that they tout their independence and balance - when we all know that barring some double-blind tests there will always be subjectivity and bias.

Yes, there could even be pro-Pentax bias in their reviewers - but it is much more likely that there are long-time Canon or Nikon users in their group who (surprise!) find the controls on those cameras easier to use out-of-the-box. Duh.


Let them stick to determining the best toothpaste. I'll listen to photographers when it comes to cameras.

[Arpe]

Yes I have often found that the local Consumer organisation here and I disagree on things techie. They preferred the Canon 300D over the Pentax Ds, no way! I've stopped the subscription now.

[Driver3]

I actually posted on the CS camera forum and ripped them. ALL the cameras have the same objective ratings. It's the subjective ratings where they felt the Pentax were behind. They rated the D40/D40X at the top of the heap.
NONE of the subjective ratings were explained and the lens test wa a complete joke.
I posted they should stick to rating washers and dryers.Two of the guys involved in the review posted to the original post and really had nothing to say about my observations.
This crap was after they got caught publishing a bogus car review that was performed by an independent contractor. They are rapidly losing what credibility they had left.

[Mallee Boy]

Its a wet wet day here (yahoo!!)....so this is a really good thread for an office bound bloke.....

Not having read the review and apparently being unable to do so unless one subscribes, its difficult to make an objective comment.
However......that doesn't stop one from being subjective. :ugh:

I would hope that anyone buying a dslr would be doing their homework on a number of fronts and taking a range of opinions into account, so one negative 'review' in amongst many postives should probably only make them look a bit harder, which is no bad thing (because of the many postives out there).

More importantly, the question is, to the K10D owners (of which I am not one) is....are you happy with your purchase? and if you had your time over again, would you do the same thing? It would appear that the overwhelming response would be yes.

Afterall, is there a really bad current model dslr on the market at the moment? I don't think so, it appears that each has it strengths and weaknesses within various price brackets.

It all comes back to homework, and knowing what you want in the first place. The one thing that amuses me most is people buying a dslr when they simply do not understand what they are buying, and then complaining about the cameras features and performance.

Cheers
Grant

[kenyee]

The dpreview pentax forum was up in arms when Phil gave the K10D an ok review. I'm not sure why they care. If it doesn't meet your needs, don't buy it...no need to have someone give it good reviews so you feel better about your decision :-)