Originally posted by Azergoth Ricoh is choosing carefully where to concentrate the efforts, but then don't market (sorry for the swear) high end video capabilities without good image quality.
I get your point too, but Ricoh isn't marketing the K3, K3II, K1 etc. as video cameras (just like Sony didn't market that video camera as a stills camera, but they provided a stills capture mode anyhow). They clearly state the video capture features in the specifications and leave it up to us to decide whether that's good enough for our intended use. Most of us (you included, I'm sure) picked our Pentax DSLRs for stills photography, and the video capabilities are fine for casual use. The tagline for the Pentax K3II on Ricoh's UK website is "The best
photo camera for expedition shooting". I don't see anything in Ricoh's marketing blurb that makes any great claims for video capabilities; that section you quoted in your edit isn't called out by them as a big reason to buy the camera. If we're being picky, maybe they should have left out the word "professional", but anyone who knows video will know from the specs what to expect.
EDIT: Oh, take a look at these videos:
www.vimeo.com/mimesisfilmworks - they were produced by one of the members here with some of his colleagues, and much of the content was shot with K-3 and K-30 cameras. Make sure you view in HD and full screen. Not bad, eh?
EDIT 2: Also on Ricoh Imaging's UK website, in the several pages of feature descriptions, there is one small section which reads as follows:
Smoothly record quick movement in Full HD movies
Capture subjects changing over time with the automatic timer
Utilize the rich lineup of interchangeable lenses including fisheye and super-telephoto to capture impressive Full HD 60i/30p movies. You can use artistic functions such as Custom Image and Digital Filter, easily edit images with the camera, and also record stereo audio with an external microphone.
*File format is MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and MOV.
That's the entire mention of video for the K3II... so, they're clearly not pushing it as a primary feature of the camera. It's mentioned in there along with stuff like digital filters etc.!