Dear Michael,
The issue may be that people are used to typical web reviews that list specs and features and do comparisons.
I think the true reason is that readers have the feeling that the camera never had a chance to light your fire. It was in competition with other gear you had to evaluate at the time and while we do not know what that gear was, clearly it was more up your alley than the K-7. Perhaps because it was better tailored to your preferences, perhaps it was sitting at a much higher price point. We have no idea.
But what any reader can easily infer that the whole report smacks of "This isn't the type of camera I'm interested in and I won't try to put myself into the position of a reader who might be in the market for such a camera".
Now if you only ran your private blog, your opinion piece that obviously lacks determination to try and evaluate the camera from a perspective and situation that is different from your personal one wouldn't be a problem.
However, you run a widely respected and widely read site where people expect to receive information. Information useful to them, which implies that most of the time money will be a concern and they won't be surrounded by gear that drives circles around a camera in the class of a K-7.
Because of that, I believe when publishing a review or hands-on you have the responsibility to either fully disclose that you don't normally use cameras like the K-7 and doing the hands-on for the K-7 was very low on your priority list, or try to put yourself into the position of a reader who is in the market for a K-7.
As I see it, by stating to have a "weak spot" for Pentax but then failing to get excited about their best DSLR ever, you practically creating damage for the brand. No beating around the bush about that.
I believe you haven't explored the camera sufficiently to justify the conclusion you came to. Here are some unique selling points:
- Availability of the Limited lenses
(elsewhere your site praises these a lot; your hands-on ignores the fact that the K-7 is the best camera to use them)
- Access to millions of old Pentax lenses
- Electronic horizon (correction)
(how many of use have to frequently correct crooked horizons in PP?
This feature is a godsend for people like me.)
- Rotational shake correction
(try asking Canon/Nikon to implement that...
you might be a tripod user only, but not everyone is)
- Composition adjustment feature
(this is for tripod users...)
- Cold resistant (to 14° F or -10° C)
(any other manufacturer guranteeing that?)
- Hyperprogramme shooting mode
Did you know about all of these and tried them? We cannot read anything about most of these unique features in your report. I'm not suggesting a "hands-on" should be feature list run down, not at all. But there are some unique features of the K-7 you seemed to have ignored.
The following properties can also be found in other models:
- magnesium alloy body
- 100% viewfinder
- top sensor resolution
(I believe only the Canon 7D has neglibly more resolution
but lacks body-based shake reduction). - very quite shutter
- weather-sealed body and weather-sealed kit lens
- in body image stabilisation
- lens correction
- HD-video
- mirror-lock up function
- embedded copyright feature
- DNG support
but what other camera offers them all in on package at this price point???
No unique selling point???
In his LL "istD" review Mike Johnston wrote:
"
While it may not do any one thing the absolute best, it does everything well, in a simple, straightforward, ergonomically sound, and conservatively designed package.'"
Apparently, this way of thinking is no longer applied.
What would the K-7 would have done to excite you? Be bigger? Be a rangefinder or medium-format camera?
I believe given your situation it would have been better to decline writing a report.
Various comments made in other forums:
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-...-k-7-prove.htmlhttp://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat...0482&page=1show how many feel that the K-7 hands-on report doesn't meet the standard luminous landscapes editorial level.