*ist-D in DPReview Pentax Forum

[Mark Erickson]

Hi all, 

I've been lurking in the DPReview Pentax forum.  It's an interesting read.  
It looks like a number of brand-agnostic folks have compared the *ist-D 
head-to-head against the Canon 10D and Nikon D100 and have chosen the 
*ist-D.  This, along with the reviews that are being published, tells me 
that Pentax has a good shot of capturing significant market share in the 
DSLR business.  The DSLR world is a great chance for a fresh start for 
Pentax;  many DSLR buyers look to be moving up from cameras like the Canon G 
series and Sony F series.  They aren't bringing old-school-photographer 
prejudices with them.  Yeah, the K/M series issue is a drag, but how many of 
us do they have to worry about? 

On the other hand, some things haven't changed at all in the digital world.  
Some people seem to be quite happy dropping US$1700 on a new camera body and 
hanging a slow, cheap US$100 zoom on it.  Amazing.  In a way, Pentax seems 
to be encouraging this kind of behavior by creating a mediocre "kit lens" to 
go with the *ist-D. 

I'm not dropping the $$$ yet, but I anticipate that I will eventually.  
Anybody hang a *ist-D on the back of a big lens like a 500mm or 600mm beast? 
Seems like that would be the ultimate Pentax wildlife setup.... 

--Mark