I played with one yesterday while discussing the D with my friend who works at the local Enabler shop. It's cute, I suppose, and handles nicely, but I HATED the interface for setting shutter speed and aperture, having been used to the Z1p's lovely layout (the Tv and Av wheels, echoed so considerately on the *istD). I do like the placement of the DOF preview feature, which, on other bodies, has always seemed somewhat out of the way to me.
Another gripe I noticed in the few minutes I played with it was the loud "ZZZZZZZZIIIIIIIIP!!!" it makes when you release the shutter, almost like the sound of those kiddies' toy cars with the flywheels and gears inside them (you know, the ones where you push them on the table and get the internal mechanism spinning, and then they keep going for a couple of yards with all that energy stored in the flywheel). Not bad outside or in crowded places with lots of talking going on, but WAY too loud to be unobtrusive in a quiet setting, and, subjectively, smacking of plastic and cheapness and barely-adequate motors. Now, as someone on this list has said (and I agree), plastic is not automatically a cheap substitute anymore. I am a fan of *good* plastic construction, for weight issues, resilience, and the like. However, I don't like the nagging feeling that the machine I'm using is fragile. My preference would be to get a used MZ-5N or -3, although I am sure that some will disagree. I had a 5N for a couple of years, and it was supremely intuitive in its interface, being essentially like the manual SLRs we're all on such intimate terms with. In the end, if you like how it feels and how its interface works, then go for it, because that's all that matters. BTW, the Batt. Grip makes it MUCH easier to handle, IMO. I find the Pentax bodies a little hard to deal with because of their small vertical dimension - I like to have more space for my hand. -----Original Message----- From: Cari Spano [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 19-Oct-03 15:56 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: *ist 35mm Has anyone used the *ist 35mm camera? I currently own the SF1 which I have had since about 1987 and I am thinking about buying a newer Pentax. I would love to hear some input on it. I would love to have the *istd but that is way out of my price range. Thanks for your input, Cari
