i was out shooting today with my *istD. for the first time since i bought it, i was taking pictures on a planned outing specifically to take pictures for my stock photography, and because i like taking these pictures anyway. all the other pictures i have taken in the past two weeks since i picked mine up have been for familiarizing myself with the camera and testing that it works.
i like the way it handles, but i still think it is heavier by a lot than i would like to have with me on one of my backcountry outings. despite this, i will take it on those kinds of trips because i would rather not take my film cameras. i seldom shoot bracketing exposures on digital like i do on film because i know by reviewing whether i was close enough or not. if it's not obvious from the preview, i check the histogram. on the other hand, i take more compositions and do more experiments than i would if i were shooting film because i am not counting the cost of processing nor the hassle of changing film at awkward times. not starting a new roll of film for just a couple of shots used to happen a lot. the net is that i take about the same total number of frames, but it represents nearly twice as many compositions. NiMH batteries really fare poorly in cold weather. it wasn't especially cold where i was today, but the colder temps made the batteries show a low when there was quite a bit of capacity left. i ended up swapping with batteries in my pockets a couple of times. the FA 24-90 f3.5-4.5 does well, is handy, and so on, but at an effective FOV of a 35mm lens on film, it's simply not wide enough for my normal shooting. the Sigma 15-30 does a decent job, but it vignettes slightly at f22 with the lens cover on but no cap. putting a normal polarizing filter on the cover vignettes very noticeably at the corners. however, it's not so horrible that i can't crop it out. i guess that is what i will end up doing. i need a 15/16mm lens that lets me put on a circular polarizer without vignetting. i ran into a well heeled Canon amateur, someone that knows what they are doing, is wealthy, but still considers it a hobby. they were toting a Canon 1DS and a lot of top of the line Canon glass, including one of their shift lenses. we were taking pictures of a waterfall with having to look up at it. the tilt would fix the convergence problem. he says that he has sold all his medium format gear and is very seriously planning to sell all his 4x5 gear because it's simply not better than what the 1DS delivers for a whole lot less hassle and about the same cost. he can't do some of the fancy tilts and swings that he can on his view camera, but he simply never did it much anyway, so having the Canon tilt lens gives him the most of the control he actually used from his 4x5. i had my *ist with me with a partial roll of Provia 100F that i finished off. i took three compositions and that was it. the only thing i miss about using a film body is the wider FOV of my wide angle lenses. unless i am using my FA 50 f2.8 macro or my FA* 80-200 f2.8, i don't see in my 4000 DPI scans much of the advantage of film over digital. i also have software to compensate for the "only" 6MP resolution of the *istD and take it to closer to a 10MP resolution result. that's not equivalent to what i get straight out of the camera from the two lenses i named, but it is enough to make it essentially identical to what i get out of my FA 24-90 f3.5-4.5 and my FA* 24 f2.0 on film after i scan but before i apply any sharpening. it does mean that for any magazine i work with, the raw 6MP is already good enough and that 10MP or so is far more than they need. yes, shooting slide film still gives me more, if i am willing to carry the highest quality lenses with me to make sure that i realize it. more and more often, it's not going to be worth the hassle to carry the second body and the film. i expect in 2 years or less, Pentax is going to announce a replacement for the *istD, assuming they are still a viable company in the market, and it will be 10-12 megapixel APS model. at that point, i see no reason to continue to use film anymore. if they can't announce an upgrade of this type, then i will think seriously of going elsewhere. Herb...
