buy a rebel digital. you can mount takumars on it no problem with a simple, non optical adapter ring. JCO
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- J.C. O'Connell mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://jcoconnell.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 5:47 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: 18MP vs Kodachrome Somebody was hoping that an 18MP digital camera would come along before Kodachrome went away. A date of 2 years was suggested as the date of Kodachrome's demise. (I'm not sure I agree here, although if I were Kodak I'd probably have killed it already). It was also suggested that it was unlikely that we'd see an 18MP DSLR within two years. I'm REALLY not sure about that. Canon's EOS1D at 11MP and Kodak's N14 at 14MP (both real, non-interpolated resolution) are about a year old. Nikon's D1x with 5.5MP of partially-interpolated resolution is maybe three years old and overdue for replacement. Supposing Nikon puts out a "D2X" at 10-12MP of real resolution at PMA this year (A lot of Nikon guys are really hoping to see that). Canon and Kodak may well answer with higher-resolution DSLRs which would put them in 18MP turf within 2 years. I'm not expecting to see an 18MP DSLR from PENTAX anytime soon, because with current technology such a camera from any manufacturer is going to cost about $10,000 and Pentax, unlike N and C, doesn't appear to have a lot of users who routinely spend that kind of money on their gear. What I'd love to see and more reasonably expect to see from Pentax in the next year or so is a "baby" *istD to compete with the Canon digital rebel and forthcoming Nikon D70 at the $900 price point. I've got this collection of SMC Takumars, see, and they won't mount on my Nikon digitals because the full-aperture metering lug bumps into the glass element necessary to get proper infinity focus with Pentax lenses on a Nikon camera. I can't really justify a *istD at $1500 but somehow a sub-$1000 pentax DSLR looks affordable. Of course if Kodachrome hangs on another 20 years, I can still shoot my Spotmatics... DJE
