Part was in the K1000, a $150 RETAIL camera for 20 years. All the aperture cam sensor is a a small spring loaded potentiometer. It doesn't need to be linked to mirror or transport mechanism. It needs no mechanical energy. It is an extremely simple electronic/mechanical device. The computer hardware and software to read the value of the pot, and hence calculate the relative aperture is trivial. These things are called positional sensors and the accuracy needed for the application is relatively low so it is very CHEAP. JCO
-----Original Message----- From: William Robb [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2004 6:14 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: istDs - what a great camera! ----- Original Message ----- From: "J. C. O'Connell" Subject: RE: istDs - what a great camera! > Slowing down the exposure process is luxury? > Reducing the metering range is a luxury? > If you want to think, go manual. AE is > about speed and the green button is > not fast as true AE. Open aperure metered > manual would be better than the green > button mode if you want to slow down and think > and don't need the speed of true AE. Glad to see some things never change. This horse is not only dead, it's corpse is laying feet up in the pasture with it's bones picked half clean. And still we beat it. Has anyone actually got any hard factual technical information about development and manufacture costs, as well as technical data regarding issues revolving around including the aperture estimator and it's related bits? Perhaps an in company published cost/ benefit analysis? Or are we still just pissing random numbers and bleating? Since buying the istD I have bought 4 new lenses. Good for Pentax, I guess. OTOH, buying some new glass every 30 years or so isn't such a big deal. The green button fix for pre-A operation isn't a big deal either, though it is certainly not as nice as the auto operation on an LX (as an example). OTOH, the auto operation on the LX is fraught with it's own set of perils........ William Robb
