Hi Jon Welcome a board. About the *ist D. The CF-door: The CF-card door is only a very small problem, althoug daily annoying. One problem is that the card is turned the wrong way, so it's a little tricky to get out. The card has no rim at the frint side, but at the back sidet. Other manufacturers have figuret this out. The card doesn't pop out when you press the botton. But that's good, because you otherwise would be prone to loose it. If Pentax had turned it 180 degrees, it would have been easy to use your thumb nail to draw it out. I do this anyway, but it not easy, and the camera must be tilted, which is a PITA if it's on a tripod. But I alwasy manaaged to get it out until now. The other problem is that the door is to close to the strap bracket, so the door hits the strap if you're not careful. Someday I'll brake the d... door!
The histogram: The *ist D does have a histogram, but only in play-back-mode, not at instant review. It's good, because then you can redo it - or keep it. I never use instant review anyway, because I don't like the flashing LCD-light in the cornor of my eyes. Luckily it can be turned off or the time adjusted. Historgram is used for exposure control. For important shots I often under expose 0.3-0.7 stops to stay clear of burned out high lights. If I shoot RAW I can correct this later without loosing any quality. Lenses You A-lens is fine, but due to the crop factor the AOV will be like a 54-153mm. That's OK but you'll need annother wide angle/wide angle zoom. A 18-35mm would be a perfect suplementary lens, allthough I think the Pentax version is to slow. So I am going for the Sigma 2.8/18-50mm for digital SLR's. K og M lenses are a little more tricky, because you must measure the light stopped dowwn, using the green botton. The missing aperture simulator is a step backwards in the history of camera making, IMO. Especially because there is not many A/FA lenses, - bellows, - converters etc. etc. available at the time. Reviews I guess when reviews judge a camera, they compare with others brands, to guess or tell buyers which one will sell and to whom (to guide the buyers). That's not really relevant to me, because I already own many Pentax lenses, bellows, flashes etc. So, I would not buy into annothe brand anyway, unless the *ist D was awful. If I was a pro, I'd probably buy a Canon, with CMOS technolgy wich uses less battery. Or I would consider a Sigma because of the many lenses available and a brilliant Foveon CCD (X3). But the *ist D is a brilliant camera, capeable of producing professioal photographs. Jens Bladt mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://hjem.get2net.dk/bladt -----Oprindelig meddelelse----- Fra: Jon Glass [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sendt: 20. november 2004 12:00 Til: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Emne: YA New User Hello folks- I also just joined, and have been lurking for the past couple of days. I've been a bit busy, so haven't taken the time to introduce myself until now. I am not currently a Pentax user, as I sold my Program Plus to pay for my impulse purchase to buy a Nikon Coolpix 990 a few months ago. However, I do still have some of my extra stuff--lens, motor winder, etc. I suppose it would be kind to share a bit about myself and photography. I fell in love with photography as a high school freshman, and bought my first camera, a Minolta SRT 100 with a 3x converter. That ancient camera served me well until 1985, when its shutter froze, and I then messed up the mirror trying to get it to work. All through high school, I had a B&W darkroom in our cellar. I shot almost exclusively black and white. I was without my own camera through most of college, but had a friend who was also a camera freak, but used Pentax equipment. He had an extra K1000 body, which I frequently used. When I graduated from college, I was able to get my Program Plus, which served me from 1989 until this year! Wonderful camera. For most of that time, of course, I was consumed with photographing my children, and some travel photography. However, a gift of a scanner changed that, and in the past year, I've been quite busy once again just enjoying photography for its own sake. I only miss the smell of the chemicals sometimes. ;-) Actually, I've joined the list loaded with questions. I've wanted the *ist D ever since they came out, but as you are all probably aware, some reviewers aren't particularly happy with it. Its main problems seem to come down to two: 1. The compact flash memory slot 2. Lack of histogram. I have read nothing on the web that indicates that a firmware upgrade fixed this problem, so I presume it's still an issue? (and a third, not so important it seems) 3. some odd ergonomic/interface quirks... For those of you who have used this camera extensively, how much of a problem are the two (three) above-mentioned issues? Also, are there any other weird problems you have had with the *istD that have bugged you more and more over time (more related to the third question)? I've appreciated all the comments recently regarding the comparison between the D70 and the istD. I see that the viewfinder is a big plus in the istD. That's good. I wear glasses, and think that the D70's problem in this area almost discludes it for me... However, I have one other, big question... How well does the istD work with manual focus lenses? I ask, because I have two lenses. The main glass is SMC Pentax A zoom, 35-105mm F: 1:3.5. I have long loved this lens, and can hardly bring myself to part with it! Will this lens work as a good main lens for some time? or should I consider getting a "proper" DA lens? I have to confess myself a rather fuddy-duddy when it comes to focus. I just prefer to focus myself. I don't really know why. I play with AF cameras often, and my Nikon CoolPix autofocuses, but in the end, I feel like it's one step too far removed for me. So, how would this camera work with this lens? Also, I have an older Chinon 135mm F 1:2.8 telephoto. It's a K mount (not KA), so I presume it will not work perfectly with the istD, but exactly what do I lose. I get a bit confused reading the reviews about these lenses... So, is there any advice, considered opinions, etc? Oh, and thanks for letting me speak up. (maybe it's bad form to introduce and ask in the same email. Sorry if it's a bad thing.) P.S. oh, and if anybody is interested, I have some photography up all over the web. But maybe I should post those links in another email? I noticed the PAW and PESO images, so I get the impression that displaying too many photos is not considered a good idea, so I want to know how much is too much before I start throwing links out. :-) P.P.S. Sorry for the long intro email... -- -Jon Glass Krakow, Poland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
