Don,
Answers interposed (all relate to the *ist D):
On Sun, 16 Oct 2005 08:27:05 +0100, Don Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
Hi all,
I am about to invest -- after all this time -- in a digital camera. In
the past I have had some really valuable help from old friends in this
group and now need more.
I'd like to use a Pentax *ist D or its smaller sibling because I have a
decent collection of Pentax lenses, a macro setup, and the body would go
onto the microscopes without any need for further engineering -- that
has all been done for other SLR bodies.
Sound decision!
Here are the questions:
Does the camera have mirror lock-up or some other anti-vibration feature?
You use the 2 second timer to lock the mirror up (like the PZ1-P).
Is the cable release an expensive addition?
Yes, but it terminates in a standard small jack plug. A man like you can
solder a new jack plug onto the end of an ordinary Pentax AF cable
release, which are often on Ebay. I cut my cable release, and put a
female DIN plug onto the end of it. This can connect to male DINs on two
cables, one of which has the Pentax AF plug, and the other the jack plug.
Will it work with the Vivitar 730AFPK Autofocus Zoom Flash I have for
the MZ50?
Almost certainly, I would think. The *ist D is functionally equivalent to
the MZ-S when it comes to flash.
Are there any weaknesses that have emerged over the few years the camera
has been on the market?
No. Most of the reported problems are either to do with unfamiliarity (new
owners), or bad batteries - poorly charged NiMHs in particular.
I'll be looking for a secondhand body and if anyone has such a thing I'd
be interested.
If they were bad cameras, you'd see a lot of second-hand ones on Ebay -
but you don't, so that says something! Here in the UK, new ones now sell
for the price of the DS.
JOhn
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