What Mark said, in spades! And I would just add that the burying of control
features such as white balance and spot metering in the menu system in the
DS/DL variants was a big mistake, IMO. I modify these settings frequently
enough so that it would be a real PITA to have to work through the menu.
Two control wheels is also an excellent idea.
Initially, I bought two D's (out of the 600 that our Australian importers
ordered; that is a _lot_ for a country our size), one of which I later sold
to Tanja when she needed to go digital, and as she reported the other day,
it's still going strong over a year later and having shot 30+ weddings with
it. My experience is that all the kerfuffle about 'soft' images was due to
lack of understanding of the way to set it up, as I am more than happy with
the 11x14's I'm getting, even as inkjet prints. I don't find the AF slow
except in very low light indeed, and it does sometimes hunt when confronted
with fast-moving subjects coming towards me: however, if I know that's going
to be a problem, I revert to the classic technique of pre-focussing on a
spot. Write speed could be better, but I'd rather slow down and have the
quality obtainable with RAW files: for the sort of photos I take, burst
speed is not normally an issue.
Ergonomically, it and the MZ-S are the best cameras I have ever used, even
knocking my much-loved SV off the top spot..
And I find 45 focus points laughable: the CPU must spend a huge amount of
time analysing the optimum focus distance from all those inputs!
I may be missing something there though and I'd be happy for someone to
explain the benefits to me...
John Coyle
Brisbane, Australia
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Roberts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 7:46 AM
Subject: Re: Question: Should I buy an ist D?
I haven't tried the other Pentax digitals so I can't offer a comparison,
but I have been using an ist-D for two years now and can offer my
thoughts on that. This comes at a good time because I've been wanting to
put my thoughts on the subject into words for some time now and it seems
as if an opportunity has arisen here!
What occurred to me a couple of months ago was this: I believe that I've
gotten more satisfaction out of the ist-D than any other photographic
product I've ever purchased, lens or camera, film or digital. After two
years I still marvel at how good a product it is. Though I expect most
people on this list have a fairly low opinion of Popular Photography
magazine, Pop Photo really hit the nail on the head when they wrote that
the ist-D feels so well developed and thought out that it's hard to
believe it's Pentax's first production DSLR: Of course it's not perfect,
but functionally it works as well as you'd expect from a product in its
second or third iteration.
So high is my regard for this camera that my main concern about its
upcoming replacement is that Pentax doesn't screw up any of the things
is got really right with the ist-D. Of course we all know some of the
things we can expect from the replacement DSLR: More megapixels, lower
noise, bigger/faster buffer, in-camera image stabilization and probably
some other features that haven't leaked out yet. I just hope we don't
lose the things that make the ist-D such a winner: Separate aperture and
shutter speed control wheels, AA battery power, optional detachable
battery grip.
The battery thing is sheer brilliance, IMHO. With the battery grip
attached you get double the power supply and extra grip area and
leverage for big lenses. With the grip removed you get a diminutive
camera that you can carry along when other DSLR's would stay home. When
I was bicycling France last September the ist-D, usually with the little
43mm Limited, was hardly noticeable in the Tamrac bag slung around my
neck. Mid-week I tried to go one day too many without recharging the
batteries and the camera dies on me around 10:00 in the morning. So...
I'm in rural France on a bicycle and my DSLR's batteries have died. What
now? I just stop at a drug store in the next town we come to, buy four
AA lithium batteries and I'm off again.
The image quality, with good quality glass, continues to impress me. The
viewfinder is outstanding in its class. It accepts my 30-year-old Pentax
lenses. I can't say if anyone else will be happier with an ist-D than
any of the other Pentax DSLR's, but I can say that I have no plans to
part with mine even after I get the replacement model later this year.
--
Mark Roberts
Photography and writing
www.robertstech.com
