----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Larson" Subject: Hi all
> Hi folks, > Sorry for my leave of absence, just been busy with family and stuff. > I am trying to figure out what camera to get for the wife (birthday girl > soon). Her point and shoot is dying > and she is considering (with my help) a digital SLR. I was looking at a used > ist D for $399 at a local > shop and it looked brand new. It all started when we got a flyer in the mail > from said local shop which > had the D40 for $500. I need help !!!! The ist D really looked sweet, and I > think I could borrow it once in a > while and use my lenses on it, if that's possible. Is 6.1 MP enough for 8 X > 10's?? Yes, I am still shooting > with my LX. Welcome back Steve. Of all the ist series cameras, I like the istD the best, although it is the poorest performing one of the lot. It is very slow to write pictures to the card, which can be a trmendous annoyance. OTOH, it's picture quality is excellent, and I don't think Pentax has matched the build quality in anything they've put out since. It is also a very small camera, which is something I have grown to appreciate now that I am using a K20. The istD will mount any Pentax K mount lens of any age, and other than the standard caveats regarding Ricoh Ka-R mount lenses, any K mount lens will work on that camera, as will M42 lenses (with adaptor). I've made prints up to 16 x 50 inches from istD files (cropped to panoramic, not stitched exposures) with good results, and very good 12 x 18 prints straight out of the camera (in camera JPEGS, rather than RAW). There is a battery grip for the istD which makes it nicer to shoot with, especially verticals. The istD is battery sensitive. We used to have all sorts of complaints about the cameras doing weird things, to the point that the standard reply was to try AA Lithiums before sending the camera off for service. I gave up on NI-MH rechargables with the camera and started using CR-V3 batteries instead. No problems with the camera after that. I would certainly buy an istD over a Canon, just so that I could use Pentax lenses. If you can free up the funds, consider a new K200, or possibly a K10 if you can find one. Are you still boarding houses? William Robb -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
