Not the latest or hottest Canon…
Not the latest or hottest Nikon…
Not the king of the high-megapixel race…
Rather, a PENTAX *ist D!:thumbsup:
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Yesterday evening, a friend who is a retired pro photographer handed down to me a used *ist D – in excellent condition (except for a dead built-in flash). He also gave me three lenses, an external flash, 2X tele-converter, macro-specialized tripod, and a large camera bag.
After firing off a few indoor “test” shots, and walking around with the camera, I immediately noticed several different things compared to my FZ7K:
• Size! Very noticeably larger and heavier.
• Viewfinder size, sharpness, and clearness.
• Bigger & yet comfortable handgrip – enough room to include the “pinky” finger.
• Zoom/MF rings.
• Loud sound everytime a photo is taken. (Think it's called "mirror-slap").
• Wow – incredibly low noise at high ISO’s!
• Also, the *ist D has the ON/OFF switch right around the shutter button. Since with the FZ7K I am used to zooming by means of a “zoom rocker” in the exact same position – slightly weird since I might end up turning the PENTAX camera off when trying to zoom. I’m sure this problem will go away after a while, though.
Can’t wait for the raining to stop to go outside and try out my new gear…
#1. *ist D with TAKUMAR-A ZOOM 1:3.5~4.5 28~80mm lens.
#2. *ist D with TAKUMAR-A ZOOM 1:3.5~4.5 28~80mm lens and PENTAX AF-330 FTZ flash.
#3 -
• *ist D. (Center).
• TAKUMAR-A ZOOM 1:3.5~4.5 28~80mm lens. (Mounted on camera).
• PENTAX SMC PENTAX-F 1:2.8 100mm MACRO lens. (Far right).
• 2X MC7 TAMRON-F AF TELE-CONVERTER. (Front right).
• PENTAX AF-330 FTZ flash. (Front left).
• SMC PENTAX-A* 1:4 300mm lens (Far left).
I'll try to post real “samples” as soon as possible. With the macro lens this'll be easier, since I might find stuff to photograph around the house. But the 300mm/2X will definitely have to wait for the weather to clear up.
Anyway, just wanted to share this big news (for me), and am looking forward to browsing/posting more in the PENTAX forum.