Thinking of getting a Pentax

[dragonfly_mum]

I'm new the the Digital SLR world and I haven't decided for certain what I want yet but I saw this on my local Craigslist and like that it is a Pentax.

Pentax Ist DL 6mp DSLR with Pentax 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 sandisk extreme II 2gb card -300$

It seems to be a pretty decent deal. I'm liking that it's a Pentax but it's beginning to be an "older" model. Can someone let me know their thoughts on this camera and this deal (is it too good?)

I'll copy a little blurb about what I am looking for so that you can let me know if this camera will provide it:

I bought my FinePix A800 when it was new on the market and have had fun with it but feel that I have pretty much reached the limit of what it can do. The load I find that it takes too long to actually take the photo (so I miss the moment I was trying to capture) or the load time between photos is too long. I changed batteries and it is the same deal. I'm also looking for something that I can manually focus and that has a higher optical optical zoom. Megapixals are not a huge priority for me as I don't intended to be blowing up the photos and certainly not more than 8 x 10 s and then very rarely. Right now my main subjects are my two children and my cats. I refuse, refuse to pose them so I need something that is good for capturing kids on the go. I do a lot of natural light "sessions" but it is nice to have something that works decently well at night (NOT the finepix A800 *lol*). I will be moving to a most magnificient area so I imagine that I will start taking photos of nature and wildlife. I'd like to eventually take some courses so something that would allow me to upgrade or give me enough functionality to do that. Unfortunately my price would pretty much be maximum 500 dollars...600 if I REALLY stretch it (especially since I just killed my last one).

Thanks!!

[GX 1L]

This is pretty much the exact same camera, made by pentax but branded samsung. I recently bought this camera from this company and it is an unbelievable deal. I don't mind that it is a previous generation. Even though it is a samsung, it will take all of the pentax lenses and most accessories. This camera arrived new and in perfect condition and shipped quickly.

http://www.dollarrite.com/samsung-63...gx1l-4352.html

[hollis]

I reallly liked my Samsung GX-1S (same as a Pentax ist DS2)
+ regular batteries
+ small but solid build
+ auto flash that was pretty useful
overall a great lil camera :thumbsup:

[danic]

Pentax make some great camera's, as well as some good lenses. I have a K100D Super, which is a little more advanced, but not much.


Great camera, you won't regret buying it :thumbsup:

[ken1953]

Hi Dragonfly...I seem to be the resident ist DL'er...I own 2 of them and would pit them against any on the market. Well that was before I opened one of them in the rain and got water spots on the sensor and let the other one bounce down the freeway at 60 mph. However, I do plan on sending them in to Pentax and having them repaired. That's how much I love these camera's. One is my wifes the other is mine.
As for the price. I'm thinking that is a bit high since the camera in getting pretty old as DSLR's go.
Not to turn you away from this deal, but look at this link I'm Jumping Ship from spiraleyes for a good deal on a K10D and some lenses.
If you'd like to check out the damage that the freeway did to my wife's camera, check out this link Not for the weak of heart!!! . You won't believe it, but it's true!!! Very durable camera!!!
Good luck on what you decide and please keep us up to date.

[GX 1L]

Hi Dragonfly...I seem to be the resident ist DL'er...I own 2 of them and would pit them against any on the market. Well that was before I opened one of them in the rain and got water spots on the sensor and let the other one bounce down the freeway at 60 mph. However, I do plan on sending them in to Pentax and having them repaired. That's how much I love these camera's. One is my wifes the other is mine.
As for the price. I'm thinking that is a bit high since the camera in getting pretty old as DSLR's go.
Not to turn you away from this deal, but look at this link I'm Jumping Ship from spiraleyes for a good deal on a K10D and some lenses.
If you'd like to check out the damage that the freeway did to my wife's camera, check out this link Not for the weak of heart!!! . You won't believe it, but it's true!!! Very durable camera!!!
Good luck on what you decide and please keep us up to date.

I have been lurking here and read your story, you must have felt sick when that camera went flying off of your car!

I have had my eye on entry level dslr for a while and had made up my mind on pentax, well as you can see from above I settled with the samsung name, I didn't think that I would be upgrading so soon, but couldn't pass up the deal. I have only had it a short time, but I love this camera even if it doesn't say pentax on it! I have to say that the build quality seems stellar with this camera, and of all the dslr that I have fidgeted with I like this one the most.

I am still very amateur but am learning, slow but sure. I learned the manual settings on my canon S3IS, and as much as I love that point and shoot, this one just does everything better.

I hope a Samsung (faux pentax) guy can hang around with y'all!

[ken1953]

Hi GX and yes...Welcome to PR and the Pentax Forum...
I'll tell you what...when I heard that first bump of it bouncing on the roof, I knew what it was. And when I looked in the rear view and saw it bouncing down the freeway, I felt like driving into a brick wall!!! I didn't even have to look at my wife to see the look on her face. Anyway...I'm saving to get it fixed or get her a K20D or something, but it will be a Pentax for sure.
As for your Samsung, we welcome all photographers. I'm currently shooting with a Kodak P/S. Of course, I actually started with a Kodak P/S.
It was my involvement here at PR that has taught me most of what I know about photography. I hope we can do the same for you.
Good luck and good shooting

[GX 1L]

I can certainly understand about being on a budget, it must be killin' ya waiting to get the cameras fixed! That's why I jumped on the samsung I am very careful with my money especially in this difficult economy, and honestly I didn't think that I would be able to make the jump to a dslr for a couple of years.

I love kodak digicams for their ease of use, I also find their images very nice. It is more about the person behind the camera than the camera, but of course you know that!

I thought after my first post that it would be deleted because after posting it, I thought well now you look like a spammer, LOL. I just wanted to share this deal with somebody. I have also noticed that on amazon that the *ist dl is $369, good price.

I am playing around with a few lenses from my dad's old K1000.