The *ist appears to be a very robust camera for its price and is supposed to have Pentax's latest and best autofocus. If autofocus is important to you, I would wait for that camera.
As far as those portrait and landscape modes, the *ist has them, but you can just ignore them. The don't really get in the way.
The one advanced feature that is very useful IMO is the high-speed flash sync. I use it all the time for outdoor portraits and snapshots. As far as I know, the only Pentax cameras that offer high-speed flash sync are the MZ-S, ZX-L and *ist. You have to buy the AF360-FGZ to get high-speed sync.
Michael
Levente -Levi- Littvay wrote:
Let me preface that I don't speak the language of advanced photography. My main camera happily works without batteries, and even if I put
batteries in them all it has is a light meter... (Pentax MX) I love
this, I can say I really learned photography with this guy and I am
usually getting satisfacorty results. The features on my MX (and backup
ME Super SE) and M series lenses is what I understand. Never have been
exposed to more. (I am absolutely serious... though I looked up what a
mirrir lockup means when I considered buying a KX, now that I think of
it I also know what multi exposure is :))
Let's say I want to upgrade. I know that A lenses allow the camera to automatically set apeture and the FA lenses can autofocus. But nothing more (like what the dif is between AF and AF2, etc.)
What camera should I get? Can someone compare the *ist to the models of choice from the MZ or ZX series. What are the features and differences between features or feel, what those features mean, how useful they are, etc.
Let me just say that I try to be serious about my photography so I prefer a camera with features that make sence to photographers and not bozos. Even if I can't use them now, I would rather learn pro features then set the camera to the "Portrait or Landscape" feature and let it do its thing. I can see from http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/ that the ZX-6, 7, 10, 30 50 has these features. I don't understand what these do but this sounds extremely fishy. Are these useful? Does the *ist have these? On the other hand I don't know what the rest (Av, M, P, Tv, Hm, etc.) mean either. I know there used to be a link to explanations but when I was doing only manual work I never bothered to read them. Now I can't find them...
I know that the answer could be the size of a novel but if you don't
mind punding it out... also if everyone just puts in their 2c worth I
can put it together... :))
Many Thanks from the rookie of modern photography.
L
