Best wishes, Roland
From: Alin Flaider <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 12:22:50 +0200
Well, today I took one hard look at the lens mount picture, trying to figure if there's the slightest difference from the KAF mount, and if not could a new mount go away with the existing KAF contacts?
Any of the supposedly new KAF3 features - electric diaphragm actuator, IS or USM - requires electric power to some degree. It needs a significant amperage just to be able to close the aperture blades. Now the *ist D mount lacks the gold plated power zoom contacts from KAF2 that would have empowered the above functions, so it has to do with what's left. Of the remaining contacts, only one is gold plated - the so called "AF contact" and this one is employed for the digital protocol transmission between lens and body, and while digital communication is possible over power lines, I seriously doubt Pentax would choose such a clumsy solution. All the other are simple electric contacts, none gold plated, none capable to sustain reliable electronic signals, so much the less to deliver electric power. They're here obviously only to form the KA part of the mount.
So the sad conclusion is the *ist D is, at least at this prototype stage, nothing more than a bland KAF camera. No IS, no USM, not even electric diaphragm actuator. Possibly no mechanical coupling for K mount, but this is not obvious, not from these pictures. This camera brings no new lens technology and it may very well be incompatible with old lenses. So what is it? The first of a new glorious series, waving the smallness as its unique attribute? Just another poor man's option? Either thought is horrifying.
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