Just uploaded 6 shots taken with the *ist-D this past weekend at Grandfather Mountain. They're medium resolution JPEGs of moderate physical size (horizontally-oriented shots are only 1000 pixels wide). No, I'm not going to upload the full 2000 x 3000 pixel images to my web site or email them out. I have time/bandwidth limitations!
Some notes: Between the very hazy atmospheric conditions and my unfamiliarity with the camera, I got the white balance screwed up. I corrected the shots somewhat with FilterSim and Photoshop. I have done levels adjustment and a little sharpening (which will have emphasized the noise somewhat). The camera was pre-production so final version firmware should be much better. I suspect the Powers That Be at Pentax let the rep borrow the camera they could most afford to spare - in other words, the earliest, buggiest one! Still, I was pretty much blown away by how it well it performed and the image quality. Ergonomics are superb for the most part. It's really small by film camera standards; tiny by DSLR standards. Powers up and comes on line really quickly! I didn't know how much the batteries had been used and, having no extras myself, decided to be very conservative with power, just to be safe. I turned the camera off between shots and turned it on when I wanted to shoot. Came on almost as quickly as a film camera. Viewfinder is great. Similar to MZ-S. Tom Van Veen said he liked the viewfinder a little better than his Canon 10D, which is itself better than the Nikon D100. AF is brilliant. Fast and accurate. Easy to choose AF points. I didn't try out the FAJ 18-35 lens - I just used my own Sigma 300/2.8, K15/3.5 and F100/2.8 macro, along with a borrowed 31mm Limited. The camera only meters wide open on the K lens and doesn't stop down the diaphragm when shooting. I loosened up the lens on the lens mount (not letting it click into place when mounting). This let it function as a stop-down diaphragm lens. I'm going to drill an additional lock-divot in the lens mount of my 15mm to allow this easily when I get my own *ist-D. I believe everyone who used the camera was very, very impressed with it. Can't think of any complaints other than the metering with K lenses. Pentax will probably find that sales are limited only by the rate at which Sony can supply them with CCDs. This camera rocks. http://www.robertstech.com/temp/IMGP0068.jpg File size: 269k Sigma EX300/2.8 APO ISO 400 http://www.robertstech.com/temp/IMGP0070.jpg File size: 194k Sigma EX300/2.8 APO ISO 400 http://www.robertstech.com/temp/IMGP0072.jpg File size: 228k Sigma EX300/2.8 APO + 2x teleconverter ISO 400 http://www.robertstech.com/temp/IMGP0075.jpg File size: 128k Pentax K-15/3.5 ISO 400 http://www.robertstech.com/temp/IMGP0082.jpg File size: 171k Pentax FA 31/1.8 Limited ISO 200 http://www.robertstech.com/temp/IMGP0087.jpg File size: 169k Pentax F-100/2.8 Macro ISO 200 -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
