Tony wrote: That's hardly surprising, when the Pentax *ist D and Nikon D100 share the same sensor and much of the same electronics, including near-identical AF systems. The deal seems to be that Nikon get to sell surplus components (the sales of the D100 are disappointing), Pentax gets a DSLR without investing a lot of money,
REPLY: Interesting assumption but almost certainly wrong. Pentax and Nikon use the same sensor, but as sensors are a commodity and in this case made by Sony, it doesn't really imply anything except having identical subcontractors for some (probably several) parts. The AF system similarities is simply due to the fact that Pentax chief engineer for AF systems developed Nikon D2 AF system as well. I don't know if theres license agreements involved but thats not unlikely. Theres no reason to assume that theres anything Nikon in the Pentax; the common parts are Sony. The AF system of the new Nikon D2 is modelled on Pentax SAFOX 8 developed under the leadership of the same engineer. After all, Pentax *istD and the D100 compete head on with each other ad doesn't make any sense for any DSLR manufacturer to give the competition a "cheap camera" to sell. Pål
