I knew I was paying a premium by buying the *ist-D locally, but I want to be able to get service from them later, and what better way than to make them realize that there is at least one person in Iceland who buys Pentax. But they don't stock a lot of Pentax gear, so it's faster and cheaper to buy accessories from the Web. The reason they don't push Pentax more is partly because of Pentax's marketing department, which hasn't been very aggressive, and partly because the Pentax reseller here is also the main reseller for Fuji, and makes most of it's money from that.
And I'm not really sure I own the only *ist-D in the country. It was just a handy excuse for having to buy one. Incidentally, my friend paid me a visit last night and I happened to read your reply as we sat by the computer, uploading some pictures I took for his store from the*ist-D. It turns out that Bjork is a semi-regular customer at his store. My girlfriend was nearby, and she told us that Bjork and she had been together in class for most of elementary school (Bjork was considered very weird even then). Small world, isn't it? And on a related note, I was going to ask you if you wanted any of Bjork's CD's that are perhaps not available where you live. But, since you said you liked Bjork but not her music I won't offer any help :-) Also, thanks for the offer to help me spend my idle money, but my girlfriend has already taken care of that nagging problem for me. Thrainn On Monday 15 December 2003 23:15, frank theriault wrote: > Hi, Thrainn, > > Well, that's all very cool! > > I don't blame you for ordering the grip from B&H. You've already done your > local camera shop a big favour by undoubtedly paying a premium by buying > the body from them, so that's a Good Thing you did. Waiting more months > for the boatload of grips to arrive in Iceland is not an option, if you can > get one cheaper and faster. > > And, to think you have the only *istD in the country! Unless, that is, > someone already bought one on-line. Or maybe someone who travels a lot, > like Bjork, bought one while on tour and brought it back with her. Sorry, > I just really like Bjork (not her music, but her), so I had to work her in > there somewhere, but I think we already had a "frank likes Bjork" convo, > because didn't you say you saw her walking around once? But, I digress... > > So, we'll work on the assumption that you ~do~ have the only one in the > country, which is terrific, and I'm glad you're enjoying it. > > Hopefully you'll find other wonderful ways to spend all that money you > have. If you need any help in that regard, contact me off-list. <vbg> > > cheers, > frank > > "The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The > pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer > > > > > From: Thrainn Vigfusson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Subject: Enabled > >Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 00:24:04 +0000 > > > >I happened to walk into my Pentax store last Monday and asked if the new > >*ist-D had arrived. It had (only just), and after playing with it for > > about 45 minutes, I bought it. Only the body, though. They hadn't > > received an FAJ lens, nor a battery grip. > > > >There were three reasons for this: > >1) It was very nice to hold and to use, even without the battery grip. I > >have > >battery grips on both my MZ-5n and MZ-S and find them handle much better > >that > >way. I was also able to find out how to do everything I could think of > >without looking at the manual, even without hardly having used a digital > >camera before. > >2) They had only recieved one specimen (and the salesmen had only just > >taken > >it out of the box to look at it). After waiting several months, I didn't > >feel > >like waiting a few more for the next one to arrive in Iceland. I felt > >almost > >sorry for the salesman, as he appeared very excited about it, and wanted > > to play with it a lot more. > >3) I had just been paid the final payment for an apartment I sold last > >summer > >and had a whole lot of money doing nothing on my bank account (except > >collecting interest). > > > >This all means that I now own the only Pentax *ist-D in the country. > > What's more, I am now a member of both subgroups of the PDML, the > > brotherhood and the *isDerhood. > > > >While I feel I should support my local camera shops by doing business with > >them (at least on the more expensive items), I went right ahead and > > ordered the battery grip (and FA 50mm f/1.4) from B&H. Since I had to > > wait this long > >to see the camera, imagine how long I'd have to wait for the battery grip? > > > >So far I'm very happy with the *ist-D. I've only used it for indoor shots, > >since I've been too busy to go out during the few hours of daylight each > >day. > >I find being able to change the ISO value on the fly to be very > > convenient, and the high ISO values to be much less noisy than I had > > feared (and certainly less than I've seen from high speed films). I have > > the AF-360 FGZ flash, and I find it very easy to use with the *ist-D. The > > area I find the *ist-D best to use is in macro photography. I have a F > > 100mm Macro lens and bellows, and the *ist-D is a joy to use with them. > > Since I don't have a cable > >release for the *ist-D I use the 2 second pseudo mirror lock-up feature. I > >have a cable release for the bellows, and use it to close down the > > aperture beforehand. The *ist-D corrects the shutter speed accordingly. > > > >As far as image quality goes, the *ist-D doesn't match good slide film, > > but is > >certainly good enough to be printed at A4 (some photos even larger). For > >the > >majority of my photos, that's good enough. I have a Canon FS-4000 film > >scanner that I use to scan my 35mm film. I notice more detail (and more > >noise) on my computer screen from the scans than from the *ist-D, but > > these don't really transfer that well to paper, at least if you don't put > > your nose > >right up to it. > > > >I won't stop using film even though I have an *ist-D, but I suspect I'll > >use > >much less, saving my film use for the more "important" occasions. I'll > >certainly use the Pentax 6x7 as much as before, since black and white MF > >negatives have a quality of their own. I'll also continue to process my > > 6x7 photos the old fashioned way, i.e. enlarge the prints in the > > darkroom. > > > >And finally, all this should be taken with a grain of salt, as I've only > >owned > >the *ist-D for 6 (hectic) days, and my 6x7 only for 4 months. > > > >Thrainn > > _________________________________________________________________ > Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online > http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
