On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 11:14:04 -0400, you wrote: >I am the proud owner of an *istD. Just a few questions. > >1.) Is digital photography better than film photography? >
Yes. It's better. It just is. In about a week, or 4000 photos from know, you'll know why. Kiss that poor PZ1p goodbye, it is headed for a lonely life, languishing seldom used in the equipment drawer with all the old soft lenses that seemed like such a bargain at the time, and 4-element 2x teleconverters, and extra 50mm lenses; a camera too good to get rid of but now suddenly requires an expensive consumable which was never before really a factor, just a fact of life. Let's trade pics of our PZ1ps, put them together with the cameras, maybe they won't be so lonely at night. >2.) So, how does this thing work? > Good enough, but as with all Pentax cameras, Pentax for some unfathomable reason made it lacking in certain important areas so it is not quite as good as it could have been for the same manufacturing cost. But you'll find out for yourself, the first time it lets you down in flash exposure, or in AF speed, or when the silly AF selector dial gets knocked between detents and thus stops the AF from AFing, or when you go looking for the 100 ISO selection, or the 1/250 flash sync or flash exp comp with your 500 FTZ, or try to view that darn instant review for more than 5 seconds. But you won't be unhappy with it, it has all the basics covered well enough, and the output quality as good as the competition in every respect, and slightly better than the D100 from my own experience. Oh, BTW, the software is truly useless, get something else quick. You will also want Photoshop CS just for the shadow/highlight tool. The bane of digital is blown highlights; keeping them in range can block up the shadows, but the info is there, just needs a little tweaking in the midtones to bring out. -- John Mustarde www.photolin.com
