Pentax istDS any good???

I've still got my old Pentax AF1 film slr with three lenses - 2 zooms and
a
500mm. I've been eyeballing the ist ds along with the Canon Rebel XT and
the
Nikon D70s. The Canon and the Nikon seem to get all of the accolades here,
with hardly a mention of the ist ds. Is the Pentax really that bad,
compared
ot the other two? I'm leaning toward it and the Canon. I like the Nikon
but
I don't care for its size and weight. What's "wrong" with the Pentax?


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Jack Carter wrote:

I've still got my old Pentax AF1 film slr with three lenses - 2 zooms and
a
500mm. I've been eyeballing the ist ds along with the Canon Rebel XT and
the
Nikon D70s. The Canon and the Nikon seem to get all of the accolades here,
with hardly a mention of the ist ds. Is the Pentax really that bad,
compared
ot the other two? I'm leaning toward it and the Canon. I like the Nikon
but
I don't care for its size and weight. What's "wrong" with the Pentax?


I don't think there is anything wrong with the Pentax. It has the same
sensor as the Nikon and built in image stabilization (unless I'm
confused). Smaller selection of lenses and more expensive but the lenses
are generally top quality. I think it has more controls or at least more
knobs like a traditional camera. Probably the only thing wrong is the
price and less market dominance.

If your lenses are manual focus, that's more difficult to do on the
smaller viewfinder of a DSLR with no split prism aids either.

"Paul Furman" wrote in message
...
Jack Carter wrote:

I've still got my old Pentax AF1 film slr with three lenses - 2 zooms and
a
500mm. I've been eyeballing the ist ds along with the Canon Rebel XT and
the
Nikon D70s. The Canon and the Nikon seem to get all of the accolades
here,
with hardly a mention of the ist ds. Is the Pentax really that bad,
compared
ot the other two? I'm leaning toward it and the Canon. I like the Nikon
but
I don't care for its size and weight. What's "wrong" with the Pentax?


I don't think there is anything wrong with the Pentax. It has the same
sensor as the Nikon and built in image stabilization (unless I'm confused)

Nope. No built in stabilization. That woud be the Minolta DSLR's.
Fine camera, though. If I had decent Pentax lenses, I would get the istDS.

"Jack Carter" wrote:

The Canon and the Nikon seem to get all of the accolades here,
with hardly a mention of the ist ds. Is the Pentax really that bad,
compared
ot the other two?

Not at all - just a much smaller company with a much smaller marketing
budget, so their products aren't as well known. But there is a quite
active Pentax SLR forum on dpreview.com.

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If I already had Pentax lenses I would not consider another brand.

In article ,
bmoag wrote:
If I already had Pentax lenses I would not consider another brand.

Oh, I'd consider one. In fact I do, occasionally. Having used
both the major brands I'd have to suggest that the Canon offerings
are worth a look (particularly if you can run to the 20D).

But it all depends on what lenses you already have, and what
the features the Canons have, but which Pentax lack (such as
USM auto-focus or IS) are worth to you.

I'd like the extra features, but not enough to consider going
to the expense of replacing the collection of first-rate glass
I've accqired over the years.

"Patco" wrote in message
. ..

"Paul Furman" wrote in message
...
Jack Carter wrote:

I've still got my old Pentax AF1 film slr with three lenses - 2 zooms
and
a
500mm. I've been eyeballing the ist ds along with the Canon Rebel XT and
the
Nikon D70s. The Canon and the Nikon seem to get all of the accolades
here,
with hardly a mention of the ist ds. Is the Pentax really that bad,
compared
ot the other two? I'm leaning toward it and the Canon. I like the Nikon
but
I don't care for its size and weight. What's "wrong" with the Pentax?


I don't think there is anything wrong with the Pentax. It has the same
sensor as the Nikon and built in image stabilization (unless I'm
confused)

Nope. No built in stabilization. That woud be the Minolta DSLR's.
Fine camera, though. If I had decent Pentax lenses, I would get the istDS.

Great little camera especially if you want to play around with some of the
older pentax lenses, it will use and meter with all older lenses. Great
range of reasonably priced lenses from Pentax, Sigma, Tamron and Tokina. All
the Pentax flashes will also work with it.

"John Francis" wrote in message
...
In article ,
bmoag wrote:
If I already had Pentax lenses I would not consider another brand.

Oh, I'd consider one. In fact I do, occasionally. Having used
both the major brands I'd have to suggest that the Canon offerings
are worth a look (particularly if you can run to the 20D).

But it all depends on what lenses you already have, and what
the features the Canons have, but which Pentax lack (such as
USM auto-focus or IS) are worth to you.

I'd like the extra features, but not enough to consider going
to the expense of replacing the collection of first-rate glass
I've accqired over the years.

Also if you don't want to spend that sort of money then the Ds or D is a
great choice. The new Ds2 is even better though.

Jack Carter wrote:
I've still got my old Pentax AF1 film slr with three lenses - 2 zooms and
a
500mm. I've been eyeballing the ist ds along with the Canon Rebel XT and
the
Nikon D70s. The Canon and the Nikon seem to get all of the accolades here,
with hardly a mention of the ist ds. Is the Pentax really that bad,
compared
ot the other two? I'm leaning toward it and the Canon. I like the Nikon
but
I don't care for its size and weight. What's "wrong" with the Pentax?


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It has removed 432 spam emails to date.
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I had a DS for a while and then traded it for the newer DL. I was very
happy with the DS and it had the Pentax quality of ergonomics. You could
either use it fully automatically or get into the menus and settings
and control it manually, or any way in between. I liked the head-up
display of focus indicators that is missing in the DL and the bright
viewfinder with pentaprism. The DL has a slightly dimmer mirrored
replacement of the pentaprism. One small nag is that, even under manual
control, you cannot turn off the pre-flash that the camera uses for
metering, and therefore slaving conventional flashes, without a
pre-flash eliminator, is impossible.

Jack Carter wrote:

I've still got my old Pentax AF1 film slr with three lenses - 2 zooms and
a
500mm. I've been eyeballing the ist ds along with the Canon Rebel XT and
the
Nikon D70s. The Canon and the Nikon seem to get all of the accolades here,
with hardly a mention of the ist ds. Is the Pentax really that bad,
compared
ot the other two? I'm leaning toward it and the Canon. I like the Nikon
but
I don't care for its size and weight. What's "wrong" with the Pentax?

I've been quite pleased with my *istD. Haven't tried the DS because I
HAVE been pleased with the D. There's nothing wrong with the Pentax
other than the old story of no 3rd party support. Everything comes for
Nikon, Canon or forgodssake Minolta.