Full review posted for Pentax *ist D!
By
Dave Etchells
(Monday, April 5, 2004 - 09:51 EDT)
From the "it's about time" department, I've finally posted my full review of Pentax's little *ist D d-SLR.
While the d-SLR field is getting more crowded by the moment, the *ist D has a lot to recommend it. A number of the folks who work with me on this site have had hands on with it, and everyone came away feeling that it was one of their favorite cameras to shoot with. The controls are well laid out and logical, and there are a number of very nice (if subtle) user interface tweaks and exposure features that make it a pleasure to use. As the smallest interchangeable-lens d-SLR on the market, it's also nicely compact, with high build quality and great "hand feel." Oh - and it takes great pictures too. ;-)
About the only complaint I have relative to image quality is that the *very* conservative approach taken by Pentax toward in-camera image sharpening has left it with rather soft-looking images. The good news though, is that this also means that there are no sharpening-induced image artifacts to deal with, and its images take strong unsharp masking in Photoshop(tm) very well, revealing loads of detail.
All in all, an appealing little camera, albeit one that's currently a bit more expensive than the competition from Canon and Nikon. - If you're a current or former Pentax film shooter though, the *ist D will take all your K-mount lenses and deliver a great shooting experience, with photos that'll make you smile. Check it out!
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