Pentax ist DS Digital SLR Camera Kit w/ 18-55mm Lens

I had a Minolta Maxxum 5 with a...

I had a Minolta Maxxum 5 with a couple of lens, but I still bought the Pentax *ist DS due to its size and weight. The Maxxum 7D is way bigger and heavier. I also had a bunch of SD cards, so using SD card is also a plus for me. After a couple of hundred frames, I’m a very happy user. I’d recommend you buy one if you don’t have existing heavy investment on other brands, or if you are just...
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I had a Minolta Maxxum 5 with a couple of lens, but I still bought the Pentax *ist DS due to its size and weight. The Maxxum 7D is way bigger and heavier. I also had a bunch of SD cards, so using SD card is also a plus for me. After a couple of hundred frames, I’m a very happy user. I’d recommend you buy one if you don’t have existing heavy investment on other brands, or if you are just upgrading from P&S digicam.

Pros:

• Small and light-weight
• Good build quality
• Low noise at high ISO (even 1600 and 3200)
• Rich features with easy to access menu system
• In manual exposure mode, pressing AE lock button will automatically meter the exposure, and then you can adjust from there.
• Adjustable exposure compensation steps: 1/2 or 1/3 EV (and therefore auto bracketing increments)
• Allowing you to manually fine tune the focus after AF is set (while holding down the shuttle release button half way, you can manually turn the focus ring). However, this only works with dedicated lens (the 18-55mm kit lens works). My Sigma 28-200 doesn’t work with this feature.
• Using 4 AA batteries is convenient and low cost.

Cons:

• Its AF is slower than my Maxxum 5.
• The lowest ISO is 200, so you may need a neutral density filter under bright sunlight.
• P mode is not shiftable.
• No multiple exposure support
• 4 AA batteries are heavier than proprietary Li-Ion rechargeables. And it’s hard to measure the remaining capacity of NiMh batteries. Very often the camera tells me batteries are low or even empty, but after turning it off and then on immediately, the indicator says full again.
• It’s a bit hard to close the battery door - have to use force.
• View finder is dimmer and smaller than my Maxxum 5. This is a bit strange since the *ist DS claims to have a true pentaprism VF with 95% coverage and 0.95 magnification, whereas the Maxxum 5 has a roof-mirror VF with 90% coverage and 0.75 magnification.

By jinyu1 - Dec 19, 2004

If your looking to make a switch...

Strengths: Very easy to use, Has all the features of a point shoot and all the features of an SLR, excellent picture quality in jpeg and raw format, and best of all, it uses Secure Digital cards.

Weakness: None so far!!!

If your looking to make a switch for your point and shoot to digital SLR, look no further. *ist DS made it simple for me to jump into the realm of DSLR photography. I'm a total beginner when it comes to SLR camera's, but with *ist DS user friendly interface it gave me a feeling that other DSLR's could not, CONFIDENCE!!!. Everything on this camera from the Mode dial (which looks like the mode dial...
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If your looking to make a switch for your point and shoot to digital SLR, look no further. *ist DS made it simple for me to jump into the realm of DSLR photography. I'm a total beginner when it comes to SLR camera's, but with *ist DS user friendly interface it gave me a feeling that other DSLR's could not, CONFIDENCE!!!. Everything on this camera from the Mode dial (which looks like the mode dial on my point and shoot. So when in doubt, AUTOMODE!!), to the view finder indicatior, and the LCD diplay makes it very easy to grab hold all the features of this camera. In less than a week and some help from www.88.com/exposure (because I did not know what a STOP was, and what exposure values were), www.dpreview.com (the Learn and Glossary section proved to be a wealth of knowledge), and sony101.com/index.jsp (the Advanced Digital Photography On-line course was extremely helpful in understanding what you can do with DSLR, in which I had no idea!!) I am now taking amazing photographs. I have not been so excited about taking pictures in all my life. Now my own photos look just as good as the Pros do!! (with a little help from Photoshop Elements 3.0 of course). Do yourself a favor and go to the Pentax web site and down load the *ist DS User Manual. See for yourself how easy this camera is. Really the only thing I don't know how to do with this camera is how to pronounce it's name!!! Thank you Pentax for making a great camera.

By heykuya - Jun 26, 2005

This is a great product. I only...

Strengths: SLR (you get what you see) Light weight, easy to use, friendly menu

Weakness: Color is a bit on the cold side, especially when used indoors. Flash is too strong when used closed to the object.

This is a great product. I only have it for 10 days but I'm loving it. This is the first SLR digital camera for me so all the thrills I got is probably just because of that. I have owned many point and shoot digital cameras and the first one I had was bought in 1997. That should tell you how hard I have tried with point and shoot and hope for something that would make me happy. 8 years later I...
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This is a great product. I only have it for 10 days but I'm loving it. This is the first SLR digital camera for me so all the thrills I got is probably just because of that. I have owned many point and shoot digital cameras and the first one I had was bought in 1997. That should tell you how hard I have tried with point and shoot and hope for something that would make me happy. 8 years later I gave up and decided to buy a SLR. It turned out to be a very good decision. My last point and shoot cameras are: Sony F717, Sony P41, Sony U20, etc. None of them can match the Pentax *ist DS I have now. I also have a Pentax SLR film camera with Sigma lenses (28mm-80mm and 50mm-300mm). I can use the 28mm-80mm lens on this ist DS but I still prefer the 18mm-55mm lens that comes with this package.
The color turns out to be a bit cold compare to Sony but that's just the way Sony does things. Their cameras show a bit warm colors to make models look "better". I guess I just have to touch my works using Photoshop with this Pentax *ist DS.
I've compared this with Canon similar product and decided to go with this one primarily because of price and the fact that I had Pentax film camera and I love their user interface and the light weight.

By leochan - Jan 20, 2005

Pentax *ist DS is very compact,...

Strengths: Lightweight and very compact. Can use cheap manual lenses. Uses 4 AA batteires, easily available especially when you travel Viewfinder is big (even bigger than Canon 20D), good for MF

Weakness: AF speed is a little slower at low-light situation

Pentax *ist DS is very compact, but the grip is very comfortable to hold. LCD is very bright and big (2.0"). Viwfinder is big and easy for manual focusing. With bright and natural mode and adjustable saturation, contrast, sharpness, you can produce impressive pictures for landscape and portrait pictures. You can find cheap MF lens if you dont' want to spend too much on lens and still enjoy the...
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Pentax *ist DS is very compact, but the grip is very comfortable to hold. LCD is very bright and big (2.0"). Viwfinder is big and easy for manual focusing. With bright and natural mode and adjustable saturation, contrast, sharpness, you can produce impressive pictures for landscape and portrait pictures. You can find cheap MF lens if you dont' want to spend too much on lens and still enjoy the happiness from interchangeable lens. Interface is freindely and easy to operate. Noise level is low, so you could get good quality picture with high ISO when no flash is allowed.
For people who are not familiar with Pentax, it's the camera manufacturer with the longest history and Pentax invented SLR type camera in 50's of last century.

By yunchu - Jun 8, 2005

This is my first dSLR Camera....

Strengths: Small, Light, SD compatible, takes standard battery types

Weakness: does eat up batteries quick

This is my first dSLR Camera. Making the switch from point and shoot to SLR is certainly is a little complicated and will take some getting used to. Fortunately, the camera comes with a thorough and detailed manual to help beginners start their dSLR shooting on the right track. The Camera is quite small and light for a SLR camera. It has one of the best LCD screen I've ever seen on a digital...
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This is my first dSLR Camera. Making the switch from point and shoot to SLR is certainly is a little complicated and will take some getting used to. Fortunately, the camera comes with a thorough and detailed manual to help beginners start their dSLR shooting on the right track. The Camera is quite small and light for a SLR camera. It has one of the best LCD screen I've ever seen on a digital camera. The Pictures you take come out crystal clear on the LCD. The reason I chose the Pentax *ist Ds over the other sub-$1000 dSLRs (Nikon D70 and Canon Digital Rebel) was because the Pentax Supports SD cards (which I believe will replace compact flash for good in the future) and the Pentax supports the use of Standard AA batteries instead of a proprietary rechargeable system. (of course, I use rechargeable Nimh batteries instead of Alkalines!)

By bezboruah - Mar 21, 2005