YISkyDive 0 #1 July 23, 2006 Today I had the fun opportunity to take up an IST DL for two loads. What I found was very impressive. The camera itself is smaller and lighter then a 300D. It has about the same pixel resolution and is an all black body versus the common silver on 300Ds. I took the camera up for two loads- on a crossfire2 139. Openings with the camera where actually fairly comfortable compared to by 300d. On the one opening I had a very fast opening but did not feel a horrible shock in my neck. On the second I had diving line twists but I had no issues with the camera and lines interacting. The autofocus system with the kit lens scared me because it a 3 point autofocus system versus I believe 11 on my 300d. The pictures came out really well though and non of them where misfocused. In the sixty seconds of freefall I clicked off about 25 to 30 freefall shots. Write speed and lock up did not seem to be an issue. I don’t commonly use burst shots though. The quality of the pictures actually seemed to be better then my 300D. The colors of the image where better and it seemed to be a great price range alternative. Things I didn’t like- On the left side where the remote plugs in- the door is a plastic swing door. It is asking to get snapped off. The next problem with the camera in my opinion is the use of a double A batteries. Also a stereo bite switch did not work- it only worked with the mono. This made the AF system work on continual focus but had no major side affects that I could see, other then a battery life hindrance. Finally the SD card kills me. With a PCIMCA card reader for my Compact Flash card, and the built in laptop card reader for the SD- I had a 2 to 1 per second megabyte advantage with the CF card. Given a new price of 370ish I say this is a great camera for all those people that "need" to go digital but don’t want to drop a loot for a 350D. Its performance is very great and I would have no problem flying one as a regular work camera. The other advantage to pentax is its "cheep glass" Sigma15s can be had at a great price used and new. This is by no means a professional photographers camera as in the end if you want a 5D style camera- Pentax is not in that league so your glass would be wasted- but it is a camera for the weekend warriors, people to play around with, and full time video staff that need a digital camera for tandems. Id buy one tomorrow if I had a buyer for my 300D. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Icon134 0 #2 July 24, 2006 in addition to the "cheap glass" the pentax is also backwards compatible with all of its previous lens mounting systems. even the ancent screw mount. you wouldn't get the autofocus, and there are probably other issues... but... could be fun... Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
