Pentax *ist D Review, October 2003, Phil Askey

Review based on a production *ist D

Pentax announced the *ist D digital SLR on 26th February 2003, the week before PMA 2003. The *ist D is essentially a digital version of the *ist film SLR announced the week before. The major physical difference between the two cameras (apart from all the digital controls on the rear of the *ist D) is that the *ist D appears to have a heavier metal subframe. Although expected to be on the shelves by July 2003 the camera has been delayed (twice) due to 'procurement of materials required' (Sony's sensor?). The *ist D is the first digital SLR Pentax has brought to market, they did announce and show a pre-production digital SLR a couple of years ago but that project was cancelled in favour of the *ist D we see today.

The *ist D is currently the smallest and lightest digital SLR, it measures just 129 x 95 x 60 mm (5.0 x 3.7 x 2.3 in) and weighs 650 g (1.4 lb) including batteries (no lens). The *ist D has a the same six megapixel (Sony ICX413AQ) sensor used in the Nikon D100, it has a Pentax K lens mount and supports K, KA, KAF and KAF2 lenses. It is also possible to use screw mount lenses, 645 and 67 series lenses with an adapter.

Lenses Used

We had a limited range of lenses available to us at the time of review, the three lenses shown below were used for all samples and image quality tests, above each test you will see an indication of the lens used ( the 50 mm F1.4 was used for comparison and resolution tests due to its resolution, neutrality and consistency).

FA J 18 - 35 mm, F4.0 - F5.6 AL Equiv. FOV: 27 - 52.5 mm	FA 28 - 105 mmm, F3.2 - F4.5 AL Equiv. FOV: 42 - 157.5 mm
FA 50 mm F1.4 Equiv. FOV: 75 mm

Review Notes

Before publication of this review we posted a detailed preview of the *ist D, a large portion of that preview has been used to make up the first few pages of this review, and as the physical appearance of the *ist D has changed little since we wrote that article we have reused some of the images of the pre-production camera.

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (typically VGA) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

This article is Copyright 2003 Phil Askey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey