and would like this as a backup body, are understandably upset.
Wrong. I own the istD and while it isn't as fast as this camera, I
won't be buying this as a backup anytime soon, and if I did buy it
as a back up, then I can spend $60 on a 1gig SD card and be done
with it. The main reason why I won't buy this camera, for myself,
(perhaps for someone who deserves it this christmas though) is that
it's just spec'd to closely to the istD. I mean, its a nice little
piece, its a better camera than the istD in my opinion, but, it
won't be much of an upgrade, so much as the camera we all wanted in
the istD minus a few of the things that made the istD so great.
The SD card thing, it's just a stupid stupid thing to be upset
about!! You shouldn't have lots of card memory anyway, you really
want to get pictures off the cards as fast as possible using an
image tank of some sort. I currently have both the 1gig and the
256meg ultraII CF cards. When the 1 gig is full I put in the 256
and shoot on it while the one gig is transferring to the image
tank, once the transfer is done I swap them again and keep
shooting. Might be a problem if you need a faster workflow but for
me it works beautifully... I also use the 256CF card for taking
pictures to the developer.
Having 5 1 gig CF cards is like having 5 pairs of tennis shoes, or
5 spare tires. I mean, its just absurd, and a mistake on your
part! CF memory, memory in general is constantly advancing, and if
you think that the bigger format is going to win, I think you need
to take a little time to review the history here. SD cards will
completely replace CF cards very soon, they're cheaper and
smaller... If there are two traits that embody the whole of
technological progress its price and size. Things get cheaper and
smaller, it happens constantly. SD is the way to go. When CF
cards are niche market items that sell for a premium you are going
to be thanking Pentax profusely for making the switch.
)