d70 vs Pentax ist DS

I went in today to purchase the D70, however the salesman was really pushing the new Pentax ist DS that will out on the 11th on me. What differences have you seen with a Nikon vs Pentax?

I dont know the Pentax, but the obvious difference is Nikon lenses versus Pentax lenses. Check what lenses you might want to buy over time, and see which company gives you the quality and features (like vr and afs) and speed that you want in your lenses.

Also, the flash systems are likely different - with the Nikon having 1/500 flash synch, which is great to ensure sharpness in handheld flash shots.

scrapper44 said:

I went in today to purchase the D70, however the salesman was
really pushing the new Pentax ist DS that will out on the 11th on
me. What differences have you seen with a Nikon vs Pentax?

Click to expand...

I agree about checking the availability and quality of lenses for the system you buy into. Some Pentax owners have been very disappointed in this regard. Also Pentax dSLR images are much softer (not as sharp) and also smoother looking -- more like Canon's Digital Rebel.

Cassandra

scrapper44 said:

I went in today to purchase the D70, however the salesman was
really pushing the new Pentax ist DS that will out on the 11th on
me. What differences have you seen with a Nikon vs Pentax?

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/cassandra/nikon_d70

scrapper44 said:

I went in today to purchase the D70, however the salesman was
really pushing the new Pentax ist DS that will out on the 11th on
me. What differences have you seen with a Nikon vs Pentax?

Click to expand...

Not sure if the pentax has as many features/options as the d70 especially regarding flash speed etc. Also - doesn't take compact flash - uses the newer sd cards - right now more expensive for the same size and can get bigger ones (mb) in compact flash at the moment.

Cassandra59044 said:

I agree about checking the availability and quality of lenses for
the system you buy into. Some Pentax owners have been very
disappointed in this regard. Also Pentax dSLR images are much

Click to expand...

Optically speaking many high-end Pentax lenses, in particular the primes, are just among the best as well as the N/C/M ones. For example, A*85/1.4 is honored the portrait king by many, A100/2.8 macro may be the sharpest short tele macro, and the rare and revered A*135/1.8 .... Regarding the current lens line, FA50/1.4 is the best in its class, FA100/2.8 macro and FA50/2.8 macro are a bit sharper than the Nikon ones, even FA*80-200/2.8 is said to be as sharp as or even a bit sharper than the Nikon AF-S 80-200/2.8 according to the most extensive lens test in Japan. And a review article posted in Luminous-landscape glorifies the FA77/1.8 and FA31/ limited as the best lenses ever made in the world.

Availability is another story though. But you can find a lot of old, optically good and cheap K/M/A manual focus lenses in the second-hand market. All of them work just fine with the *istD/*istDs.

minnow

Cassandra59044 said:

softer (not as sharp) and also smoother looking -- more like
Canon's Digital Rebel.

Cassandra

scrapper44 said:

I went in today to purchase the D70, however the salesman was
really pushing the new Pentax ist DS that will out on the 11th on
me. What differences have you seen with a Nikon vs Pentax?

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/cassandra/nikon_d70

Click to expand...

Absolutely correct. Pentax makes some spectacular lenses. Over the years I have used many of them and prefer their best lenses to Nikon's equivalent best in most cases--doptically speaking that is. The problems is that they do not make the VR and AF-s equivalent to what Nikon or Canon offer, and aftermarket manufacturers like Sigma do not make the equivalent either because of the focusing/lens coupling system employed by Pentax. That could change, of course. No VR is a serious tradeoff for many shooters of lowlight and very fast action photography. Don't misread this. Pentax autofocus systems are perfectly adequately for most shooting. Another major drawback is overall camera timing speeds that areconsiderably slower than the D70 in many categories, like shot to shot times, for example.

And, any Pentax lens ever made can be used on Pentax DSLRs, with on screen metering. And Pentax DSLRs are the smallest out there and very well built.

Whether it is a better choice than a D70 depends a lot on your shooting style and needs, but then any choice depends on that. Consider what you want in a camera before you read all the hype. Then try one, then relax a few days and ponder it. In other words, avoid 'Buyer's Remorse' by doing your home workjk and testing before parting with your $$$$. The minute you walk out of the store you have lsot 40%--make the choice the right one for you.

minnow said:

minnow said:

I agree about checking the availability and quality of lenses for
the system you buy into. Some Pentax owners have been very
disappointed in this regard. Also Pentax dSLR images are much

Click to expand...

Optically speaking many high-end Pentax lenses, in particular the
primes, are just among the best as well as the N/C/M ones. For
example, A*85/1.4 is honored the portrait king by many, A100/2.8
macro may be the sharpest short tele macro, and the rare and
revered A*135/1.8 .... Regarding the current lens line, FA50/1.4
is the best in its class, FA100/2.8 macro and FA50/2.8 macro are a
bit sharper than the Nikon ones, even FA*80-200/2.8 is said to be
as sharp as or even a bit sharper than the Nikon AF-S 80-200/2.8
according to the most extensive lens test in Japan. And a review
article posted in Luminous-landscape glorifies the FA77/1.8 and
FA31/ limited as the best lenses ever made in the world.

Availability is another story though. But you can find a lot of
old, optically good and cheap K/M/A manual focus lenses in the
second-hand market. All of them work just fine with the
*istD/*istDs.

minnow

minnow said:

softer (not as sharp) and also smoother looking -- more like
Canon's Digital Rebel.

Cassandra

scrapper44 said:

I went in today to purchase the D70, however the salesman was
really pushing the new Pentax ist DS that will out on the 11th on
me. What differences have you seen with a Nikon vs Pentax?

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/cassandra/nikon_d70

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I nearly bought an ist D when it first came out but my understanding after much research was that the newer Pentax lenses weren't nearly as well made as their older line. If I already owned Pentax lenses I would definitely have bought it. Having printed and compared some of Phil's shots taken with the *ist D to the Canon D Rebel and a couple of others under consideration at the time, the images appeared very soft. Perhaps not the fault of the lens but the way the Pentax processes images. The colors were absolutely lovely and the camera was just the right size for me but I couldn't chance not being able to find/afford decent lenses for it.

Cassandra

minnow said:

minnow said:

I agree about checking the availability and quality of lenses for
the system you buy into. Some Pentax owners have been very
disappointed in this regard. Also Pentax dSLR images are much

Click to expand...

Optically speaking many high-end Pentax lenses, in particular the
primes, are just among the best as well as the N/C/M ones. For
example, A*85/1.4 is honored the portrait king by many, A100/2.8
macro may be the sharpest short tele macro, and the rare and
revered A*135/1.8 .... Regarding the current lens line, FA50/1.4
is the best in its class, FA100/2.8 macro and FA50/2.8 macro are a
bit sharper than the Nikon ones, even FA*80-200/2.8 is said to be
as sharp as or even a bit sharper than the Nikon AF-S 80-200/2.8
according to the most extensive lens test in Japan. And a review
article posted in Luminous-landscape glorifies the FA77/1.8 and
FA31/ limited as the best lenses ever made in the world.

Availability is another story though. But you can find a lot of
old, optically good and cheap K/M/A manual focus lenses in the
second-hand market. All of them work just fine with the
*istD/*istDs.

minnow

minnow said:

softer (not as sharp) and also smoother looking -- more like
Canon's Digital Rebel.

Cassandra

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

We have to wait for final review with times, bear in mind that every photo server had only preproduction cameras

Hello,

you already have answers regarding lenses, so you know that Pentax lenses are a bit more difficlt to buy.

I would like to tell about another important thing. And that is viewfinder. I'm myself considering buying *istDS or d70/300d and I have to say that pentax has the biggest and best viewfinder from these three. Here is the link to see :

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=10954116

With d70 you will be limited with manual focusing.