Pentax 1stD - My Impression

Barry Carter said:

Actually, I had hoped the Olympus E-1 would be at least similar to
what I want in a DSLR. It has the moxie; except for the noise.
The Pentax seems to have it all; except for the firewire (and USB
2.0). I like the light and compact size, as one tends to use a
smaller camera more IMO. I like the lens options (e.g. screw
mount, 645, 67,..); there are tons of these on Ebay The soft
focus is a non-issue, as I prefer off-camera sharpening anyway. As
for a Canon option, no its not. The Canon 10D is too big and
heavy, and the 300D is too ugly and cheap looking for my tastes.
Its not a rugged design for the long haul and use. Besides, I've
always preferred an all-black camera.

So will I get Pentax...maybe.
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Ciao...Barry

Click to expand...

--
Barry,

I agree about liking the Pentax, and would not want a big 10D as I have small hands. The 300D is only marginally larger than the Pentax and I have even considered it, but Canon has removed many of the features that I would like. If the Pentax falls further in price, I would purchase one. I am currently looking over the D70.
Jim

Well, I actually broke down and purchased a D70. I had read the reviews, liked the looks, and its ergonomics. Slightly larger (taller) than a 1stD, but in all, I love this camera. Like you, I have small hands, yet everything is well placed on the D70. Astronomy is also a hobby, and D70 is really struting its stuff in this department. Clearly, the D70 will be a winner! I like the fact that Nikon is responding quickly to user comments, and the user community is writing code for this camera. To show the commitment, someone had developed an underwater case for the D70 before it was even released. But the key reason I decided on the D70 was the lower noise levels, and ability to take the Nikon F lenses, and that means a plethora of optics are around going back on 40 year old designs. And I have a Pentax 300mm, f/4 lens with a screw thread mount. I was able to get a Nikon to Pentax adapter that will allow use of that lens....

http://www.barrie-tao.com/astro_photo.html

Ciao...Barry

Jim Fels said:

Barry Carter said:

Actually, I had hoped the Olympus E-1 would be at least similar to
what I want in a DSLR. It has the moxie; except for the noise.
The Pentax seems to have it all; except for the firewire (and USB
2.0). I like the light and compact size, as one tends to use a
smaller camera more IMO. I like the lens options (e.g. screw
mount, 645, 67,..); there are tons of these on Ebay The soft
focus is a non-issue, as I prefer off-camera sharpening anyway. As
for a Canon option, no its not. The Canon 10D is too big and
heavy, and the 300D is too ugly and cheap looking for my tastes.
Its not a rugged design for the long haul and use. Besides, I've
always preferred an all-black camera.

So will I get Pentax...maybe.
--
Ciao...Barry

Click to expand...

--
Barry,
I agree about liking the Pentax, and would not want a big 10D as I
have small hands. The 300D is only marginally larger than the
Pentax and I have even considered it, but Canon has removed many of
the features that I would like. If the Pentax falls further in
price, I would purchase one. I am currently looking over the D70.
Jim

Click to expand...

--
Ciao...Barry

Barry,

Out of curiosity, where'd you see tests that shows the D70 to have better noise characteristics than the Pentax? I'm also involved with astrophotography and have found that the Pentax is better than the D100 at low ISO (although both are quite good). Given that the D70 is based on the D100 technology, I was expectimg them to be roughly the same.

Greg

Barry Carter said:

Well, I actually broke down and purchased a D70. I had read the
reviews, liked the looks, and its ergonomics. Slightly larger
(taller) than a 1stD, but in all, I love this camera. Like you, I
have small hands, yet everything is well placed on the D70.
Astronomy is also a hobby, and D70 is really struting its stuff in
this department. Clearly, the D70 will be a winner! I like the
fact that Nikon is responding quickly to user comments, and the
user community is writing code for this camera. To show the
commitment, someone had developed an underwater case for the D70
before it was even released. But the key reason I decided on the
D70 was the lower noise levels, and ability to take the Nikon F
lenses, and that means a plethora of optics are around going back
on 40 year old designs. And I have a Pentax 300mm, f/4 lens with a
screw thread mount. I was able to get a Nikon to Pentax adapter
that will allow use of that lens....

http://www.barrie-tao.com/astro_photo.html

Ciao...Barry

Click to expand...

Not only that, but the D70 has been creating a big stir in the Nikon group, due to problems with higher speed shutter color shifts, as well as some weird Moire pattern issues. People sound pretty ticked off about it.

Greg Stark said:

Out of curiosity, where'd you see tests that shows the D70 to have
better noise characteristics than the Pentax? I'm also involved
with astrophotography and have found that the Pentax is better than
the D100 at low ISO (although both are quite good). Given that the
D70 is based on the D100 technology, I was expectimg them to be
roughly the same.

Greg

Barry Carter said:

Well, I actually broke down and purchased a D70. I had read the
reviews, liked the looks, and its ergonomics. Slightly larger
(taller) than a 1stD, but in all, I love this camera. Like you, I
have small hands, yet everything is well placed on the D70.
Astronomy is also a hobby, and D70 is really struting its stuff in
this department. Clearly, the D70 will be a winner! I like the
fact that Nikon is responding quickly to user comments, and the
user community is writing code for this camera. To show the
commitment, someone had developed an underwater case for the D70
before it was even released. But the key reason I decided on the
D70 was the lower noise levels, and ability to take the Nikon F
lenses, and that means a plethora of optics are around going back
on 40 year old designs. And I have a Pentax 300mm, f/4 lens with a
screw thread mount. I was able to get a Nikon to Pentax adapter
that will allow use of that lens....

http://www.barrie-tao.com/astro_photo.html

Ciao...Barry

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Gonzomatic

P e n t a x - the whole gamut

Well, I don't think I said that. Most tests have been D70 vs 10D and 300D. afterall, the D70 was deemed targeted at the Rebe 300Dl market. I had nothing to base on the Pentax, and at the time (this is an old thread), noone on this forum seemed interested in astro-imaging. But this link shows that the Pentax 1stD does good:

http://www.deep-sky.co.uk/dslr/dslr.htm

Ciao...Barry

Greg Stark said:

Out of curiosity, where'd you see tests that shows the D70 to have
better noise characteristics than the Pentax? I'm also involved
with astrophotography and have found that the Pentax is better than
the D100 at low ISO (although both are quite good). Given that the
D70 is based on the D100 technology, I was expectimg them to be
roughly the same.

Greg

Barry Carter said:

Well, I actually broke down and purchased a D70. I had read the
reviews, liked the looks, and its ergonomics. Slightly larger
(taller) than a 1stD, but in all, I love this camera. Like you, I
have small hands, yet everything is well placed on the D70.
Astronomy is also a hobby, and D70 is really struting its stuff in
this department. Clearly, the D70 will be a winner! I like the
fact that Nikon is responding quickly to user comments, and the
user community is writing code for this camera. To show the
commitment, someone had developed an underwater case for the D70
before it was even released. But the key reason I decided on the
D70 was the lower noise levels, and ability to take the Nikon F
lenses, and that means a plethora of optics are around going back
on 40 year old designs. And I have a Pentax 300mm, f/4 lens with a
screw thread mount. I was able to get a Nikon to Pentax adapter
that will allow use of that lens....

http://www.barrie-tao.com/astro_photo.html

Ciao...Barry

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Ciao...Barry

Barry,

Thanks for the URL!

-Greg

Barry Carter said:

Well, I don't think I said that. Most tests have been D70 vs 10D
and 300D. afterall, the D70 was deemed targeted at the Rebe 300Dl
market. I had nothing to base on the Pentax, and at the time (this
is an old thread), noone on this forum seemed interested in
astro-imaging. But this link shows that the Pentax 1stD does good:

http://www.deep-sky.co.uk/dslr/dslr.htm

Ciao...Barry

Click to expand...

Barry Carter said:

Well, I don't think I said that. Most tests have been D70 vs 10D
and 300D. afterall, the D70 was deemed targeted at the Rebe 300Dl
market. I had nothing to base on the Pentax, and at the time (this
is an old thread), noone on this forum seemed interested in
astro-imaging. But this link shows that the Pentax 1stD does good:

http://www.deep-sky.co.uk/dslr/dslr.htm

Ciao...Barry

Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your posts and for that link, Barry.

I'm looking forward to attaching my 1100mm Maksutov telephoto lens to the *ist-D. Looking at those wonderful images has motivated me to start looking into a suitable Equatorial mount and drive right away. It's astonishing that only a 300mm lens was used. Awesome.