*istD £600?

Hi all

the Pentax website is showing the *istD for £600. Jessops, however, still want £1050.

Does anyone know what the situation is? If the £600 is genuine, it's getting more and more tempting......

Matt

The *istD price has fallen dramatically, as shown by some very exciting prices in the AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER ads.

If you want to buy from Jessops, which is a pretty good idea because they offer an excellent back up service, then you could always ask if they can price match.

Hi Mattie,

I was always led to believe the Jessops did the price match thing - worth a try in any event...

The other place that I've seen the *istD at a good price is Park Cameras, Haywards Heath in West Sussex - have used them before and they give great service... think they advertise on a weekly basis in AP...

Having just picked up an istD myself for relatively little money - £500 for an A-Grade - I can honestly say for someone that was verging on anti-digital it's one of the best moves I've made...

Best of luck...

Will

I got an *istD from Cameraworld for £600 as well!
Andy

Rub it in, why don't you? Bought my istD just under a year ago, and now find I might as well have flushed £500 down the toilet! Don't get me started on the cynical pricing strategies of camera manufacturers.

Personally, I wouldn't put it that way. I bought an early *ist-D - have had one for 18 months. I shudder to think how much 7500 exposures would have cost me on Fuji Provia, time scanning, etc In my mind, the *ist-D has paid for itself already.

...now the only question is... do I get a spare body, or some more lenses

Matt

I'd go for the lenses if I were you. But then again, I've never had a lens die on me, and my *istD has done that once already, so maybe a spare body isn't such a bad idea.

I also paid over £1000 for my *istD, but price drop is nothing like the drop for cutting edge PC components within the space of just a few months. What did surprise me was to see the *istD going for about the same or just less than the *istDS on the same websites.

As someone about to go for a digtal Pentax SLR, and now discovering that both Pentax digital SLR's can be bought for about the same price, WHICH should I go for ????

I have a pentax Z-1, FTZ500 flash, a host of lenses and accessories, but want to digital. Was going to get a ist_DS, because of the cheaper price, but now I don't know ???

It's a tough choice, but the *istDS has a better screen, USB 2.0, smaller SD cards and updated firmware.

The *istD uses the (I think) better CF cards

I bought the *istDS, and even at equal prices I would do so again.

I'm not sure these points amount to a great deal.

The better screen is a slight benefit, certainly.

USB 2 is irrelevant if you use a card reader, which every sensible person does.

Smaller SD cards are of doubtful benefit. Compact Flash cards are already very small, and little is gained by having something smaller. Far more important is whether you have an existing investment in one or the other.

Updated firmware? They both have updated firmware. The DS has a different RAW format, and it remains to be seen whether it is any better.

The DS has also fixed a couple of niggles with the D, like the awkward card slot, and quicker access to the histogram.

Against these, however, is the fact that the D is aimed more at the serious photographer. It doesn't have those irritating "idiot modes", and instead provides greater control of the camera. Continuous AF, for instance, is available at all times, not just in "sport" mode.

When there was a large price differential, I would have gone for the much cheaper option, and bought a DS. Now that they are the same price, I think most serious photographers would choose the D. But there is not a lot in it.

By "serious", I mean any photographer who likes to control what the camera does, rather than let the camera take the decisions.

I recently bought a second D body, but if my first body had been a DS, I would have got a second DS for the sake of compatibility. These cameras are so darn complicated nowadays that I wouldn't want to have to learn the ins and outs of two different ones!

George

I agree, George, it doesn't really amount to much!

The larger screen is nice, and speaking for myself as I use aperture priority exposure almost all the time, the exposure modes available don't make much difference either.

By the way, I know these DSLRs are supposed to be amongst the most compact on the market, but they are huge compared to my M series cameras! Progress is a funny mixture of things.

Yes. So did I. I ordered it at the Focus on Imaging Exhibition at the NEC. They were out of stock on the stand but delivered it by courier just after the show at no extra cost.

Great service, wonderful camera!

Pete

I bought a *istD from Jessops (which was in stock) and a 16 to 45 mm lens (which wasn't). Camera arrived in a couple of days. Lens hadn't arrived after a couple of months, despite PENTAX having it in stock. Therefore cancelled order with Jessops and bought from PENTAX.

I had similar problems with other items via Jessops, so cannot recommend ordering via Jessops.