Dare I say it
GET SERIOUS

Many thanks for that info.
Good to know Ricoh took up the Pentax mantle and decided to keep up the flow with new models, not sure about the Full Frame model due out, my opinion is like many other forum members though, the blurb images are nothing to write home about, could put many off buying one which would be a shame, you know has well has I do if Ricoh spend many thousands in R& D on new models and the take_up/sales don`t match or supersede the investment then Ricoh will drop the Pentax brand like an HOT POTATOE, and that would be disastrous.
I recall that the Amiga brand was taken on, and big plans for new models where supposedly in the pipeline, that brand was dropped now look what we are left with.
With the exception of Linux, which has you know is the largest open source O/S
we are left with the BIG TWO.
The BIG TWO dictate to their potential customers how the future of computing should be.
We as potential camera buyers cannot allow a similar situation to occur
When multinational companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Canon, Nikon, First,Bus, Arriva,Virgin, Nestle and very many others and their likes have little or no competition, then it is THEY, that decide what we the customers should have and how much we should pay for that item or service etc.

Apart from the Nikon D5 professional DSLR I believed that Pentax DSLR cameras were the fore runners of Advanced DSLR camera technology, but I am sure that someone on this forum will put me right :
Whilst Fatspider has apparently a low opinion of the istD series, there must have been quite a number of photographers who began their Pentax digital experience with this particular series of cameras, I seem to remember back in 2003 when the istD was first advertised it sold for around £800 body only, quite expensive in 2003, it was equivalent to 6 weeks wages for me, again I am probably wrong about that also not about the wages, BUT the cost of the camera.
Is there a Pentax DSLR that has a swing out monitor, live view, and a minimum 100 ISO, a USB port that I could connect the camera to a 7" monitor, my eye is not has good as the two I used to have

Hi Johnathan.
Yes I do realize that it could be costly and maybe impractical for Ricoh to invest in new firmware for such an old but none the less still very useful camera but if enough folk still have and use these cameras then maybe we all could ask Ricoh.
I would still like to know just how many photographers still have and use their istD series cameras?
Surely these cameras have not all been scrapped or all been replaced with much newer series cameras?
That mainly was the reason for my poll
Regards.
Atrthur

Hi members.
I would like to run a poll of how many photographers still have the istD series of Pentax cameras and how many of those photographers still use their istD series cameras.

Hoya released the last firmware update Ver1.12 in 2005 for this series of cameras.
If there are STILL enough users of this series of cameras, could we ask of Ricoh to code and release a new firmware update.
My suggestions for that update would be to reduce the current 200 ISO down to 100 ISO and to also increase the current 1600 ISO to maybe 6400 ISO, which would be similar to the Pentax K3 series.
Similar to these settings: A flexible amount of control over noise reduction applied to its JPEGs. In addition to "Auto", you can adjust how much NR is applied ("Off", "Low", "Medium" or "High") at all ISOs, or you can select "Custom" which allows you to choose from the same four options at each ISO sensitivity setting in whole EV increments. That is, if you enable 1/3 EV ISO steps, you get one NR setting for ISO 100, 125, and 160, another for ISO 200, 250, and 320, etc. The same applies for 1/2 EV ISO steps, but with only two sensitivities sharing each setting (ie. ISO 100 and 140 share a setting, ISO 200 and 280 share one, etc.)

My next suggested update would be to create the coding to use the image download port to attach a separate monitor via USB, thereby creating LIVE VIEW, a feature sadly missing in the istD series and only recently available in much later series of Pentax DSLR cameras.

Once the above coding for LIVE VIEW is implemented a new cable would have to be produced to connect the camera`s image output port to a mini or micro USB port in order for the camera to be connected to a small portable say 7" or 9" monitor.