This camera will work in a variety of different modes.

If you want to leave everything to the camera, set the lens aperture to A, and the shutter to Auto.

Leaving the aperture on A, you can dictate the shutter speed by rotating the shutter dial to the speed you want. The camera will then select the right aperture.

Leaving the shutter on Auto, you can dictate the aperture by turning the aperture ring to the aperture you want. 22 will give you great depth of field (everything will be in focus), and 1.7 (or the smallest number, depending on your lens) will make everything out of focus, except the subject. The camera will then select the right shutter speed.

Or you can select both aperture and speed yourself. In the viewfinder, two numbers will light up. The one that flashes shows the correct shutter speed for the chosen aperture, whilst the non-flashing number is the speed you have selected. Change either the aperture or the speed until the two numbers come together - which will be the right speed.

Good luck

G

Glad to hear the PZ1-P is still doing well. So is the 50 1.2 that you sold me! It's one of my favourite lenses.

You raise another point, and that is that the D uses the same wheel arrangement as the (P)Z1-P. Anyone who knows and likes that arrangement will feel immediately at home with the D. It's quite easily the most effective and simple interface of any camera. (IMHO, of course.)

G

WJ Bons,

USB is irrelevant to the vast majority of people who use card readers.

G

Fernando,

Glad to hear about the continuous AF implementation. Some other things however will be impossible to alter.

G

Although there could perhaps be a difference when shooting JPEGs, I can't see why the results would be any different shooting RAW.

Furthermore, I haven't heard any competent user suggest there is any difference, and I would rather trust the opinions of experienced users than the modern breed of reviewer. I haven't seen a proper camera review for a long time.

What passes for a review on DPReview is a joke. Just endless lists of specifications, and a few pictures of crayons, all shot with the cheapo zoom that came with the body.

G

The same chip is used in all the Pentax DSLRs, so I'm surprised at the assertion that image quality would be better on later models than on the D. I do not believe there is any basis for that claim at all.

The D is a better-specc'd body than its successors, except for one thing - later bodies can write more quickly to the card, so if you need to be able to shoot continuously (perhaps for sports pictures), a later model might be a better bet.

Otherwise, the D is best for all practical purposes. Many of the differences are subtle, but, for example, the D relies less on menus to access different functions, and has continuous AF in all modes. I find that useful for shooting birds. It can operate a remote wireless flash, whilst the other bodies require two flash guns to do this.

But the differences are much less than those between high-end and low-end film bodies. All the DSLRs are pretty capable, and pretty well-made. If I were buying now, and couldn't get a D, I wouldn't be unhappy with one of the other models.

Despite all the hype about digitally-optimised lenses, any Pentax K lens will function fine on a DSLR. However, because of the crop factor, an image recorded on a digital sensor has to be magnified more than an image recorded on 35mm film. Thus any defects in a lens will also be magnified. A soft lens on film will be even softer on digital, and any chromatic aberration will be increased.

Against that is the fact that the edges of the image are discarded, so lenses with good centre performance, and poor edge performance, will appear to improve.

So good lenses will be OK. Your 50mm and 200mm will be fine. By buying either of the Pentax zooms which go to 18mm at the wide end, you will take care of the wide-angle situation.

G

Milton,

Could you please try to explain this in different words. I don't understand what you mean.

G

Tres succinct.

G

No ideas (apart from getting a card reader)!

But you could try writing to:

William Gates, Jnr.,
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399
USA

G

Terse? I prefer succinct.

G