Having had the *ist-D for well over a year now, I've gradually replaced all my third party glass (which I thought was great at the time) for Pentax - which is consistently amazing I consistently try to push the resolution and quality to the limit, and usually work in RAW with Capture One and Photoshop CS.

Here's my zoom list:
SMC-DA 16-45 - super, super sharp. Very contrasty, superb flare control. Add some Cokin P filters (I use polariser and ND grad) and you've got an amazing lens. I have never, ever, been disappointed with this lens.

SMC-FA 24-90 - yes, not as wide, but has a delicious image quality. I find I use this for general photography, theatre and concert work. Expensive, and not as sharp as the 16-45, but worth the money nonetheless.

SMC-F 70-210 - got this for a snip off eBay. Super contrasty and very high resolution. Just wish it had a non-rotating lens.

Next on my list has to be the SMC-DA 12-24 for seriously wide work

Hope that helps!
Matt

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

Thanks Dave

Regarding the AF... I have enabled the custom function that stops AF on halfpress of the shutter Now I have to focus with the AF button on the back of the *ist-D, and that way the shutter is always ready.

It took a little bit of getting used to, and freaks out anybody who picks up the camera, but now it's second nature. (Superb for kids, low light etc)

Look forward to your test images
Matt

Dave - I'd appreciate any comments on the 100mm D-FA. I have the SMC-F which is a beautiful lens, but soooo heavy. The only thing I see that isn't on the D-FA is the focus limit... so do you ever get the lens hunting from macro to infinity and back? (I'm considering changing to the lighter more compact D-FA lens.)

Matt

There's always the import option:
BH Photo in the US have most Pentax lenses in stock:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=search&Q=&b=21&shs...

The 100mm/f2.8 SMC-DA is $565. They'll ship internationally, but allow for a hefty customs & VAT surcharge that's payable when it arrives (Cash on Delivery). When I've imported software (the other week), the VAT was not charged at 17.5%, but at some other notional value that I couldn't make any sense of, plus something like £15 UPS charge.

However, even with VAT and customs on top, it's still a very attractive option I've been pondering on purchasing this way myself (would like to upgrade the SMC-F 100mm/f2.8 to the DA version, and get the new SMC-DA 12-24 as soon as it arrives).

Matt

Dave,
I've ordered from them once before. They confirmed the stock over the phone, shipped out immediately. Had no problems at all!
Think you can link via www.ephotozineshop.com too - that way, I belive, ePhotozine gets a small percentage (same team as this website).
Matt

Flowfun,

The error codes are listed here:
https://www.pentaxuser.com/faq/pentaxerrorcodes.html

"U" fault codes are zoom faults that require a Pentax service.

Matt

Just a couple of links:
http://www.cladonia.co.uk/photography/exposure/e-13.html
http://www.riversidecardiology.com/fstop/f-stop.htm
http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_aperture.html

Colin,
I haven't got any links to information, but I can tell you what that means.
1:3.5-4.5 35-70mm tells you two sets of information.

Firstly, the focal length ranges from 35mm at the wide angle end, to 70mm.

The second piece of information is how bright the lens is. When set to 35mm focal length, the lens will have a maximum aperture of f3.5. When set to 70mm, it will have a maximum aperture of f4.5.

If you need to know in more detail about focal length and aperture, I'm sure we can dig out a link or two

Hope that helps,
Matt

Not true, John
Capture One supports the *ist-DS, as does the free www.pixmantec.com RAW convertor (not as good as C1LE, IMHO, but pretty fine nonetheless!)

I'd agree about the card reader though

Matt