- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 15 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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18 out of 23 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Not thrilled"
Pros: Sold body, good kit lens
Cons: no af illuminator, no focusing grid
Summary: I was very excited to get my new camera. I've had this camera for about a two months now, so I've used this product for a fair enough time, enough to judge it. The camera camera has a very large LCD, which is nice. Also its kit lens is much better than the one that comes with the Rebel XT. The body has a very good solid feel to it (unlike a rebel which feels very cheap). However, I was unimpressed by the flash performance. Also, the DL doesn't have a AF illuminator so might as well focus manually in the dark, because the auto focus goes crazy. Another gripe I have is the image format. At the highest resolution, the images are 3008 x 2000 pixels. Which is not the correct ratio for most computer monitors, and for prints. For example if you wanted to print a picture you took on a 4x6, you'd have serious cropping at one of the ends (about 350 pixels!) VERY ANNOYING. Besides that its a nice camera, I hope pentax releases firmware for that last problem.
- 3 replies to this review
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The author of this review has not read the owners manual to find that the "flash going crazy" is the AF assist (as on many DSLRs), and that the 2 by 3 ratio is standard on all DSLRs except for the 4/3 system (Olympus, Panasonic).
People who post reviews should get the facts straight first. -
gdeiss answers the ratio question. The DL uses the built-in flash for low-light focusing, which is not perhaps ideal, but quite useable. For the money you'll be hard pressed to get a better entry-level DSLR, especially with such a high quality kit lens, bright viewfinder and large LCD. Add to that the build quality and backwards compatibility with virtually ALL previous Pentax lenses (some of which are in a class of their own) and you actually have a fairly serious piece of kit here.
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The reviewer is correct in stating that the image size (3008x2000 pixels) does not match computer monitors, but that is true for virtually all DSLR cameras except the 4/3 models from Olympus. The image size ratio is meant to approximate that of 35mm film (36mmx24mm); both sizes are a 3:2 ratio.
That ratio is precisely what a 4x6 inch print is, so virtually no cropping should be necessary to turn a 3008x2000 pixel image into a 4x6 inch print. Some cropping would be necessary for the smaller 3.5x5 print or the larger 8x10 as neither of them represent a 3:2 ration.
Where to buy
Pentax *ist DL (with 18mm-to-55mm lens):
$499.99
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$499.99 | Yes |
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