Seven months with the Pentax *ist DS
It has been almost seven months since my Pentax *ist DS digital SLR arrived on November 2, 2005. I have previously commented at length about its purchasing criteria and its arrival. After shooting around 30,000 images with it, I felt there might be some interest in an assessment.
Overall, the camera proved to be an excellent purchase. The manufacturing quality is very high, comparable to a Pentax film SLR, and it has never failed or had the slightest operational problem. This is no small thing in an SLR, which of necessity has a complicated mechanism involving a swinging mirror and focal-plane shutter. (When I was in high school, I owned a Rolleiflex SLR that spent more time going back and forth to Germany for repair than in useful operation.) The nature of digital photography also places a much higher burden on the camera mechanism, since due to expense I might shoot at most 100 frames at an event if I am using film but several times that if using digital.
The included standard 18-55mm zoom is pretty good for a $100 lens. As I said earlier, the main reason I bought a Pentax digital SLR was for compatibility with my film lenses, but I tend to use the standard lens because, as a digital-only lens, it has a smaller image circle that reduces the cost of its wider angle. Looking back on it, I now think that the Pentax *ist DS is a better choice than any of its competitors for an entirely different reason: light sensitivity. Although I discussed the technical aspects of this earlier, the ability to shoot at ISO800 as a default while having ISO1600 and even ISO3200 usefully available is a feature I would not want to trade away even for, say, better resolution. Considering that I am primarily an event and portrait photographer working indoors, this camera proved to be a nearly ideal choice.
Autofocus is surprisingly good, since this was traditionally a weak spot on Pentax film cameras. My Pentax film cameras are slow and often unresponsive, requiring tricks such as tilting the camera body diagonally in order to lock the focus, but the autofocus on the digital *ist DS is quick and accurate in almost all situations, although it can be slow in very low light.
The problems with the camera have almost all been related to firmware. Upon arrival, the firmware had to be updated from v1.00 to v1.02 in order to support SD media larger than 1GB. The process was simple and this was only a minor annoyance, but it was a sign of things to come. The lower-end Pentax digital SLR, the *ist DL, was released with newer firmware that provided a continuous focusing mode, which is handy for rapid motion such as sports, but it took months after that for a firmware upgrade, v2.00, to be available for the *ist DS that provided the same capability. As of now, the latest firmware still has a bug that prevents formatting a 4GB SD card, a major annoyance although there is no problem using a 4GB SD card that has been formatted on a PC.
Some of the firmware-driven features on the camera simply do not work, most notably automatic white balance (AWB). Shooting digital is like shooting slide film, where paying attention to this sort of thing is critical, so people used to shooting print film will need to adapt. I'm sure that the camera does something when AWB is enabled, but I can't figure out what, since the result always seems as if the white balance was set for daylight sun when shooting with AWB. I could understand if AWB was unable to handle extreme cases, such as 3200K incandescent bulb, but it ought to be able to handle the difference between 5500K daylight sun and 6500K overcast. At a minimum, AWB should be able to tell whether the flash is being fired! The color balance on the camera is otherwise excellent, provided that white balance is set explicitly to one of the standard modes, such as daylight sun, overcast, incandescent bulb, or flash.
Flash compatibility is also a firmware problem, although this led to a finger-pointing exercise between Pentax and Metz. I have been shooting with a Metz 40MZ-2 for years, using a Metz SCA3701M2 adapter. This works perfectly with Pentax film cameras, but through-the-lens (TTL) exposure on the digital SLR can be way off in some situations, especially when the zoom lens is toward the wider angle end of its range. I asked Bogen (who represent Metz in the United States) if a newer adapter, such as their SCA3702, would solve these problems, but they said no, telling me that their 40MZ-2 is not "digital compatible" and that I had to upgrade to a 54MZ series flash head, which would cost about $400. This is insane, since the whole point of the Metz modular system is that all of the exposure metering and camera interface logic is contained within the SCA3000-series adapters. I could try buying just the SCA3702, which would cost about $80, but one leading dealer warns "Note: Not fully compatible with *ist, *istDS or *istDL. It IS fully compatible with the *istD." To me, this clearly indicates that the problem is with the Pentax firmware, despite the idiotic (and self-serving) advice Metz has been giving me. Until I am able to resolve this, the workaround is to lock the camera manually to a lens aperture in the middle of its range, such as f8 or f5.6, and use TTL to adjust the flash; this has other benefits for depth-of-field reasons, so it is not a serious disadvantage to have to do this.
Nominally, the camera takes four AA cells, but even high-capacity (2500 mAh) NiMH cells will only last about 300 frames even with basic power conservation measures such as turning the LCD monitor off and not using the on-camera flash. This might be adequate for casual shooting, but it does not work for event shooting, especially since there is almost no warning when the batteries run out. Although the manual warns not to do it because some manufacturers may violate voltage expectations, using Li-Ion CR-V3 cells instead is a practical necessity, providing as many as 1500 frames. Originally, such Li-Ion CR-V3 cells were about $40 each and the camera requires two to operate, but recently Walmart began selling Sakar import versions for $20 each including a charger with both AC and DC cords. These have worked well and I have had no trouble as a result despite extensive use.
Knowing what I know now, after six months of experience with the camera, I would definitely make the same purchasing decision although, as things turned out, I would differently weigh certain aspects of my original criteria.
Overall, the camera proved to be an excellent purchase. The manufacturing quality is very high, comparable to a Pentax film SLR, and it has never failed or had the slightest operational problem. This is no small thing in an SLR, which of necessity has a complicated mechanism involving a swinging mirror and focal-plane shutter. (When I was in high school, I owned a Rolleiflex SLR that spent more time going back and forth to Germany for repair than in useful operation.) The nature of digital photography also places a much higher burden on the camera mechanism, since due to expense I might shoot at most 100 frames at an event if I am using film but several times that if using digital.
The included standard 18-55mm zoom is pretty good for a $100 lens. As I said earlier, the main reason I bought a Pentax digital SLR was for compatibility with my film lenses, but I tend to use the standard lens because, as a digital-only lens, it has a smaller image circle that reduces the cost of its wider angle. Looking back on it, I now think that the Pentax *ist DS is a better choice than any of its competitors for an entirely different reason: light sensitivity. Although I discussed the technical aspects of this earlier, the ability to shoot at ISO800 as a default while having ISO1600 and even ISO3200 usefully available is a feature I would not want to trade away even for, say, better resolution. Considering that I am primarily an event and portrait photographer working indoors, this camera proved to be a nearly ideal choice.
Autofocus is surprisingly good, since this was traditionally a weak spot on Pentax film cameras. My Pentax film cameras are slow and often unresponsive, requiring tricks such as tilting the camera body diagonally in order to lock the focus, but the autofocus on the digital *ist DS is quick and accurate in almost all situations, although it can be slow in very low light.
The problems with the camera have almost all been related to firmware. Upon arrival, the firmware had to be updated from v1.00 to v1.02 in order to support SD media larger than 1GB. The process was simple and this was only a minor annoyance, but it was a sign of things to come. The lower-end Pentax digital SLR, the *ist DL, was released with newer firmware that provided a continuous focusing mode, which is handy for rapid motion such as sports, but it took months after that for a firmware upgrade, v2.00, to be available for the *ist DS that provided the same capability. As of now, the latest firmware still has a bug that prevents formatting a 4GB SD card, a major annoyance although there is no problem using a 4GB SD card that has been formatted on a PC.
Some of the firmware-driven features on the camera simply do not work, most notably automatic white balance (AWB). Shooting digital is like shooting slide film, where paying attention to this sort of thing is critical, so people used to shooting print film will need to adapt. I'm sure that the camera does something when AWB is enabled, but I can't figure out what, since the result always seems as if the white balance was set for daylight sun when shooting with AWB. I could understand if AWB was unable to handle extreme cases, such as 3200K incandescent bulb, but it ought to be able to handle the difference between 5500K daylight sun and 6500K overcast. At a minimum, AWB should be able to tell whether the flash is being fired! The color balance on the camera is otherwise excellent, provided that white balance is set explicitly to one of the standard modes, such as daylight sun, overcast, incandescent bulb, or flash.
Flash compatibility is also a firmware problem, although this led to a finger-pointing exercise between Pentax and Metz. I have been shooting with a Metz 40MZ-2 for years, using a Metz SCA3701M2 adapter. This works perfectly with Pentax film cameras, but through-the-lens (TTL) exposure on the digital SLR can be way off in some situations, especially when the zoom lens is toward the wider angle end of its range. I asked Bogen (who represent Metz in the United States) if a newer adapter, such as their SCA3702, would solve these problems, but they said no, telling me that their 40MZ-2 is not "digital compatible" and that I had to upgrade to a 54MZ series flash head, which would cost about $400. This is insane, since the whole point of the Metz modular system is that all of the exposure metering and camera interface logic is contained within the SCA3000-series adapters. I could try buying just the SCA3702, which would cost about $80, but one leading dealer warns "Note: Not fully compatible with *ist, *istDS or *istDL. It IS fully compatible with the *istD." To me, this clearly indicates that the problem is with the Pentax firmware, despite the idiotic (and self-serving) advice Metz has been giving me. Until I am able to resolve this, the workaround is to lock the camera manually to a lens aperture in the middle of its range, such as f8 or f5.6, and use TTL to adjust the flash; this has other benefits for depth-of-field reasons, so it is not a serious disadvantage to have to do this.
Nominally, the camera takes four AA cells, but even high-capacity (2500 mAh) NiMH cells will only last about 300 frames even with basic power conservation measures such as turning the LCD monitor off and not using the on-camera flash. This might be adequate for casual shooting, but it does not work for event shooting, especially since there is almost no warning when the batteries run out. Although the manual warns not to do it because some manufacturers may violate voltage expectations, using Li-Ion CR-V3 cells instead is a practical necessity, providing as many as 1500 frames. Originally, such Li-Ion CR-V3 cells were about $40 each and the camera requires two to operate, but recently Walmart began selling Sakar import versions for $20 each including a charger with both AC and DC cords. These have worked well and I have had no trouble as a result despite extensive use.
Knowing what I know now, after six months of experience with the camera, I would definitely make the same purchasing decision although, as things turned out, I would differently weigh certain aspects of my original criteria.