pentax *ist dl?

[letsgorangers]

http://www.dcresource.com/images/news/pentax_ist_dl-lg.jpg

has anyone had any experience with this camera? owned it, or at the very least, used it?

i am wanting a dslr, and this is very much in my budget. i know that most of you here probably have the nikon d50/70 or the canon 20d/30d, but unfortunately (ooops, well...only unfortunate in the sense that i'll be broke) i'm starting graduate school soon and definitely can not afford those. i have a canon ae-1 program (it's great!), so i'd love to have a canon dslr, but alas, not right now!

but this camera looks like a good starter dslr with a pretty good pricetag. so have any of you used it?

[Abstract]

I haven't used this camera, but I'm sure both Pentax and Olympus offer great cameras and really nice features for the price. They give you a lot for the price you pay for their cameras, so if you're on a budget, go with those. Even the 2 kit lenses that Olympus provides are supposed to get you some decent photos. :)

I'm sure the Pentax camera is fantastic, and quite frankly, I can say the same thing about all the budget DSLRs. You don't need to get a Canon or Nikon to get good photos. You're the one holding and controlling the camera anyway, so if you take a bad photo, it's likely your fault. ;)

[bousozoku]

Talk to kwajo.com, he's our resident Pentax addict. :)

The *ist line is quite capable though I've not used one. I sold a lot of Pentax cameras (ME Super and Auto 110!) when the brand was quite popular, along with fewer Canon AE-1s, Nikon and a lot of Fuji, Minolta, and Olympus cameras.

For the money, it's a lot more camera than practically anything else available. Canon and Nikon can't match it.

[jared_kipe]

It sure is cheap, but from reading the spec sheet on dpreview.com (they don't have a review) I think the extra money for a Canon 350D is probably well spent. But it sure is cheap kit for $550 is the cheapest I can find from a reputable dealer. Ok not soooo reputable, I guess its hard to return things ;)
http://www.acephotodigital.com/sc/review-product-information.asp?id=964599383&rf=froogle&dfdate=07_21_2006

[MacSA]

Pentax are releasing the K100/110D in a couple of weeks at very competitive prices. The K100D has built in shake reduction.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0605/06052205pentaxk100d.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Pentax/pentax_k100d.asp

I believe the K110D is identical except for built in image stabilisation.

Some image samples from a Japanese website, scroll down to find them:

http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/review/2006/07/03/4120.html
http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/longterm/2006/07/21/4253.html

[ekenny]

I actually just bought this camera last week. Im waiting for it to arrive from amazon.com. Got it with the kit lens (18-50mm) and also picked up the 50-200mm off ebay for under $200. Ive read some pretty good things about it, so hopefully it will be a great camera.