| Latest Review Posted | Pentax *ist
The Pentax *ist was released in February 2003 at the same time as the *ist D, these were Pentax’s last film & first digital SLR’s.
Pentax marketed the *ist as: “the world’s smallest 35mm autofocus SLR, combined with the highest level of quality and performance to satisfy a wide range of photographers from the most demanding professional and experienced amateur to SLR novice.”
Pentax also released two lightweight FA J zoom lenses (28mm-80mm & 75mm-300mm) to go with the new *ist film camera. These were Pentax’s first lenses with no aperture ring.
Build & Handling:
Since the *ist is so small & light it’s obviously not made of metal, so some form of plastic was used in the construction. The *ist also has a similar cheap silver finish as the one used on some of the FA* lenses. As a result the *ist is a rather cheap delicate looking camera and does not exude the ruggedness of a similar sized Pentax ME/MX. The *ist does have metal mounts and sockets, so it could be worse! What I’m more worried about is that Pentax used plastic instead of brass gears inside the body, so you will then have similar issues with the mirror motor gears as with the MZ/ZX bodies. No way to tell if this is the case, other than opening up the body.
Handling also suffers due to the small size/weight (122 x 84 x 63.5mm/335g) of the *ist and larger heavier zooms/primes do not fair well on this camera. (I tried my FA*200/2.8 and handling was awful on the *ist.) The FA Limited’s how... |
