| Latest Review Posted | Pentax *ist
The Pentax *ist is relatively rare and hard to come by. I bought mine from a French website for 100 euros including the battery grip and shipping. The camera is in very good condition, however the top right control wheel is stiff and requires effort to turn (a common problem with this camera).
The *ist among cameras is like Fiat 500 among cars – small and cute :) It's designed to work best with small primes. I use it with the "plastic fantastic" DA 35/2.4, DA 50/1.8 and the 70/2.4 Limited. All these lenses cover full frame – the first one without any issues, the other two with slightly blurred corners. With any of these lenses, I can wear the camera around my neck all day and forget it's there. To use it with zooms, I have to attach the battery grip that improves handling a lot.
The camera is very advanced, with surprisingly good ergonomics for such a small size. It has 11 AF points, but they are clustered in the centre of the viewfinder and aren't very useful. I mostly use the central point.
Speaking of the viewfinder, it is the main drawback of the camera. To keep it small and light, Pentax engineers used a pentamirror instead of a pentaprism. As a result, the image is sharp only in the centre, and the edges are soft and distorted. OK for framing and autofocusing, but not good for critical manual focus. I've been mostly using my other film cameras, Z-1P and SF1n lately, and after their gorgeous viewfinders the one on the *ist is a pain to use. I attached the Pe... |
