| Author: | | New Member Registered: November, 2013 Posts: 14 | | Review Date: February 14, 2022 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharp sensor, anti-shake buildt in | | Cons: | - | | Years Owned: 2
Ergonomics: 10
Build Quality: 9
User Interface: 10
Autofocus: 9
Features: 10
Value: 10
Image Quality: 10
Noise: 9
New or Used: Used
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For so few money an excellent underrated digital camera for its time /  / Pour ainsi peu d'argent une caméra numérique superbe à l'époque (9.5 points)
++ easy menue / menue simple
+/++ few noise / peu de flou
++ good working horse / maintenance endurable
++ AA batteries / bobines AA
6 MP can be sharpenend and interpolated by PHSh to 24 MP (afterwards sharpen your pictures once more! ), so that big posters are available / pour agrandissements on peut interpoler à 24 MP et augmenter la netteté avec PhSh avant et après cette action. | | | | | | | Site Supporter Registered: April, 2011 Location: Copenhagen Posts: 510
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: August 19, 2011 | Recommended | Price: $200.00
| Rating: 7 |
| Pros: | size, weight, ‘old‘ lens compatibility | | Cons: | no weather seals, limited MPs for wide angel, distant object photos | |
I bought my DS2 this spring (2011) in order to get started with dslr photography. I have been using my LX for many years and find good value in lens compatibility with the DS2, except when it comes to the 28mm. (CF=42.5) because 6.1MP. isn´t enough to get sharp photos with distant, small objects and wide angels (relatively). I find I get satisfactory result with 50mm´s and up and really nice results with both my 135mm. It´s quite good and sharp within 10-15m. With MF lenses the auto focus substitutes other sharpening aids very well and with the diopter correctly ajusted makes a handy confirmation tool.
KA lenses work very well, Ks and Ms on ‘M‘ take a little practice, it´s easy to forget to make that AEL check with every shot. Some times I prefer to just shoot wide open (or stopped down with EV) on Av or Tv. These ‘old‘ ones are so far better than the 18-55 kit lens and so much cheaper than the DA primes for me to consider these obstacles as being anything else than charming.
The light meter mostly measures a stop or even two under, especially considering the digital photo technic of shooting to the right (..of the histogram), which Im looking into. It´s easily corrected and is also part of the getting to know your camera routine, it´s fun. Anyway, I shoot RAW all the time, so no words on jpg. performance? And not on flash either, which I almost never use. The noise get´s really bad at ISO 3200. Night shots are tripod shots with this one.
I miss weather seals a lot and always carry a bag for the DS2. The build of the DS2 gives you confidence, but I used to have a digital Olympus range finder, that became (permanently) ‘weird‘ when I took it out shooting in misty weather one day. Digitals are a sensitive kind, I guess (generalizing) and so I don´t really dare to test the DS2 and only use it safely (dry). Since I love rain, water and mist this is one of my major turnoffs.
Over all Im a happy DS2 user and find it usable as an entry to dslr photography, but I am looking for alternatives (K20D perhaps)
See examples taken with the DS2 here at my flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32108329@N08/ | | | | | Inactive Account Registered: May, 2009 Location: Fairbanks Posts: 3
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: December 14, 2010 | Recommended | Price: $500.00
| Rating: 7 |
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| Pros | yes | | Cons | yes | | Rating | 7 | | Price (U.S. Dollars) | 500 | | Years Owned | 5 |
I can recommend this camera: Yes
Value, Features, Performance & Size
yes
Camera Review
The Pentax *ist DS2 was built on 2003 technology and released in 2005, over five years ago. A DS2 purchased in early 2006 was my first DSLR. Nothing introduced earlier appealed to me. Either they were too large and heavy and expensive; or the viewfinders were unacceptable dark little tunnels. The DS2 has a pentaprism. Five years on, it is still among the brightest and largest APS-C viewfinders available. And five years on, it is still nearly the smallest and lightest DSLR available. It has a top-body LCD and a 2.5” rear LCD screen, a bit undersized by today’s standards, but not so much as to seem outdated and small (although the 210,000 dots is a bit shy).
Beyond the small and light is the shape; smoothly curved and nonprotuberey. It slides easily to and from the pocket and hangs comfortably one-handed.
Build quality has proven to be excellent, in this example. Five years of use and still going strong. Granted, the shutter count is still under 10,000.
I find the AA batteries to be an advantage. Sony 2800mah NiMH rechargables in the DS2 seem to last as long as the Li-ion batteries in my K7 or Canon 5D. Yet the AA’s are much less expensive and much more easily available than proprietary batteries.
Auto-focusing is slow compared to modern expectations, but is accurate. I find it usually usable in daylight, iffy in low light. I like to focus with my right thumb or my left hand and have the shutter release be just a shutter release. The DS2 allows the user to place the autofocus function on the “OK” button.
Having only a single control wheel is a drawback, but not a fatal one. The one wheel it does have is well-placed for the thumb. The camera has a total of only 5 shooting-control buttons on the right side of the body: shutter release, exposure compensation, exposure lock, an “OK” button in the center of the 4-way controller, and a “Function” button. All are well and widely placed.
Lack of a one-touch dedicated button for ISO or white balance is a drawback, fortunately it is still fairly easy and quick to access control using the “function” button which calls up a nicely functional short cut menu for ISO, shutter behavior, flash, and white balance.
The camera will collect RAW or JPEG files, but not both. This is doubly unfortunate, because one must use the MENU button and then repeatedly pushy-pushy through menus to get to the right place to change the file type. Perhaps it is triply unfortunate because jpegs straight from the camera, while not evil, can be considerably less nice than post-processed RAW files of the same scene. Writing RAW files to the SD card can be slow.
High ISO low light performance is middling; high ISO is 6200.
The advantages of this camera that have stood the test of (accelerated digital) time are: good viewfinder, solid build, good shape, small size and weight, very nicely laid out (albeit limited) controls, and the ability to use both legacy film lenses and the small modern Pentax primes. Although it is what it is - 6mp and ancient - the sensor is good enough to take advantage of the quality of the best lens I have; the 77mm limited.
| | | | | Veteran Member Registered: December, 2006 Location: Ontario Posts: 744 | | Review Date: May 26, 2009 | Recommended | Price: None indicated
| Rating: N/A |
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Just some thoughts regarding the DS2, which I no longer have:
1) The ergonomics were excellent. It was a small camera with a good heft.
2) The auto-focus was slow - especially AF-C. However, it was accurate....more so than the k10 in my experience. If the focus locked, I knew what I was getting - more so than with the k10.
3) I found it very quirky with batteries. Sometimes it wouldn't pick up that the batteries were there at all. I suspect this was just my camera though. However, it was a pain in the butt when trying to shoot birds that weren't very keen on holding still for long.
4) In spite of the short-comings, I loved this camera. It had the right feel to it, being small and portable.
Overall, I'd have to rate this camera 6/10 for my uses at the time, which involved a lot of bird photography. It was slow, and with exception to the battery quirks, it was a steady performer. Compared to the k10???? Tough call. I really loved that DS2.
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