Hi - I am a big fan of this forum, especially the lens and camera reviews, but until now not much of a poster...
I came into the Pentax world from M42 lenses and cameras, and worked my way into K mount film cameras. Having a bunch of nice lenses hanging around, I decided to give DSLRs a try with a like new *ist DL I purchased last year for about $50 on eBay.
I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed the *ist DL and how great the IQ is with my vintage manual focus lenses. So inspired that it helped me take the plunge on buying a Nikon Df for use with my (ever increasing) collection of vintage manual focus Nikon lenses... but that's another story.
I really love the *ist for its small footprint, especially with smaller lenses, length of use with AA rechargeable batteries, great IQ and reliability, and I have found the P and Av great with Pentax-A lenses.
I shoot only at base ISO (200) and raw format, which basically makes this a daytime camera. I don't care about action shots at multiple shots per second , autofocus (I basically have no AF lenses), silly program modes, jpeg quality or video.
What I miss and would appreciate would be an *ist camera that had:
* high ISO / low light performance
* a better viewfinder, and
* weather resistance would be nice (but I don't have WR lenses)
BUT without investing more money in a digital camera than makes sense (FOR ME).
I have been pretty good about resisting the urge to buy modern, Limited or other lenses without aperture rings and/or that would only be usable on cropped sensors. The pentax is not and will not be my one and only system, not my first, as I also have nice Nikon and Leica film and digital collections...I see this a being part of a small travel kit that would allow me to take great pictures in all light conditions, without lugging too heavy and expensive equipment, and being able to share 2-3 lenses between one film (say a super program or ZX-5n) and one digital camera.
I have bought all my cameras second hand, seeking out the "old lady from pasadena" low use examples when I can. So, assuming a budget of let's say $500 for a camera in good shape, what would you recommend? The K-70's high ISO performance and portability is what piqued my interest. Should I wait until prices come down a bit or there is more of a used market for it, or is the K-SI or II basically the same (how much noticeably better is low light/ HI ISO) ? Or should I set my sights higher at a K-5iis with low mileage? Or...?
Appreciate your thoughts in thinking this through with me... and I welcome other suggestions too...
Last edited by jamin-b; 02-12-2017 at 06:09 AM.