Originally posted by GeneV I've been hanging around this forum long enough that I should know the answer to this, but does the *istD have the lobotomized K-mount?
Yes
ALL pentax DSLRs have had the lobotomy,
BUT because the D and DS have a separate TTL sensor they can, providing the flash also supports TTL, do flash metering. I don't know about the DS, but my *istD even supports bot TTL and P-TTL with the built in flash.
As someone else mentioned, not all new cameras make old ones obsolete, just different.
This is also why I propose back up cameras need not be identical to your main camera. It is not a question of only back up but functionality.
If your second body offers different functionality to your main body, you are better off (In My Opinion) with 2 different bodies than 2 identical ones.
This goes back to film days. My ultimate back up is an origonal KX. the only thing it needs batteries for is the light meter. Everything else is mechanical and I have a hand held light meter just in case all the batteries die