Canon guy seeks Pentax advice

[richard_reusser]

I've got a 20D and a bunch of Canon glass that I love. I've been thinking about picking up an

ist DS to supplement my gear. I'm intrigued with the idea of using some nice older Pentax

manual focus glass and I really like the looks of the limited lenses.

My question then, are the jpegs coming from the camera as poor as the reviewers make out?

Vuk's review on photo.net didn't mention any problems. Maybe firmware updates, or the DL

have improved the situation?

I appreciate any feedback!

Rich Reusser

[alan_chan4]

You will get many more responses from dpreview. But as a long time Pentax user, I will try to answer your question.<p>

The short answer to your jpeg question is, no. Both DS & DL will produce identical jpeg quality. The trick is not to use the default "Bright" Image Tone setting, use "Natural" instead with sharpness +1 (maybe contrast +1 too depends on your preference). The DL is basically the DS spin-off with some minor downgrades like fixed focus screen, pentamirror instead of pentsprism, 0.85X viewfinder instead of 0.95X, 3raw/5jpeg buffer instead of 5raw/8jpeg. DL has 2.5" LCD instead of the older 2" of course, but resolution is identical.<p>

Now, as a DS owner myself, the only concern is banding noise. If you have not come across this problem, take a look at these:<br>

http://www3.telus.net/wlachan/banding.jpg (100% crop)<br>

http://www3.telus.net/wlachan/banding2.jpg (full frame resized)<br>

My DS has this issue at iso1600/3200 when I was using continue shooting mode, particular obvious at the 5th shot (RAW). After some lengthy discussion with other DS owners, this seems quite common with DS, and could happen when the files are being written to the SD card. Some even experience this problem at ISO800 when shooting continually. The banding problem stops if I refrain myself to shoot rapidly. My limited test with another DS (also banding problem) and a DL (both shop demos) suggested the problem might be fixed on the DL. I pushed the DL really hard at 3200 but none of the test shots had any banding whatsoever. So if you are buying either one, I suggest you shooting them at 3200 in continue mode for as many shots as you could (underexpose a little). Inspect them on the camera's LCD (4x will do) to make sure the one you are buying is trouble free. Btw, it is not firmware related.<p>

Now to the good stuff. There are 4 Limited lenses so far, 3 FF (FA31/1.8, 43/1.9, 77/1.8), and 1 DSLR (DA40/2.8). I have the FA. 31 & 77 are the gems with good wide open sharpness, stopped down they are really excellent. Wide open 43 really lacks, 2.8 improved greatly, but edge sharpness remains weak until 11. If you won't use it for scenery which demands great detail, 43 is perfectly fine. But I am talking about FF so edge sharpness is not a concern for DSLR. I have no experience on DA40 so cannot comment. According to the Pentax roadmap, more small size DA Limited will be coming next year. But one must be aware that telephoto beyond 100mm has remain the weak spot. There is no great zoom at that range. They are planning one next year, but until then... Black FA Limiteds are not easy to locate outside Japan either, if these are what you want.

[harri_haavisto]

One possible idea for using old lenses could be getting M42->EOS adapter and use old Takumars and other makes with D20 (or 350XT).

 

But IMHO *ist D/Ds (but not Dl) have better finder for manual focus (I now have both D20 and *ist D). Cant comment on direct jpeg quality of Ds, but if one does not count missing 2Mbits, *ist D beats D20 in "direct from camera" image quality: better exposure, better colors...

[jerry thirsty]

You might want to look at the DS2 instead of the DS. Virtually the same except for the larger LCD and continuous AF now available in P/T/Av/M/B modes, and you'd hope that if they fixed the banding on the DL they also applied the fix to the DS2 (haven't used the 2 myself, so couldn't say).

[richard_reusser]

Thanks for the replies. The banding wouldn't be a deal breaker if it only happens in

continous mode - the 20D is hard to beat for action. I have the Pentax in mind for street

and general photography, likely with one or two lenses in the 28 - 77 focal length. The

40mm pancake lens got me going in this tangent in the first place.

[mawz]

The basic reason for the JPEG quality issue is the DS and DL's default settings are optimised for producing the best 4x6 prints possible, and by default they will easily produce better 4x6's than a Canon using it's defaults.

 

Changing to Natural colour will produce much better JPEGs. Shooting RAW will remove the issue entirely.

 

I'd look at the DS2 over the DS. Bigger LCD, true Auto ISO and rumoured Continuous AF in all modes.

[alan_chan4]

The coming DS firmware in Dec will have these 2 features added.

[cideway]

Another lens type not to be discounted is the 50mm F1.4 lenses, be it the FA F A or M, all these lenses produce exceptional results and are amoungst the best 35mm lenses ever made, on the D/S(2)/L this lens becomes = a 75mm and becomes a beautiful portrait lens and such.<div></div>