Christopher J Osborne

Introduction

If you just want to see some photographs, skip straight to the results section.

The Pentax *ist D was launched in February 2003 as Pentax's very first commercially available digital SLR. But it wasn't Pentax's first attempt at a digital DSLR. That was the 6mp full frame MZ-D, demonstrated at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show in January 2001. In an era when pretty much all DSLRs consisted of a 35mm film body with all the electronic gubbins bolted onto the back like a franken-camera, the MZ-D was based on the MZ-S film SLR. The MZ-D shared a sensor with the legendary (if also somewhat tragic!) Contax N Digital. Given Kyocera's multitude of difficulties with that camera, perhaps it's just as well Pentax cancelled the MZ-D before it came to market.

Because the Pentax *ist D was launched alongside the Pentax *ist film SLR (Pentax's last ever 35mm film SLR) it is often described as the digital version of the *ist. But that really isn't the case. The *ist D was an ultra light-weight entry-level camera aimed at compact camera upgraders, so it has very light-weight build quality, a simplified user interface and lot's of beginner friendly features like scene modes. But the *ist D was a high-end camera that competed against other cameras at the top end of their respective manufacturer's consumer ranges; cameras like the Canon EOS 10D, Olympus E-1, Konica Minolta Dynax 7D and Nikon D100. So the 2 cameras have very little in common other than the name.

But the *ist D's high-end pretentions didn't mean it was some big heavy lump of a camera. Far from it! In fact Pentax marketed the camera at the smallest and lightest digital SLR available at launch.

So now let's tackle the elephant in the room… Pentax! What were you thinking with that name?! Is that the stupidest camera name in the history of photography!? How exactly are you supposed to say it anyway? Starrist?! Asteriskist?!?! Even if you ignore the asterisk completely and just say ist D it still sounds pretty daft. OK… with that off my chest, let's carry on

+ Specification

Using an Pentax *ist D in 2025

IMHO the Pentax *ist D is an absolute joy to use! But it has to be said that as a long time Pentax DSLR user that is in part because my muscle memory is still trained for the 'Pentax way of doing things'. But even so, the is something about the 'Pentax way of doing things' that a lot of other manufacturers could learn a lot from. For example, the Pentax green button is absolute genius! This button can be pressed at any time to set the camera to set the camera to whatever the camera would have chosen where in a completely automatic mode. For example, in manual mode, pressing this button will set the camer to the correct shutter speed and aperture the camera would have chosen in programme mode. And in programme mode pressing the green button will instantly cancel any programme shift settings. It really is an incredible time saver.

And if you have a vintage lens fitted that had no electronic contacts to allow aperture to be controlled from the camera body, just set the camera to manual mode, press the green button, and the camera will stop the lens down to the aperture set on the lens, take an exposure reading, set the shutter speed, then open the lens back up to maximum aperture for the brightest viewfinder for composing your shot. It make using Pentax K mount les made after 1975 almost as easy as using the very latest lenses.

Being a high-end camera you get such niceties as twin control dials, an LCD panel on the top-plate and a large (by APS-C standards) and bright pentaprism viewfinder. There are external controls for all the functions you need when taking a photograph. Because of this the menu system is just about as simple as you'll find in any DSLR: it consists of just a single page of configuration settings. Pentax has never had much of a reputation for the best autofocus systems, and that applies to the *ist D as much as any other Pentax SLR (film or digital), but you do get a good selection of 11 focussing points to choose from, which is pretty competitive for the era. I found that in most situations I could find and set an appropriate focussing point without any problems.

Buying an Pentax *ist D in 2025

The Pentax *ist D is actually quite a rare camera. Once I had decided to add the first ever Pentax DSLR to my collection it took a good couple of years for one to turn up on eBay. If you are specifically looking for this camera, bear in mind that when you use 'Pentax *ist D' as a search term on eBay, most of your hits are going to be for the *ist D's low-end junior siblings; the *ist DS (and DS2) and the *ist DL (and DL2). So examine the listings carefully to make sure you really are looking at the original *ist D!

But as I've said before on this site, DSLRs from the early to mid 2000s seem to be at something of a nadir, value-wise, at the time of writing (2025). So when an *ist D finally turned up I managed to pick it up for just under £40 in very nice condition. Bear in mind that all the cameras in the *ist D series take 4 AA batteries rather than a proprietary battery, so batteries are rarely included and if you don't already have a set of good quality rechargeable AA batteries you'll need to budget for those.

It's also worth baring in mind that even if you do pick up a vintage Pentax DSLR for a nice low price like I did, for reasons I have never really been able to fathom, Pentax film-era autofocus lenses from the 80s and 90s can be very expensive… quite a bit more than equivalent film-era lenses from Canon and Nikon. Fortunately as a long time Pentax DSLR user I have a cupboard full of both vintage and modern digital Pentax glass to choose from, so I didn't need to buy any additional lenses. Pictured here is my *ist D fitted with an SMC Pentax-F 28mm f/2.8 lens from 1987 and an SMC Pentax-DA 40mm F2.8 XS lens (originally intended to suit the Pentax K-01 mirrorless camera) from 2012 for a particularly compact outfit!

Pentax *ist D results

In common with most DSLRs from this era, the Pentax *ist D suffers from a quite a few technical short comings such as high levels of not-particularly-attractive noise (you'll probably want to stick to 400ISO or lower most of the time) and fairly limited dynamic range (resulting in the regular occurrence of blown high-lights in harsh lighting conditions) that would have prevented anyone at the time from calling the results film-like! But even so, I think the results from the 6mp CCD sensor of the *ist D can be very attractive and certainly have a distinct character that is different from modern high-resolution cameras. But as always, you'll have to come to your own judgements!

SMC Pentax DA 16-45mm f/4.0 (40mm - f/4.0 - 1/125 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax DA 16-45mm f/4.0 (45mm - f/6.7 - 1/300 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax DA 16-45mm f/4.0 (45mm - f/8.0 - 1/500 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax DA 16-45mm f/4.0 (45mm - f/8.0 - 1/500 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax DA 40mm f/2.8 XS (f/6.7 - 1/250 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax DA 40mm f/2.8 XS (f/2.8 - 1/60 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax DA 40mm f/2.8 XS (f/8.0 - 1/750 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax DA Limited 15mm f/4.0 (f/5.6 - 1/60 - ISO200)
A good example of somewhat limited dynamic range where a shaft of light is hitting the plasterwork to the left of the frame, and in the star shaped windows in the dome.

SMC Pentax DA Limited 21mm f/3.2 (f/3.2 - 1/500 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax DA Limited 21mm f/3.2 (f/3.2 - 1/500 - ISO200)

The following photographs were all shot using the SMC Pentax-A 50mm f1.2 manual focus film-era lens. Like most vintage manual focus lenses, this lens exhibits a real dual identity: stop if down a couple of stops or more and you get sharp, contrasty images that are difficult to tell from any modern lens. But open it up all the way to f/1.2 and you get results that are either shockingly bad (not very sharp, low contrast and lots of chromatic aberrations and veiling flare, particularly with back-lighting), or charming and characterful, depending on your point of view. If you've spent any time in the Outlandish lenses section of this website you won't be too surprised to find I have the latter point-of-view!

Manual focusing on a DSLR camera like the *ist D isn't as easy as it is on a mirrorless camera with multiple electronic focusing aids, but the *ist D still offers some help in the form of a indicator LED in the viewfinder that lights up in green when you hit the focus point, and of course you don't need an adapter! I thought this lens produced some very interesting results on the *ist D.

SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 (f/4.5 - 1/180 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 (f/4.0 - 1/180 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 (f/4.0 - 1/180 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 (f/1.2 - 1/750 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 (f/1.2 - 1/1000 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 (f/1.2 - 1/125 - ISO200

SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 (f/1.2 - 1/125 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 (f/1.2 - 1/180 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 (f/1.2 - 1/1500 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 (f/1.2 - 1/750 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 (f/1.2 - 1/750 - ISO200)

SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2 (f/1.2 - 1/750 - ISO200)

Links

• Pentax *ist D contemporary review (on dpreview.com)
• Pentax *ist D Operating Manual (PDF)