I’m thinking about what to bring to the “Otakon” Anime convention. As this is going to be a big trip for us, I wanted to bring my A-game. The K-5 body is still MIA, but I wanted to have two camera bodies available. I purchased a used *ist D camera body.
That blurred coin in the image is a nickel, not a quarter!
I just had the camera delivered a few days ago. Really great. The small size is amazing. Guess which lens I instantly put on it? Yep… the DA 40mm f2.8 Limited. The grip is better than the old *ist DS I had, but it could have been better with some extra room for finger tips.
Surprising number of advanced controls and settings. Three custom setting saves. Timer button, green button, flash control button, af button…
I started by turning off all of the extras such as noise reduction and instant preview. With my 16gb CF cards a single RAW writes in around 9 seconds based on one test. Once the image is written, I can press the review button and the image comes up instantly. While I rarely use instant review on my other cameras, I might with this camera as a quick check in the field.
The only thing I see that is slow about the camera is how long it takes to finish writing an image. Everything else is pretty chipper. The buffer is big enough that I should be able to go about my business without delay.
Here is a little test comparing the *ist D and K-7 output with a 31mm lens:
I think the *ist D does pretty good for a camera that was released in 2003!
Well anyways, back to the kit plan:
– K-7 with grip and 31mm f1.8 lens.
– The Sigma 530DG Super flash, most likely used with the K-7.
– The *ist D with a FA 85mm f1.4 lens. I don’t currently have the lens in hand, but I should get it before I leave.
– The Kenko 1.5x teleconverter to be used with the 85mm lens so I can cover events at the convention from a distance. I’ll be using that pair with the K-7.
(before sensor crop) 85mm * 1.5 = 127.5mm . According to sources on the internet, a 1.4/1.5x TC should lose one stop of light, making the lens something like an 128mm f2. A more reasonable end result would be something like a 128mm f2.2 lens.
That will all bank on if I get the lens in time. Let’s hope KEH follows their shipping rules on overnight packages. 🙂 If you don’t know about the FA* 85mm f1.4 lens, it’s one of those special lenses that are difficult to obtain and usually priced to match. This lens was rated “bargain” quality, so hopefully it’s in decent condition…