Luminous Landscape owner and editor Michael Reichmann has just published his review of the Pentax *ist D digital SLR, which is now on sale in the UK. What does this professional photographer think of the *ist D? Not a lot I’m afraid…

“Let’s do the conclusion first this time. The Pentax *ist D, Pentax’s new 6MP digital SLR, is an adequate offering ? producing image quality competitive with similarly priced and featured cameras from Nikon, Fuji and Canon.

Is it better in any way? No.

Is it more expensive than the others? Yes. It costs more than the Canon 10D or the Nikon D100, but “no” it’s priced less than the Fuji S2 or Olympus E-1. In other words, it runs in the middle of the pack.

If that was all there was to the story it would be simple to tell. But regrettably the *ist D disappoints in a number of areas, and though I have been a fan of Pentax cameras for at least 40 years this model fails to live up to expectations.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Pentax *ist D Review