A look at the Pentax *ist D back to back with a Canon EOS-10Da and an Olympus E-1
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Here is a collection of sample images and a comparison with Canon's EOS-10D and the Olympus E-1. Scroll down to see pictures of the 10D, E-1 and *ist D side by side, high ISO comparisons between the *ist D and 10D and some general outdoor sample shots.
All the *ist D shots were taken using a Pentax 24-90mm f/3.5-4.5 SMC FA zoom and the 10D shots were taken using a 10 year old Canon 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 USM II zoom.
E-1, 10D and *ist D side by side
Here, to start with, as requested by
John, I've compared some views of the the E-1, Canon EOS-10D and the Pentax *ist D - from left to right in that order:
Above are the three cameras fitted with various lenses supplied. The Olympus E-1 has a 14-54 (28-108 equiv) f/2.8-3.5 zoom, the Canon EOS-10D has a 50mm (80mm equiv) f/1.4 standard lens and the Pentax *ist D is fitted with a 24-90 (36-135 equiv) f/3.5-4.5 zoom.
Here are the three cameras sans lenses. The E-1 has a marginally taller body than the EOS-10D, but the 10D is easily the widest. The *ist D is just, well, small! Despite having a substantially smaller sensor than either the 10D or *ist D the E-1 has a lens mount almost as large as the *ist D's.
Viewed from the grip side, the E-1 has the most sculpted hand grip of all, helped by the height of the body. Both the 10D and *ist-D fit less naturally into the grip of my right hand.
From the opposite side, you can see that the E-1 has the deepest body and it looks like the 10D is slightly slimmer than the otherwise diminutive *ist D.
This top view shows the relatively massive pentaprism/pop-up flash bulge on top of the 10D. The E-1's highly sculpted grip is also shown well here. Notice the relatively small status LCD of the *ist D.
Moving slightly back to reveal more of the rear of the camera. You can see the *ist D has an anti-reflection coating on its LCD viewscreen, while the EOS-10D doesn't. The E-1 has a removable plastic viewscreen protector, though the view through it when attached is acceptable.
And here is a full-on rear view, again accentuating the tall but narrow nature of the E-1 and it's highly sculpted grip.
ISO range Noise comparisons
Above is a 1:1 (100%) crop from the centre of the frame taken on the *ist D at ISO 200 (the lowest ISO setting possible with the *ist D, incidentally). No sharpening has been applied to the image out of the camera.
Here the same image crop has been sharpened with Photoshop USM at 100%.
Now the ISO has been boosted to 1600. No sharpening has been applied.
Again, this is ISO 1600, but the image has been sharpened.
Here is a Canon EOS-10D version of the same scene at ISO 1600, sharpened. The scene is slightly closer because I had to guess the matching field of views between the two cameras and the Pentax view turned out to be slightly wider than the Canon's zoom setting.
With and without auto-levels
Above you can see side by side shots of the same church steeple from each camera. In this instance, no levels adjustment has been applied at all.
Here we have the same scenes but with Photoshop auto-levels applied (individually to each image before they were joined).
Finally, a couple of general shots
The following have been re-sized and slightly sharpened by FSoft's Resize Magic, but otherwise no level alterations have been made.
This flower box was shot in direct late afternoon sunlight. The lens was zoomed to 68mm (102mm equivalent), f/9.5, 1/350th sec, ISO 200.
In portrait mode this time, the lens was set at 29mm (43.5mm equivalent), f8, 1/500th sec, ISO 200.
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