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February 14, 2005 – Pentax announced a little makeover for the **istDS digital SLR yesterday. The camera, which is currently offered in a black color, will be available in silver at an undisclosed date. Now known as the Pentax **istDS Silver, the SLR will have the same specifications as its predecessor, but a different color.
The 6.1-megapixel digital camera is aimed at the growing prosumer market with its wide range of options and compatibility with Pentax lenses. The *istDS Silver has an optical viewfinder that has 95 percent coverage of the field of view. It is also equipped with a 2-inch LCD screen with 210,000 pixels, which is larger than most digital SLR screens.
The *istDS Silver also differs from conventional DSLRs with its SD card format. Most DSLRs use the CompactFlash card. Pentax used the SD card slot to reduce the size of its SLR, which measures 4.9 x 3.6 x 2.6 inches and weighs 21.3 ounces with the battery and card. This is just slightly smaller than the popular Nikon D70, which weighs 25.4 ounces and measures 5.5 x 4.4 x 3.1 inches.
A 2.8 frame per second burst mode can shoot for eight frames before pausing to write to the memory card. Shutter speeds range from 30-1/2000th of a second and ISOs range from 200-3200. The Pentax *istDS Silver can also capture still photographs in JPEG and RAW formats.