Pentax Announces Consumer Digital SLR

Pentax introduced Tuesday its downsized digital SLR camera, the *ist DS digital SLR, which will be available in November for between US$800 and $1,000.

The *ist DS (pronounced ist dee-ess) has a 6.1 megapixel (effective) CCD imager, which should yield an image resolution of 3,008 x 2,008 pixels. Other features include a 1.5x focal length multiplier, RAW / JPEG recording, and a built-in pop-up flash.

The camera measures 4.9" x 3.6" x 2.6" and weighs under 18 ounces; it also has a high-magnification viewfinder, a 2.0-inch color LCD monitor, an Auto picture mode as well as a 11-point AF sensor, a high-speed shutter unit with a top speed of 1/4000 second, SD memory card compatibility, and high-speed shooting that records up to eight images consecutively at a speed of approximately 2.8fps.