Viewfinder I just got my *ist DS Monday, and this is my first DSLR. I have a general question, which I hope you guys can help me with. The image framing from the viewfinder is significantly different from the finished photo. The finished product always has a wider angle of view from what I am seeing while framing the shot. At the widest setting, there isn't much difference. At full zoom with an attached Nikon 6t, the object I am shooting is large in the view finder, but it appears half sized in the photo. I can always crop the image later, but I would rather crop less of the photo if I can. Is this just a DSLR thing? Does it vary with different lenses? Is this just something you learn to account for when framing the shot?

Viewfinder magnification has nothing to do with this. It's a framing accuracy, viewfinder coverage issue. Viewfinder magnification has to do with how large the focusing/framing field appears, optically, to your eye. Pentax went for a higher optical magnification to combat the feeling of "looking into a tunnel" that you get with many other cameras.

The *ist DS has the same large eyepiece as the *ist D and the same magnified view, the focus screen taking up much more of the view through the viewfinder compared to other digital SLR's (the *ist DS viewfinder has a magnification of x0.95 compared to for example x0.88 for the EOS 300D or x0.8 for the EOS 350D). So you can see that more of the image will be taken than what you actually see in the viewfinder, and a tight crop in the viewfinder will require less cropping of the actual image.

I don't know how to answer your question, since I haven't yet experienced that phenomenon. It sounds like it's just caused by the nature of the lenses used. Since you are new to the camera, I'll just warn you that it is not perfect in any way, but every function of it is very good, so the end result is amazing, and I might even say perfect. This is just the nature of the Pentax dSLR for now, and it seems that it's a Pentax thing in general. You'll find lots of dSLRs that can outperform the Pentax in one or two feature comparison tests, but if you lign up all the features of one camera and compare them with the Pentax you'll find the Pentax will beat any camera out there. It is just so well balanced, and each feature really is good enough, which adds up to a LOT. I'm sure somebody here will explain the problem you're having, and if you're like me you'll just make a few adjustments and be satisfied with the results. Post some shots too, that's an excellent way of getting feedback that will help you make the most of your Pentax. I wouldn't trade my Ds for any other camera out there even costing 10 times more.