Excellent Quality - Excellent Value

I've used 35mm film cameras for almost 40 years and have owned many SLRs, including Nikon, Canon and Leica cameras. I bought my first digital camera when Casio introduced it's first digital camera with no flash and 320 by 200 resolution. I presently own several digital cameras, including Canon G6, Panasonic FZ10, and Pentax 750Z. I've resisted buying a digital SLR primarily because of higher cost, but also because most SLRs are bulky.
When Pentax lowered the price on the *ist DL, I decided to give one a try. I'm very glad I did.
The DL is a very solidly built camera that feels "right" in my hands. It's smaller than most digital SLRs and weighs less. I bought the camera kit, which includes an 18mm x 55mm lense - and I'd rate this standard lense very highly. It's extremely sharp, edge to edge, and the color and contrast are exceptional.
The controls on the DL are well-placed and logical to operate. The settings are menu-driven and can be operated by anyone with basic knowledge of digital cameras, almost without reference to the instruction manual. Those needing to refer to the manual will find it very well written and comprehensive.
I especially like that the DL has an ISO rating from 200 to 3200, which makes low-light pictures practical without using the built-in flash. The noise level of the DL, even at high ISO settings, is equal to or better than many higher priced digital SLRs.
The flash is also very effective. In macro mode, it throttles down better than any flash I've used. The close-up pictures are perfectly exposed. Most other digital cameras I've used have "washed out" macro pictures.
The DL has a mirror instead of a prism, but the matte screen makes manual focusing a breeze - even in low-light situations. And the flash will briefly discharge to allow auto focusing even in near-dark situations.
The DL allows saving files in jpeg (several quality levels) and in RAW. The highest-quality jpeg files are between 1 and 2 meg, so several hundred pictures can be stored on a single 1G SD card.
In summary, I believe the DL is the single best value in digital SLR phorography at this time. It's price, build quality, and performance (camera and lense) are much better than I'd expect from an entry-level digital SLR. Of course the proof is in the pictures - and I'd be willing to bet that even experts couldn't tell the difference between pictures taken with the Pentax DL and those taken with more expensive cameras with greater name recognition.