Some translations for those who don't speak US Canonese:

EOS Kiss X4 = EOS550D

EOS Kiss X5 = EOS600D

EOS Kiss X3 = EOS500D

Remember these figures are for Japanese domestic sales. Not always a good indicator
of European tastes. It would be interesting to see UK/European sales figures for
2011 by both make and model.

vrapan,

Agreed, fewer sales could mean higher prices and will certainly mean fewer resellers.

I predict that by Easter there will have been major corporate retail casualties on the High Street, unfortunately many smaller photographic chains and family businesses will also have gone under by then. My comments were mainly based on the K5/Ricoh though as the subject of the initial posting.

Ricoh is a high volume, mass market brand and i'm assuming will want to take Pentax down that road. If it doesn't then it has just wasted hundreds of millions in its investment and Pentax will probably fold this year. As long as Canon, Nikon and Sony
stay in the DSLR marketplace then Pentax will be forced to compete or close. Trying to reposition a mid level but mass market company as another Leica, Rollei or Hasselblad...just won't work in current economic depression.

With regard to the 'urgency' factor due to the time limited price that you imply is 'rushing' you into a decision, I would ignore this totally.

The K5 is undoubtedly a fine camera but has been steadily dropping in price due to its age and market position relative to the competition.The short to mid term price level is likely to stabilise at around its current discounted level until well into the new year by which time its replacement will likely have been announced.

Don't forget the UK economy is getting worse all the time. Unemployment is continuing to rise, hundreds of thousands of public sector workers will be paying more into their pensions and thus have less disposable income, rents are increasing faster than wage growth as is the cost of transport, utility bills are continuing to rise relentlessly...all this means that disposable income is shrinking for most of the population. Camera gear is a 'luxury' for most and will therefore face strong downward price pressure. All manufacturers will have to accept lower 'profit'
or exit the industry.

So, in a nutshell make your decision on perceived increased capability, ergonomics,
usefulness etc...but don't allow yourself to be stampeded by corporate marketeers.

Lol, good answer

97.61 What products are covered by that Chapter Heading? !

Very unusual, well done. It makes a change from the more typical motorway 'light' traffic.

I have just purchased the Tamron 70-300 for £129 which is excellent value. Have only had it less than a month but am delighted with it. Optically, in the reviews I have seen it performs as well as the Pentax 55-300 resolution wise. Some people have raised issues about 'purple fringeing' under certain circumstances, but in the 200 odd shots i have taken so far with it I haven't noticed this at all. It comes with a metal lens mount and lens hood as well.

The only criticism I have is that the overall 'handling' of the lens is not fantastic. The zooming in/out is a bit stiff although this does mean there is no 'zoom creep' and AF can be very noisy which may or not be an issue particularly as you want it for wildlife. Also you have to remember to be in a certain zoom range before engaging 'macro'...a few things like that...although with experience I would expect the 'handling' issue to become less important.

Overall though i'm very impressed and would give it 8.5/10. It also came with a 5 year warranty (from SRS). Hope this helps.

Stunning, go for it.

Of interest to photographers on the battery front, I believe that JCB ( who recently launched a complete household battery range in the UK), are going to be bringing out a 1.5 or 1.6v NiMh AA rechargeable battery next year. Currently these batteries are 1.2v - 1.3v from all manufacturers, but because of this don't always perform well in some appliances needing closer to 1.3v -1.4v to work effectively. The voltage(s) at the proposed new level would mean they would perform at the level that 'new' alkaline batteries perform at. Unlike alkalines the voltage wouldn't drop much as the capacity is used up. Should be very popular.

I'm lucky to have kids at school, I think the education price for lightroom is about £70 or so.