I wish I knew. This is with the 12-24, uncropped at 12mm (don't mean to hijack your thread). That distortion on the pier in the corner isn't due to tilting the camera. I suppose there is a way of correcting it in Photoshop but I guess the only option is to do that or use the lens judiciously at the wider angles.

I'll keep hold of your old one. I bought it with several uses in mind. One is a partner to the DA*300 (which I'm planning as a future upgrade from my 55-300). I've seen some very good results with this combination. I'm not sure that combination is any better than the Bigma at 500, but most of my work would be at 300 where the Pentax knocks spots off the Bigma. Once I have upgraded then the 1.7 can also be used in conjunction with the 50-135 to give me coverage at 200. I do find the 1.7 to be an excellent partner to the DFA100 macro - it gives me the choice of extra magnification or extra working distance with very little loss of IQ. Plus it acts as a focus limiter to a lens which otherwise hunts annoyingly. All in all a very flexible addition to the bag.

Dust spotting is pretty good (clone or heal options). You can copy and paste the dust spotting from one image to others.

People jumping in the air and having their photo taken! It seems to have been well received.

I don't think the second set is as good as the first, although that's not saying they're still not good. I'm not keen on the distortions in 1 and particularly 6. A couple of the others just seem to lack a little something in comparison with your lakeleand work. The last shot however I think is truly excellent. I might have a different view looking at these photos in isolation but I look at these with the exceptional standards you have set previously.

It's far too expensive for us Limousin peasants. Nice colour contrast in those shots.

I don't like ratings systems. If an image has been voted in and then approved by the panel then in my view it deserves to be there. The ratings system can be used as a tool to express their dipleasure at photos they consider to be less worthy than their own rejections. In a nutshell it is as much a mechanism to express sour grapes as a mechanism for appreciation. I have seen it operate that way in other places.

Really bad luck. The cost of replacing the sensor would be almost certainly more than the camera is worth. That looks serious and I can offer no more than sympathy. Johnson's Photopia are the repair centre, I have found them to be very good with all the warranty repairs that I had with my K20.

That's a good tip and it's just down the road from Crozant. I feel an Autumn weekend trip coming on, although I expect the rain will have swelled the river and covered up those lovely rocks by then.

The first one is an important photograph, amazingly well done and good luck for capturing it. The other is very nice, I like the tones. I think it would look at its best in letterbox format.