Well said, three cheers for Richard....M8

I take it you used to drive a Skoda or Lada then

Before you all start screaming for my head I am NOT comparing Pentax to early Skoda What I am trying to do is point out that generally speaking people associate low price with cost cutting and sub standard products and will quite often pay more for less simply because they think the product will be better.

It took Skoda a long time to shake off the publics opinion of them, maybe its time Pentax said to hell with it and sold cameras at the same price as the competition with the attitude its as good as yours because it cost the same to make, hang on a mo, maybe thats exactly what their doing with the K7

IMHO weve had it too good for too long, Pentax have kept their prices down in a bid to gain a higher share of the market, lets face it how many of us would have the top of the range model if we shot with either Canon or Nikon? not many, because the price of those models would be way beyond our budgets.
Pentax need to compete with the big boys on a like for like basis offering similar spec cameras at similar prices, especially if they want to compete in the pro' market, many tradesmen believe the more they pay for their tools the better job they'll produce and in many cases this is true, I think pro photographers are the same.

The K7 cant be compared to the K20 so why are we comparing the price? and as for the £1000+ price tag.....didnt many of us pay about the same and more for the istD back in the days when £1k was worth a lot more than it is today?

What everyone has failed to ask is "are the manual lenses TOTALLY manual" ie K mount? if so then the 16-45 will also have the benefit of no pratting about with the green button

I'm glad my spelling is reasonably OK then, I can imagine surfing the net for Pantex only to find the anti terorist sqaud at my door.

EDIT; speaking of spelling, look how I wrote squad

Not really but quite possibly, I suppose anyone who owns something as unique as Pentax gear is bound to be friendly towards a fellow owner, in a simalar way to drivers of obscure cars who will flash lights at each other as they pass,
I think some forums are just full of miserable buggers, and if your colleague joins another things may be totally different. My camera club, Leeds Cooperative Photographic Society (shameless plug) has a reputation as one of the friendliest in the area, despite the fact that 90% of the members are afflicted with Canonitis (poor things) the ONE Nikon owner we have is one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet.

PS; Pentax owners now outnumber the Nikonite by 2:1 and thats 4:1 if you count Samsung as Pentax

Cmon guys lets not be hasty, lets wait and see what price SRS put on it, not that I will be buying one of course

You could always contact them for an estimate of cost and timescale for repair, paid jobs might get more attention than freebie warranty work

I sent my istD several years ago for a spring clean and focus screen replacing, it cost me £50, posted it on the monday and had it back on the friday, I'm not saying your would be as easy but dont take all the horror stories you read about poor service to be the norm.

Not keen on the slideshow (but my connection is abysmal) but love the rest and the photography is excelent, the only improvement would be a change of name to Lesley Treloar ARPS or even FRPS which IMHO would be well deserved.

K20D and K10D, I gave the istD to my son last xmas, no intention of upgrading to K7D as I have no interest in video, as for a faster frame rate....dont get me started on using skill to capture a shot Vs luck

PS the poll only lets us register ONE body