The only question I have is why spend £1000 on a camera to balk at £50 for a battery? When tested, none of the replacements have the same, or even the rated, capacity and some are dismal.

Considering a colour slide (transparency) has a 5 EV range if we're lucky, digital images won't really cause a problem.

Technicalities are fine, and interesting, but if we think about the consequences then the shot where everyhting has detail within a huge dynamic range will look nothing like an image shot on film. It is something new. However, that isn't a good thing or a bad thing, it is just there to be exploited creatively.

So sometimes we might be very happy to let the shadows have no detail; we will rarely be happy with washed out highlights. A moments thought about the desired end effect will dictate whether or not we wish to exploit the full dynamic range available.

Just because we can doesn't mean we should.

Statistics are a dreadful thing. Looking at this in an holistic way, I find it very hard to believe that the most used lens is a 100mm macro. Or that the runners up are probably the most expensive options available.

If you extrapolated this to cover all Pentax users then Pentax would be selling as many 100mm macro lenses as camera bodies and I think that's highly unlikely. Looking at the images people post even just here in the forums and Gallery it's also highly unlikely.

Anyone buying a lens because of such statistics isn't really looking at photography logically IMHO.

Yes, the K-r has been announced today in five new colours. Purple anyone?

I was just wondering if we would end up in some cases with caveats on repair invoices, just like many watch replacement services do.

We do have some idea of the long term viability of weather gaskets in general, which are in our watches, compact cameras and now DSLRs and lenses.

In general, a service and replacement after one or two years is recommended by the manufacturer of all these things, but as we know no-one ever does this. So my waterproof 10M rated watch has not been serviced for years and is probably no longer secure.

After battery replacements watches are no longer guaranteed to be water resistant - if you want that then you need to return it to the manufacturer. This begs the question of repairs being done to cameras - does this mean that it has to be a Pentax official repairer to guarantee that the seals are restored after the repair?

Have a great day, I'm sure you will!

Re the question about macro lenses, much better to start a new thread on that otherwise the existing one becomes sidetracked.

Also, please bear in mind that forum etiquette means that writing in capitals is considered to be shouting. No problem, but worth noting because your posts may be misunderstood.

If you like flare, then you'd best avoid Pentax lenses....

Well be that as it may, the cheap alternative is even more expensive because it's not not fit for purpose...

I shall be sticking to the Pentax variety and have indeed found one on eBay.

My original, purchased in 1985, is still used by Sue with the 50mm, so it was not expensive over the lifespan. 26 years for a cost I think of about £15 at the time.