Or shoot one in colour as well. However, it's a state of mind thing. If I'm going to shoot in black and white then I like to, generally, get in black and white mode of thinking. If I do want a colour version and I haven't shot one, then indeed it is my hard luck!

People have been making similar posts for years, certainly as long as internet forums have existed.

My opinion is that it doesn't really matter what rumours there are, I know what I want to use and why and I just get on with it......

If you were contemplating buying another DSLR at all, then it would make sense to me to replace your Kr with a later Pentax body. Then there's no problem using your Pentax lenses. There won't be any advantage to changing marques and continuing to use your lenses with adapters, even if it's possible.

The drop in quality is when we change an image and re-save. If we make no changes then there will be no degradation.

The PM came to me in error.

Done.

All the settings can be tweaked to taste Nigel, and that's true of all the camera bodies. Of course the later ones become better and better as we go, but that's progress.

It is true. It's only £1.50 or so and no doubt it helps with the upkeep of the wheelchair-friendly path that takes you to the falls.

I'm puzzled why you would need ISO values of 10,000 in bright light?

The aperture mechanism on Pentax lenses is very reliable, regardless of the age of the lens, so it's not a generalised problem. A slow aperture mechanism can be due to contamination on the blades - oil would certainly do the trick as it sticks the blades together. There shouldn't be any oil around the blades as it would stick them together. Surface tension....

Some basic checks first, such as are you set on spot metering? If that was so and you were unaware of it, then wildly varying exposures could well result. I suggest centre weighted metering to avoid over exposure.

Have you checked the exposure compensation setting? A value of -0.3EV is always a good starting point as this usually avoids burnt out highlights.

In bright conditions high ISO values might mean we run out of shutter speeds, so even f/22 and 1/8000s might results in over exposure. If you are using the optimum aperture setting on the lens, be it f/8 or whatever the camera sets, then you will soon need faster speeds than 1/8000s to avoid over exposure as you increase the ISO.

If the aperture ring stops down and returns smartly when the lever is flicked, then the aperture mechanism is unlikely to be an issue.