Not every lens suits the way a photographer "sees" the world.

For example, a friend once bought a 19mm to use on her P30T, having seen lots of great ultra-wide images. It was an enormous disappointment to her because she still used it as though it was a 50mm lens. At that distance all she got was small subjects in the frame, none of the drama. And she couldn't make herself go closer, so it just didn't work.

I don't see where SDM lenses have been "largely discredited" - in fact apart from a few teething troubles I haven't seen any mention of any problems for a long time.

That is off topic and it is provocative, so let's leave it at that.

Members are encouraged to post images and also to make comments.

Watermarks do ruin the enjoyment of images, so I wouldn't put it that you were accused of anything cabstar, probably people were telling you that they wished they could see them without the view being obscured.

I've always taken the view that small forum images aren't really worth stealing by anyone, but that's just my opinion.

OK, this is breaking down now into something that has no place here, so I'm going to lock this one.

We'll have to see what the actual price ends up at. Just at the moment nobody is quoting a street price.

I've had a quick look and there don't seem to be many of the 18-135mm lenses on offer for any make, maybe they are so sought after that there's no spare stock.

It will be interesting to see how it performs as it's certainly a very useful range.

Are we comparing RRP? Or street price?

Actually, yes, totally impartial. If you think about it, there's no other way for it to make sense.

I found the K5 to be an incredibly good DSLR and was delighted with its performance. I shall be buying one. The images are there to be seen.

So should I dilute it to make it seem less good? Should I then make another make seem more exciting so you're sure I'm not putting something non-Pentax down?

I don't think so. It's much easier to be honest and straightforward and report what I find in a totally impartial way.

Different societies have different perceptions about things, so if people in Kuwait are intimidated in some way by the SLR camera that is something we should respect.

It does seem odd to us, but maybe the DSLR is something that has rarely been seen on the streets. It doesn't seem to be a problem for landscape photographers, just for people photographers.

There's always the temptation to think "the grass is greener..." but it isn't. Things wear out and fail regardless of make.

Sure, some are better than others, and all I can say is that I've owned quite a lot of Pentax camweras and lenses. Just limiting it to those I have bought new, as we can never tell what has previously happened to second hand items, I have only had one Pentax body fail. An MV body developed an electronic fault and was fixed.

As regards lenses, just one lens failure. An early example of the SMC Pentax-A 50mm f1.7 had an aperture ring mechanism that fell apart. The lens was junked and the moral of that story is don't ever ask me to try and repair a lens...

Other than that all has been fine, regardless of the style of manufacture.