Annoying though it might be, all manufactured items from all manufacturers will have a failure rate.

I don't know what logic manufacturers follow these days, but I should imagine there is at least batch testing. But however many of the lenses made are tested and how thoroughly, the next time any of them are used there is still the potential that they will fail. Fortunately failure rates will be very low. They have to be otherwise the companies would go bust.

Incidentally, 70mm Limited lenses can't suffer from SDM failure as they use screw drive AF.

Sue's K-5 has been sold a while now, but a reminder that mine is still available.

Pristine condition, boxed, 17,690 actuations. Full operational in every respect.

£200 including tracked delivery. Payment by PayPal or cheque please, UK only.

So there we have it.

Prices of all marques are volatile at the moment. We've been used to a long period of depressed prices and that may be over, so more than ever it's wise to keep up with the latest offers.

I've just been doing some Value for Money research for a review and there are some very attractive prices still.

We shall see what the future holds as it unfolds, but I won't be letting ifs and maybes affect what I want to use now. Even if it was all packed up there is more than enough stock in circulation to keep me going as long as needed.

Very interesting article, thanks for the link.

Nice subtle images.

If you look up how a focal plane shutter works, then understanding how this affects the use of flash will be easier.

I've been shooting with Pentax cameras since the early 1970s and as far as I can recall the only failure was an SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7 lens whose aperture mechanism fell apart in a studio session. Never a camera body.

So normally I would carry just one DSLR body, but always have the trusty Pentax MX-1 in a pocket just in case.

For professional jobs it's a different matter and Sue and I have a camera each, plus a backup body, plus backups for main lenses just in case a lens fails.

Me: K-1 plus lenses, back up is K-3 II
Sue: K-3 plus lenses, shares the K-3 II as backup.

I use P2E 6.0 but Sue uses the latest pro version as she usually does the demo sessions for the club. It's on her laptop, so it's there for both of us as we need it.

Although we have to pay for it, our favourite slide program is Pictures2Exe, from www.wnsoft.com

Wide aperture lenses have very little depth of field at wide apertures, so focus is tricky to nail sometimes. The tiniest bit of subject movement can move the eyes out of the point of focus.

I think the obvious choice is the Pentax 100mm f/2.8 macro lens. If you need to soften it, that can be done with a filter or in Photoshop. It's compact, offers a very useful focal length for portraiture and is well within your budget.

The HD Pentax-D FA 28-105mm, which you nay have bought with the camera, will also do very nicely.