There's nothing intrisically poor or otherwise in a given maximum aperture. It's just the speed of the lens and it could be a very high quality lens.

These days most lenses are zooms and even a modest £2.8 is considered "fast" so now f2.4 might be considered a fast lens by many photographers.

It's another option and it's to the credit of Pentax that they provide lots of interesting lenses that are not covered by any other marque.

In 135 terms, these would be 36mm, 42mm and 202.5mm, none of which seem overly exciting to me (35mm, 43mm, 200mm)

Would you buy lenses of those particular lengths? Or, to put it another way, when (if) you used film, did you buy those lenses?

In terms of handling, the X90 is pretty much the same as any other current Pentax, so ergonomically superb and no handling issues whatsoever. The operation is smooth and the lens impressively free from distortion, even close up.
In the standard focusing range I made this image this morning:
[IMG]http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/johnriley1uk/027-Gallo-X90.jpg[/IMG]
and using the Super Macro setting went a little closer with this one:
[IMG]http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/johnriley1uk/028-Gallo-Close-X90.jpg[/IMG]
Unfortunately the camera would not memorise the time and date, a fault I have come accross before, so some batches may have a fault in the system or the firmware. A replacement will be sought for that, so no problem once the faulty ones have worked their way out of the system.
All in all a creditable start and a fairly responsive camera. Not as fast to use as a DSLR but certainly as good as any bridge camera that I've used.
For the purpose intended it will be a useful addition to the arsenal.

The laws of Physics as we know them are constantly changing as our understanding of the Universe expands, but what I meant was in relation to how this all affects digital cameras has changed because sensors have considerably changed.

That site is dated 2005, so it is a bit out of date now.

It is all about the focus point changing as the lens expands and contracts. This becomes relevant with big telephoto lenses in particular.

Yes, I think it's a great pity as well, for all the reasons you say.

Title corrected. On my screen your image displays just fine.

There is one issue left to go, and I would expect there will be a letter sent with that, detailing all the possible options.

Batteries can be quite dangerous things. Laptops have been known to burst into flames with faulty batteries, sometimes OEM ones.

My basic viewpoint is that I want the maximum reliability. Therefore, I buy Pentax batteries, and if they fail or if they should become tiny fireballs I would know where to look for compensation.

A cheap battery is from an unknown source. It could be any manufacturer and it could be a good manufacturer who also makes kit for Pentax. Who knows? And that's the problem - it could be a menace that leaks all over the camera electronics and invalidates the warranty as it does so.

As for AA batteries, when I bought them I bought branded ones. Predictable really!