We tried the exercie when 6MP cameras were the norm, and things are much better now.

We made images via JPEG and RAW capture of a detailed subject and then prepared A3 prints doing whatever we would normally do in both cases.

Then we presented them to around 40 people for close examination.

Most people could not tell the difference on close examination and no-one could tell the difference from a normal viewing distance.

These days we use the Premium JPEG setting of the K20D, which involves very little compression and files of aroung 9 or 10 MB. If you have never tried this then you might be pleasantly surprised.

I'm surprised not one reviewer has mentioned the Premium JPEG setting, which is another jump in potential quality.

I'll correct your title for you in a moment, but to answer your question I shoot JPEG all the time and there is virtually no difference in the results from shooting RAW.

I'll rephrase that slightly - there is no difference between the competition entries that JPEG users make at our club and those that use RAW capture.

There is more difference between the skill levels of the individual photographers, and therein lies the real area where practice makes for quality.

You'd be better off starting a new thread, with pictures if you can.

Read the instructions at the top of the thread list in the Your Photos section.

Unfortunately not every hosting site allows hotlinking, but Photobucket works well.

They can be re-chipped by Sigma in many cases.

I have always found the biggest problem was the stipulation that images be shot within the competition period - I'm too busy taking pictures for other reasons to generally stop and do that.

I entered this time as I thought not many pictures were being posted, so I'd help the numbers, but sadly forgot about the time rule.

I'm not sure that we can be considered a representative sample - although we have some recording of faults (how many, has anyone counted?) we have no idea how many forum members have actually bought a K7, whether they are from a particular batch, or even how the percentage of faults relates to the percentage for previous models.

The trouble with even putting up a poll is that those who reply are self selecting.

Pentax will know!

It works!

Be careful about assuming that this is a common problem though - a couple of cases have been reported here, but this is not a representative sample.

A percentage of any manufactured item will be found defective in one way or another. It's what is done to put it right that counts, which is where Chris at SRS seems to be scoring very well.

In your signature - have a look around the My Settings options, top right of this page.