The thing I've never understood is why marketing matters as to whether we continue to use Pentax or not. We like the products, so we use them. If we don't like them there are plenty of others around.

Supply is actually very good these days, although it's probable that we have to deal with a mail order company as physical camera shops seem a bit thin on the ground. We are very lucky to have SRS in particular in the UK, but there are plenty of other sources as well.

As for promotion in the UK, I'm sure that the PR company and Ricoh want very much to meet their targets, otherwise they wouldn't be doing the job. Like all other things though there will be a finite budget and within that they will pursue what they see as most effective. Pentax is on the up, so I deduce they are doing a good job.

I haven't had time to photograph it yet, but here I have a Mint Pentax K20D, boxed with all accessories, plus two extra Pentax batteries. Manufacture date 5/3/2008, shutter count 11,730 and not a mark on it. Fully functional in every respect.

Price £175 including tracked delivery to anywhere in the UK. (Overseas shipping can be priced up if required, but the ability to send the extra batteries may then be compromised.)

I've started using Costco and they have printed some brilliant 18" x 12" prints for me. Our A3 printer (Epson 1290) is a total pain now, and very wasteful on ink as the heads keep getting blocked. We mainly use A4 printers now, for documents and a few A4 or smaller prints.

The K70 seems more video orientated, along with the new 55-300mm lens, so perhaps there's some hope for our videographers?

Moved to Classified Ads.

The original ME is also a simple camera, but this time with a silver coated pentaprism (brighter viewfinder), self timer, heavier construction, shutter speeds displayed in viewfinder, wider shutter speed range, exposure compensation.......but it's the first and the oldest so do check everything works. The seals may well need replacing.

Plastic has been mentioned a few times, but the chassis and the film gate were still made with metal. This gave the camera rigidity. They were well made and gave very good service.

The MV is essentially a stripped down ME/ME Super design. There are no shutter speeds in the viewfinder, just traffic lights where green means a fast enough shutter speed for a 50mm lens and amber means a tripod is needed. Red means over-exposure and a smaller aperture should be selected until the light turns green. There is no timer, no exposure lock, just a simple SLR.

However, it's also very light and compact and can take images just as good as any other SLR using film.

For more control, look for an ME Super, one of the most ergonomic designs ever made.

Nicely done.

Yes, the dark marks on the fingers do catch the attention a bit. Also, there seems to be a different amount of processing on the skin tones of the two models.

Having said that, it's a nice idea and it could be superb with just a few touches here and there.