If it helps, try thinking of 1:3 as one third life size, 1:4 as one quarter life size and so on. That keeps the numbers the right way round!

To be exact, magnification ratios are quoted as 3:1 or 2:1 etc. where the magnification is greater than life size.

Where the magnification is less than life size it would be 1:2 (half life size), 1:3 or 1:4 and so on.

Hope that helps.

Thank you Dan for the great assessment and congratulations to Prieni and the other winners.

If Prieni would care to start the new thread for Competition #12.....

Totally unknown, unless by some mischance you didn't hit "submit". I've done that before now. It would be a bit irritating if it were a long post that failed to appear.

Otherwise, maybe just a failure to send properly because of internet glitches.

Time to wait for the result of whatever repair is undertaken.

I'm sure I've been accused of many things before now, but blanket condescension is definitely a new one...

It's really time for any camera that may have a fault to be retuned to Pentax for examination, otherwise we just go round in circles adding speculation to speculation.

I'm sure if I had a faulty camera I would send it back for repair or replacement. It won't get better on its own.

All my comments are of a general nature and do not refer specifically to any particular person's competence.

Nothing is wrong with asking Pentax about the perceived problem. If you check out their website there is a mechanism for asking technical questions, and they do reply.

Do please let us know how it works out.

Most of the time my images are straight, but when they are not it is down to operator error. Happily Photoshop means that the occasional careless error can be easily corrected.

In some shots it can be very difficult to get the correct line because, depending on the angle of view, sometimes there are contradictory lines. Line one up and another can look wrong. Tripods may not always be a guarantee of success because of this.

My own "golden rule" is that when it looks straight it is straight, even if it means it is technically out. This can also arise when the camera is pointed up or down and keystoning becomes evident.

I'm sure that most of the problems perceived are not camera errors, especially the huge errors shown in some images.

If in doubt, get other photographers to use the camera and see what transpires.

75% of people don't agree with that, according to this poll.

Many photographers do have a problem with leaning images, but always have had. Hence the common suggestion that they should carry a brick to stand one leg on and even themselves up...