I have sent a reminder to our winner, so hopefully we will get a response very soon.

If I was looking for something light and compact I'd be buying the K-S2 instead. Fantastic camera.

Upgrading from my K-5, I'd be happy with the K-3 or K-3 II, although the latter does have that intriguing high resolution mode.

While I'm still shooting weddings though, for me it will be the high end model. After I stop doing that, we'll see.

Other makes are really off topic here, but more than that a membership of Pentax Users might have very few who actually can offer any insight into such a comparison.

Having said that, after I tested the Olympus XZ-1 compact I actually bought one, but my enthusiasm soon waned because of the dreadful menu system. Likewise I tested the E-5, all very good but huge for such a small format and not the best JPEG output, not a patch on the Pentaxes of the day. So I can understand that other things can look attractive, but in the end I think you'll get better images from the K-3, and certainly more versatility should you choose to buy more lenses later.

If you want the onboard flash, snap up a K-3 whilst they are still around. you don't have to buy a K-3 II.

I understood the motors had been upgraded, but all this happened so long ago.....the problem was only with early lenses and hasn't been a problem for several years. Unfortunately, things take a long time to be forgotten on the web.

Now corrected, so the competition is open again for your entry!

The other side of that coin is that the dedicated hoods are clip on or bayonet on designs and these are far quicker to use than screw in ones. I gave up using screw in rubber hoods in the 1970s. The very best design probably remains the Rollei bayonet system, with beautifully machined aluminium bayonets with ball bearings in the fitting. However, those for the size of our current lenses would be horrendously expensive to design. I'd expect several hundred pounds per hood.

My pet hate is seeing people using bayonet hoods still in the reversed, parked position. Useless. Put the hood on properly please!

It's not just size that's the relevant point, although it can be, it's also the texture and the quality of the tones and colours. The world isn't just seen on a monitor screen, there's a real world out there.

Unfortunately i no longer have any lenses to test it out, but for those who have it should be easy enough to confirm what happens. You may well be right John.

The hood for the 50mm is stillavailable new, although you might not like the price! http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/accessories/lens-caps-cases-hoods/pentax-lens-h...

The 28mm hood is similar, but allows the wider angle of view. I'd suggest eBay for that.

Cheaper copies exist on eBay and Amazon, from JJC and others, but I've found these vary from a good fit to not fitting at all.

We were at Leverhulme Park in Bolton yesterday, doing a shoot for a charity dog show.

Here's us:

Lesley Davidson-Gwen Barnes-Sue Riley-Gill Blower-John Riley

And here's the team from Hearing Dogs:



And here's a sample dog from the day:



No time for any more today as I'm doing some wedding processing, but more cute dogs to follow, sometime soon at a PU forum near you......