It's a fair comment. Our first Pentax DSLRs were the *istD and those images come up very nicely alongside newer ones.

I had an X90 for a while, but there's the real drawback of speed. The zoom lenses may be long, but the focusing, lock on and shutter response can be quite slow. The EVFs tend to be poor as well, the worst ones having quite a lag.

You can't beat a DSLR for speed and ease of use, there's no real getting away from it.

There can be a case for using a Pentax Q with long K fit lenses, getting amazing magnification, but the manual focusing needed can be tricky and it takes a bit of practice and skill to get the best out of it.

Zoom lenses in particular will drift as you zoom. There are very few true zooms these days, that is parfocal zooms that hold focus as we zoom. Most are varifocal and need to be refocused after zooming.

Prime lenses also vary as we focus and can actually also change focal length. This is especially true of internal focusing lenses.

So add together a varifocal zoom and IF and the possible drifting and errors becomes a minefield. Without computer design these lenses would not be possible.

Look at camera shake as a possible source of blurring, proper use of aperture for the required depth of field and the actual point being chosen to focus on. It should rarely be the lens that's at fault because of calibration issues.

Lenses are computed to be at an optimum at the distances they are expected to be used at. A macro lens at close distances, a long telephoto presumably at long distances. A portrait lens at the appropriate distance.

There's no perfect lens and some even say in the instructions if used close, use stopped down. The 16-45mm is an example of this,

I can take your point about forgetting to remove the lens cap. Although I've got it now, I just have to concentrate on what I'm doing!

It can, and does, happen to all makes of camera. All computers can lock up.

I have never experienced it, but I never use grips, so I don't know if it's the changeover from one battery to another in the grip that can make the risk higher.

There are two things I think.

First, over-exposure will burn out the sun to bald white. The sun is so much brighter than the landscape that it can't be easily reproduced at that size in the frame. Don't point your camera for long into the sun either - protect your sensor and your eyes.

Second, if you used AWB the camera will try and remove any colour casts. Film had a fixed colour balance, so if you want red to stay red then change the WB to a fixed value. I use Daylight routinely and Cloudy or Shade if the light is excessively cold.

Also bear in mind that even the fixed values will be altered slightly by the camera, unless you switch that option off. I switch it off. If I set Daylight I mean Daylight!

And the slowly decaying Pentax MG that's in my garden. Project Decay....

I use a Manfrotto 055 and it's sturdy and reliable. Tripods just need to be functional.

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New MX-1 owners might be interested to note that this is the same battery that is also labelled Pentax for their cameras.