It's a nice, natural expression, but there are technical problems. It's not sharp, presumably because of camera shake but maybe because of poor focusing. The light is very warm and the red jumper does look very over-saturated. There's a division in the background pointing right at the centre of her head, not quite a tree growing out of her head, but a similar effect.

So the things I would look at are lighting, a tripod and the background. Hope that helps!

To be fair, it is a very extreme example in choice of subject.

With this image I wonder if you would not see some moire even with an AA filter?

To correct it though I would think about converting to black and white, or even shooting in black and white. Have you tried this approach, and if so does it help?

Storage can be tricky, but at least store in a cool, dry environment and put plenty of silica gel in the boxes. Hopefully 3-4 months won't be too bad, lenses can last a lot longer than that in less ideal circumstances.

Ansel Adams made a set of three books (The Camera, The Negative and The Print) that are excellent but probably beyond what you need at the start. The Paterson Book of the Darkroom is simple and practical for setting up and getting started, but there are numerous accessories that you just don't need, such as an exposure meter.

I'd have a look on Amazon, or better still visit a Waterstones or similar bookshop and browse some books in their photography section.

One of the reasons to develop our own films is to get the qualities we want from an emulsion. Fir example, I used Kodak Tri-X film (ISO 400)and developed it in FX-39 from Paterson. The reason for this is that I liked the crisp grain structure that resulted. (The Pentax 18-135mm gives me a similar effect on digital.)

If I had developed in Paterson Aculux or Ilford ID-11 then I would have had finer grain at the expense of the grain being slightly less crisp. The FX-39 is an acutance developer, the Aculux a fine grain developer.

Then we have the refinement of changing the development time and exposure to create the effects we want. Under exposure and extended development will affect a film differently to over exposure and reduced development.

This is a huge area with endless possibilities. There are extensive books on the subject, but trying things out is the best way to find what properties we like.

The wetting agent, fixer and stop bath will be fine. The developers may be OK if still sealed, but the only way to be sure is to try them. The paper developer won't lose you much if it's no good as you'll know after the first print. The film developer probably isn't worth the risk as you wouldn't want to ruin a film.

Thanks Steven, pretty much what I expected, I wonder how it's going!

Did they say what was wrong?

November isn't that long to wait now we know it's on the way.

I was musing to myself about the complexities of distribution and cameras, boxes, accessories must all be ready by now for shipping. I wonder how they do last minute firmware upgrades...perhaps the bodies are the last thing to go in the box and they all get plugged in and updated or perhaps the chip that carries the firmware is easily accessible and they are done in huge blocks and then inserted in the cameras as a last phase.

The logistics of it all must be pretty hectic. Maybe firmware is finally updated when the camera reach the UK. I used to sell Japanese dental chairs that arrived in the UK without their upholstery, which was added here to order for colour. Maybe the cameras are already here having final checks and waiting for the green light.

That's what I've been musing.....

Not so sure the other manufacturers would all agree - sales for Nikon mirrorless, for example, have fallen well short of expectation, production has been scaled back and they are turning to DSLRs as the money earners.