Chris A, in principle you're absolutely correct, why pay for something that doesn't work? The only caveat I would like to put in is that every man-made item has a margin of error, and if that error is plus or minus 1 degree then no amount of adjusting and replacing will change that. It's a guide.

Is it useful? I've never found it so on any camera. So for me, I've not even switched it on as it's irrelevant. So I wouldn't send a camera back because it was out.

If it was vital to my work then I'd have a proper scientific level of some sort.

Somewhere in between I'm just suggesting there's a bit of leeway that's inevitable.

JPS are the official Pentax repair house so why not have a chat with them about cost? Their details are on the Pentax UK website.

If you join Pentax User Plus you'll get 20% discount from JPS on servicing. It could be worth the £9.95 subscription.

There's no option in the camera menus, so the switch needs repairing.

The 2 second self timer deactivates SR, so some rudimentary control can be exercised in limited circumstances, assuming the SR is currently on. You can see whether or not it is on at the moment by the symbols in the viewfinder.

If it's permanently off, then the camera is fully usable but without SR.

It is actually a brilliant little bit of design, wonderful lateral thinking. Competitors are probably kicking themselves for not doing it first and of course those with no sensor shake technology can't do it in-lens so easily.

There are three settings I think, off and two strengths of moire reduction. It will be interesting to see what the actual effects are in due course.

I have never found Pentax AF to be particularly slow. It snaps into focus virtually instantaneously, depending on lens of course. It tends to be tracking AF that people complain about, but to be honest I only ever use centre point AF.

To put this in perspective someone handed me a Nikon DSLR with 70-200mm lens and it was achingly slow in low light levels, so it depends on all sorts of factors clearly.

The menus are what need to be there, but it's just a matter of looking and learning. It's no more complicated than anything else, every item has an explanatory comment to guide.

Sorry jules, you're doomed, no free bans from here....

Now, you know what you have to do: SRS......

Johnsons don't know what the problem is until they look at the camera, they can surmise only. So it is worth checking the simple things first.

As a temporary measure you could set the appropriate custom function to release the shutter while charging. This means that even if the camera doesn't register that the flash is charged you can still release the shutter.

Or are you possibly not waiting long enough to allow the flash to charge, so during that time the shutter won't release? If that's the case I'd look at faulty batteries as a possible cause. Two years for a battery might see it past its best, depending on usage.

Yes we do, it's called looking at the image. We can see if there are likely to be problem areas and in reality there won't be many. But that caveat again, let's see how it works at 24MP.

This is all very well, but I haven't ever seen the point of switching from system to system when something new comes out. Next week it will be something else anyway.

It's probably very boring to some, but I use cameras to make images. Upgrading happens when needed because something breaks or because I get a sudden twitchy mouse finger on Amazon...

As for CSCs, there was one sat on my shelf a couple of days ago. Other marques are off topic, but suffice it to say that with lens it was only slightly less bulky than a K-50. It also didn't work. Dead as a dodo straight out of the box.