SRS do a Pentax Hire service, so you could simply hire a camera to try out.

The grass is rarely greener, but it might be a different shade of green. The problems will still be there, whatever we use.

While we're being contentious, it has certainly gone against the general hype that I have found the AF systems on my K-1 and K-3II cameras to be rather better than some others that are reputed to be "the bees knees". I don't use tracking, so that may or may not be something else, but for low light focusing and focusing on small foreground subjects my Pentaxes nail it every time. As regards speed, using centre point focus the speed doesn't seem any different to anything else.

So I'm not sure what particular feature I would want in a new Pentax body that I don't have already. I am interested in new lenses, but that's probably not too surprising.

We used to have a general consensus that we wouldn't discuss or promote eBay auctions, the reason being that it undermined the possibility of anyone finding a bargain. In other words, pointing a spotlight on something that isn't getting bids easily and suddenly puts up the price. Sometimes bidders were quite aggrieved.

It hasn't arisen for a while but it's a thought.

It seems that Pentax are expecting a reaction against mirrorless as people try it out and then decide that the DSLR actually has some advantages. Then a percentage may well drift back again. We shall see how it pans out.

In the meantime, there are advantages to being a smaller company and it may make it easier for Pentax to stay profitable as a specialist in DSLR.

Ultimately I expect there will be room for both.

Reading through the requirements, I interpret them as simply wanting an HDR image, the subject being open. My soft focus competition was also a technique, any subject, and I'd approach this one in the same way.

HDR can be many things of course, sometimes just a means of getting a huge dynamic range down into something that can be reproduced. Or, at its gaudy best, something quite grotesque!

I really like the texture in the sand, as well as the beautiful colour.

Lovely detail and a really interesting subject.

It's a tricky one as any change will have some people pleased and some not so pleased. It's also difficult to judge as I personally don't have a problem reading it as it is, something that's equally true of the EPZ colour scheme.

Having options for the user to select might be the best thing, including the option to leave it as it is for those who are happy with it?

An interesting thought, so I've changed the title to see if that stops it.