I hope so - I'm a bit of a purist and don't want to go the face recognition, scene recognition, movie facility route.

If they'd come up with an improved K20, 20 megapixel sensor with no more noise than the K10, I'd have a long term reason to stay with Pentax. That and a 24mm f2 DA prime!

I went to Fleet Street when I was 25 in 1969 and, as you say, Vic was one of the old guard then. He was a bit of an old whatsit, really but he was a real newspaper photographer, if not a particularly good one.

He had a deal with BMW that he got their bikes at a special discount in return for sitting actresses and pop singers on them. He used to get a new BMW every year and then BMW found out that he was flogging them at a profit, making money on the deal to buy the new discounted one and so on and on. So BMW stopped the deal!

He had a reputation on the Express of being rather lazy. The Express was a proper newspaper in those days and had some of the best names around, David Cairns, Terry Fincher, Bil Lovelace et al.

I asked him once what his AP column paid but he wouldn't tell me. One of my fellow photogs on the Evening News was Mike Maloney, who went on to do an AP column (or was it WDC?) himself.

No, I knew Vic, going to all his jobs on his beloved BMW bikes. I used a bike for a while too, so we used to chat about that. He used Nikons, as did every Fleet street photographer. Most had a Rollei in their bag, too, for the better flash synch speed for car shots.

The occasional Leica (M2s were the favourite, Vic had some)was seen but only in specialist situations.

He was a highly opinionated bloke, which was what made his AP column so readable. Anyone remember his advocacy of nose grease for getting hiding scratches on negs?

I actually photographed the Beatles on a photocall in Carnaby street in 1969 (that is old!). I was on the old London Evening News.

Standard Fleet Street kit then was Nikon Fs and still a good few Rollei TLRs. I don't ever recall seeing Pentaxes. I had used one on the Reading Evening Post with a nice 35mm f2 Takumar but for Fleet Street purposed the tank like build and motor drive of the F put it in a class of its own.

You'd occasionally see Pentaxes in films that had (actor) press photographers in them but that was usually because they borrowed them from the film techs.

ChrisA put my point better than I did.

What I meant was that over the years camera design and performance will improve. If my Samsung goes kaput, I simply don't want a K7 and I'd be left buying second hand. I don't want to do that either.

I'd therefore bite the bullet and buy something else that did look at that time as if it had a future.

As John says, many makers are losing money so, presuming there is some consolidation in the future I'd buy from whoever was still in business and still looking forward.

But none of this until my Samsung implodes - and since I'm the sort who likes new things and change, far from worrying, I may even enjoy a forced change of system!

All this sounds very Pooterish. I'm well aware that what camera I like makes not a jot of difference to these large multi-nationals.

Are you sure, John?

Both are brands made under aegis of a major multi-national company.

And while not the top seller, Skoda cars are regularly judged among the finest in Europe by motoring cognoscenti. I'd think Pentax would be happy to have such a repuation for reliabilty, design and performance.

A macro lens will be optimised for best performance on the macro end of its focussing range. This leads, in theory, to a compromise at the 'normal' focussing distances.

In practise, I doubt you'd ever notice it.

If it would look like the K7 will be the only available camera with Pentax mount in the future, I would think about eBaying all my Pentax gear while it still has some value and buying into another range lock stock and barrel.

I've never quite got the prestige thing with cars, they all seem a form of(very expensive)white goods to me.

I agree about the cameras and of course Skoda was taken from being an also ran in the car market to a contender. It'd be nice if Pentax could do the same thing but I doubt it.

Of course, my Samsung has much less 'prestige' than a Pentax but at £299 I can handle the shame

Nice lens for general purpose use, as Hyram says, equating to the classic 50mm standard lens on 35mm.

Its OK sharp at all distances and that and the the 1 to 1 macro capability makes it a good walkabout lens as Hyram says.

Expensive, though. I paid £279 for mine a few months ago and its gone up to £475 now. I'm less sure at that price.