I think Chris would disagree with you Amin. Why would he fill shelf space with low margin product when he can fill the shelves with higher margin product that he can sell very well ?

Let's face it, if he sells 20 cameras a day, they might as well be cameras that he can make some money on to pay himself, his staff, and his landlord.

He hasn't been able to do that with Canon products.

SRS used to sell Canon kit. Chris stopped selling it for very sound business reasons.

When the first DSLR from Pentax, the*istD, was released in 2003 it sold for (Matt bought one I think) £1300.00. The K-7 was about the same price on its release.

Between the *istD and K-7 we've enjoyed relatively inexpensive technology. I personally regard the K-7 as being too expensive for me but that is only because I can't justify spending that much money on a camera that is not a significant improvement over what I have already.

I agree, for me, the K-7 actually is a pro spec camera but then, I am not influenced by the opinions of users of other makes. I make my own evaluation to determine the benefits of changing bodies.

I have 2 X K20D's and a K10D and they are much more capable of taking professional quality photographs than I am at exploiting them.

Focussing in low light is my only disappointment with Pentax DSLR's but I'm happy using a torch to assist me, I don't need an on-board assist light.

I probably will upgrade to the K-7 at some stage but I'll wait until the next model is released and take advantage of the bargains that I hope will be available at the time.

For now, the cameras I have are as much pro spec as I want and more than I need.

The camera after all only records the scene you put in front of it, it's the person using it that makes the photograph.

Back or front focus issues are very much lens dependant and is not necessarily a problem as long as it is adjustable for each lens.

This is why in later Pentax DSLR models there is an option to adjust the focussing for 20 lenses individually.

A test chart or some careful test shots is required to determine if an issue exists at all.

Set the exposure mode dial to Tv or M and use the front e-dial to change it.

Be patient, the 645D is about as high-end as you'll get with a Pentax badge on it.

There is little chance that Pentax will produce a camera with a FF sensor.

Whilst I'm an IT professional it's been a while since I was in the 'front line' as it were and I'm rather out of touch with modern PC technology as I tend to deal mostly with servers.

So what's flavour of the month at the moment, AMD or Intel CPU's, and which model/generation of CPU from those manufacturers?

Like most people I guess, I want speed, reliability, and compatibility with my most used applications. These include Adobe video and still processing products, MS Office (though I could easily use Open Office), Vuescan, and most of the usual free stuff like iTunes, Picasa etc.

For my business I buy off the shelf systems by Acer. What other recommendations do you have. After sales support in the event of hardware failure is key to me and I've never had a good experience where Dell are concerned.

Value for money is also important to me. I'm well aware that the latest and greatest of just about anything carries a price penalty.

My current systems all run Windows XP except one running Windows 7 which I have hooked up to my TV.

My feeling is that Windows 7 64 bit is the way to go, I never did like Vista.

Your thoughts would be welcome.

The soon to be released 645D should suit your needs but pro spec cameras attract pro spec prices which for most of us will be too expensive.

Welcome Yollie.

I worked in Pretoria for 3 weeks in the 70's installing a computer system at South African Railways.

Lovely city then, changed a bit now I guess. The most memorable part of the whole trip was spending a weekend in the Kruger National Park.

I think it highly likely that Darlene shoots only JPG, so the original will be JPG and no PEF or DNG file exists.