No, I'm afraid not. Most people are only interested in instant results - the moment you mention anything slightly technical or explain any factor that might have gone into creating the shot, they just turn off.

What they want is a new camera-phone that will automatically create the great shots and provide the technical know-how and processing skills with the push of one button.

I can't think of how many times I've been a bit annoyed by non-photographers passing comment - you know the sort - they glance at some shots on the laptop and say 'they look great - you must have a really good camera!'.

Yes I do ! But it never occurs to them for a second that there is anything more to it than just the special camera. This indicates the same kind of ignorance of what is involved. Frankly there shouldn't be the expectation on those of us with good cameras that we can necessarily fill in for pros in a pro capacity.

Very creative shots David, amazing variety from this trip. Favourites for me here are 2 & 3, for the simplicity, but the detail in the other shots is a perfect contrast. No 4 is weaker I think, not much of interest, but I guess its a grab shot thrown in for variety.

'Stress - free' to me just means I'm a little less worried about scrambling in panic to throw the camera back into the bag or get to cover. If the weather's packing in it's rarely conducive to good photography anyway, so you'll be packing up anyway in most cases.

Its just a bonus and gives that little bit extra time to get yourself sorted out - that's how I see it.

I can see positive aspects as far as the brand promotion goes - Pentax is starting from behind so needs to emphasise what separates the system from other DSLR competitors - sure, the 100 colours thing is not going to interest traditional 'enthusiest' or pro photographers. But the other things like SR, WR, the lens line-up and weight of lenses I'm sure are all worth shouting about.

I also think there needs to be more elaboration on the different features and abilities of the different cameras and who they would be aimed at. Admittedly recently there has been a move closer together between the models in terms of IQ, but there are plenty of control and operating features that distinquish between them that could be detailed I feel.

How come? The emphasis seems to be on defining what's different to other brands, which is a fair approach don't you think?

Just picked up on all of this now - why the sudden interest in pano & 360degree images on PU? Has something really big happened?

Aura, you asked above about Pixum - I tried them once and never again, as the colours were muddy and contrast was poor. Photobox was better, but I still found browny colours sometimes. The best I have used is FOTO.com.

As Will, (and I'm sure others above also) have said - you can have smaller file sizes and resolutions if you want for web display and emailing purposes. But for your online print ordering then always go back to the original camera file and make sure that after any editing or converting you do that you don't reduce the size of anything. Just 'save as' a copy. That way you know that your file has the maximum possible amount of image data present. If you're saving from a RAW or TIFF then choose the maximum quality JPEG option, but do not resize or change any resolution settings.

You should end up with a JPEG that is OK for uploading to the printing site - let them sort out the optimum resolution, I don't think you need to worry about that unless asked specifically to change it.

Good luck trying this - hopefully that will give the printers enough to work with and produce high quality prints.

So much obsession with sensor size! What we really need first is the 's' version - I can't wait to crack on with some serious comparitive testing.

Great choice of camera Alan! You were lucky to get one it would seem as recent discussions have suggested there's not many for sale.

I was arguing recently in favour of the same strengths in a camera that you have identified - namely build, handling, ergonomics and ease of control & operation. The K7 (and of course its successor the K5) have all of that in spades, brilliant cameras, and in my view you get even more with the addition of the BG-4 battery grip.

There's no doubting the superiour image quality of the later versions of the K7 (known as K5 and K5II) if that is what you demand, but you've got more money now for accessories and lenses, which will serve you on future bodies as well. Look forward to seeing some of your shots