Canon have announced a 4/3rds mirrorless, like a large G series, with a fixed zoom lens. Fuji have announced a high-end mirrorless APS-C styled like a rangefinder with, to start, three primes and more lenses to follow next year.

There's also an article in a UK paper today about how smartphones are taking a very hefty chunk of the traditional compact market, much more than I thought, and their share is growing rapidly.

So it looks as if fairly soon there may be no low end left.

I hope Pentax make an announcement of some kind. There must be quite a few folks out there, and I am one, who are waiting on Pentax committing to a future of some kind before buying any new gear.

I wanted a fairly inexpensive camera that was a step up from a compact. That turned out to be a Pentax K-m which was on special offer at the time in a local store. I didn't do any research, if I recall. Pentax was a marque I'd heard of but that's about all, the K-m was at an excellent price, and very importantly the camera felt good in my hand.

Over time I have progressed to a K-5 but I've stuck with Pentax because of their superb range of prime lenses designed with ease of use (same filter size), elegance and portability in mind, though those qualities also apply to their DSLR bodies. This is the point of Pentax, imho. If I were a zoomer and mainly after sports action, for example, I think I'd have changed to another marque by now. Horses for courses, etc.

Your photographs are what you see: your unique vision of the world. No one has a better one or a worse one, just a different one. I think it takes a great deal of shooting, practice, learning and experimenting in order to get down to that bedrock. We all have to strip out the bits that aren't us, the expectations and assumptions in the shot which mean it could almost be someone else pressing the shutter button. But it has to be your shot, the one the next person couldn't take.

I suppose an analogy is that on starting out one has to work through all the postcard-perfect, holiday-snap type shots which are taken in their millions every day or the derivative shots influenced by whichever photographers we happen to admire. There's nothing wrong with them at all, but I think each of us is capable of so much more if we are really interested in photography. So keep at it and don't worry about art, whatever that is!

My current fave is indeed a 50mm f1.4, an A series which I've had serviced by Harrow Technical. It is a superb lens. No autofocus of course, but in terms of build quality it is far ahead of many modern lenses.

I used to think that all lenses were rented. You paid something to buy one and you received something when you sold it. The difference was the rental cost. Unfortunately this doesn't work with the limited lenses as I don't want to sell any of them. Sigh.

My current indecision is whether to buy a zoom lenses as I don't have one (apart from the kit kens which came with the camera and which I don't use; I like lenses which have a bit of heft and metal about them).

Thanks for your farewell post, it's a very pleasant one. I must admit I am pretty tempted too by the weight-saving but for now my k-5 and limiteds do all I want and the quality is second to none. If the 4/3 consortium get their sensors up to where Sony are, though, choices may become harder to make especially if looking at a trip abroad. Pentax/Ricoh could do with a full foot in the mirrorless market, imho, the Q being a bit of a toe. And good luck for the future, too.

Wow, some folks certainly like walking around with bazookas or at least tremendous weight in a shoulder bag. Mine present team are

DA 15mm f4
DA 21mm f3.2
DA 35mm f2.8
DA 40mm f2.8
A 50mm f1.4
DA 70mm f2.4
DFA 100mm f2.8

I rarely carry more than my K-5 and a spare lens and often go out with only one. I am thinking of consolidating and disposing of the DA 40mm and possibly the DA 35mm too, since while fine lenses their focal lengths are neither one thing nor t'other on crop sensors. If I do this, I might get an old but compact A 300mm instead or capitulate to the bazooka tendency and try a zoom, possibly a Sigma 17-50mm f2.8. In which case the DA 21mm will go too. All a winter fantasy really. Come next March I expect I'll have the same team, or very similar.

If I had to select a favourite it would be the old A 50s, f1.4 or f1.7. I have got as far as handling the FA limiteds, but I've never owned one. Heresy I know, but in truth I think their legendary rep is oversold and if I wanted to shell out big bucks I'd choose a Zeiss or Voigtlander (if I could find one) over them any day.

Thanks very much for your entries, everyone. I've now put up the details and the rankings on the gallery's competition pages.

Breakfast

It could be the food, the place, the people, the atmosphere, the hustle and bustle, it could be at home, in a cafe or hotel or a quick cup of something hot and steamy in a chill dawn from a stall on the street - in colour or black and white, it's all up to you. The usual rules apply.

For any discussion of this week's competition.

FWIW, I've read that the optical stabilization on the new version of the Sigma cannot be switched off and runs continuously with the result, some claim, that the lens is a battery-drainer. Worth checking, or perhaps an owner of this lens could comment?

I have a set of DA limiteds, mostly bought segundo mano, so although some of their focal lengths are fairly similar there is no actual overlap. Like mannesty, I enjoy the challenge of taking one or two with me and seeing what presents itself. This way, I need never worry about "missing" a shot, since the only shots available to me are those which fit the focal length I've got on the camera. That said ... yes, I'd lust after a couple of zooms like the DA* 16-50 and 50-135. I'm sure I'd greatly enjoy using them and might even find they suit me better. But am I likely to buy them? Probably not, without an unexpected dosh injection. Not that many folks have £1000 and more to blow on more toys these days. If I was going on a long trip abroad, though, I'd be sorely tempted to get a Sigma 17-70 and take the DA 15 and DA 40 on the side.