This is a great move, good for us, good for srs, and very good for Pentax! They just need to add the 600mm to the inventory

Glad to hear you're getting your money's worth, at least!

Hmmm.... I don't think I'm one of those photographers, cos if it doesn't have a lens mount, I don't really care what brand it is! The LX3 and G11 look so good, it would be very difficult for Pentax to compete. If Nikon failed, I doubt Pentax would do so well! If I was going to get one of them, I'd go for the LX3 which looks a bit closer to a normal compact.

Don't Olympus have any offerings in the high-end compact category any more? I used to love my c5060...

It's all been said here and on the other thread, so I don't see how continuing this argument is of any use to the OP's question. Let's just accept that some people think the 16-45 is a good value upgrade to the kit lens, and some do not- an opinion which can only really be formed by using both lenses for an extended period, although pixel peeping can be interesting too. But what other options have people tried? I have heard good things about a f2.8 Tamron standard zoom, for example?

The WR (and DA II) version is slightly improved, upon what was already a good little lens.

If you got a lens twice as good as the £50 kit lens for just £100, how awesome would that be?

Just send Stefan your picture Ken!

Or, if that's a bit too complicated to deal with, don't!

Let's see how this all pans out before drawing any conclusions. If people like it, maybe the website bods can figure a way of making the competition more user friendly.

The kit zoom is a great lens for the money at f8+, but I don't think I had to pixel-peep to notice the improvement with the 16-45 wide-open, and there is far less vignetting too.

Exactly. This 'Adam Ansells' chap was just a lazy cheat who couldn't take a picture for toffee and had to correct his mistakes in post processing. Not what I would even call photography. Charlatan.

I went for the 16-45mm - the cheapest worthwhile upgrade. Very pleased with it too.

Have a look at this: link

The K-x is just such a camera.