Agrred. I think the same principle should apply to the idea of driver-less cars !

"I went on a great photo expedition but my iphone died so wasn't able to take any pictures"

Looking at recent ebay sales (£70/88/95) i would say you are spot on in your pricing.

More likely to sell it on ebay, but you will have to be patient.

Good Lord !

The K-1's screen is one of it's best features. For low tripod use it has saved my back on many occasions.

I think this comes down to the reviewers who in general will have limited experience of Pentax as a brand. They are correct to say that 3rd party lenses are limited compared the two big name brands, but neglect to add that the vast range of lenses that Pentax have made since the 1970's are compatible including FA; FA*; and LTD range.

If a reviewer really thinks that the new lenses I listed are not enough to satisfy anyone thinking of getting a Pentax, they are not writing a balanced review.

But perhaps this is where Pentax are at fault in relying too heavily on their loyal Japanese base and not enough on trying to attract new users. Given the current state of the DSLR market a change in direction is not a decision to be taken lightly.

I am still not convinced. WR is nice to have but would I upgrade to a revamped lens eg 31LTD with WR ? No.

I never understand this criticism of lack of lenses for the K1.

There is :
15-30 2.8
24-70 2.8
70-200 2.8
150-450 4.5-5.6
28-105 3.5-5.6
50mm 1.4
and now 35mm 2.0

All recent modern lenses (or revamp in case of 35mm). What are the complainants missing ?

Plus the criticism of older lenses not comparing well with newer ones, just needs a search of the various Pentax forums to show that is not the case. On a bench test, yes perhaps they lack, but with a real subject in front of them they perform as good as they did on film. Have a look at glamour photographer "Le Rolls" over at the pentaxforums.com He exclusively uses the FA* 85mm 1.4 with the K1

....and how much will a redesign of an existing lens eg. 31mm LTD, need to sell for to cover the development and tooling costs ? A lot more than the current price.

I think the trouble with this approach is this:

New coatings and focus grip is not much of an engineering challenge. The revamped lens can be produced immediately, and importantly sold for a reasonable price.

Once you introduce WR or QSF you are redesigning the lens. That means time and expenditure on a product, both of which may in in short supply in Pentax land. With the 35mm f2 there is no point redesigning it as there is a fast 35mm new lens already in the pipeline, which undoubtedly will sell for many multiples of the revamped FA.

For the classic LTD range I agree there may be a case for keeping the optical formula but adding more modern features like coatings, QSF and WR but the cost inevitably will go up for this.