Well done Amin....very imaginative.

I second the comment on the MX.

Have a look for one of those on ebay cloudhunter. Everything is mechanical except the meter, so there is less to go wrong.

I have recently got a couple of rolls of Kodachrome slide film to use with my MX as i want to give that a final go before Kodak stop producing it. I think we have about 12 months.

I think they are great. Colours superb. DOF is well chosen

Lovely little camera.

I like the door Mike, but maybe crop on the left and bottom to make it cleaner ?

I like the detail on the flower and your choice of DOF. However the bright areas on the right distract from the image in my opinion.

I like new gadgets and gizmos very much, and it is fun if you can afford it. I am however sticking with the K10 for the moment. I have not used all the functions yet !

However i am reminded of a joke I heard a while back about the photographer with "all the gear" who at the end of a superb meal at a top restaurant, passed on his compliments to the chef...."you must have great pans" he said.

I think a good example of this is from the motor industry. When BMW created MINI and produced a motoring icon in a modern guise.

The press loved the car but always pointed out that it was over-priced. The public however said sod the price, and bought it in droves.

Admittedly this was in the period of easy money, and sales have of course recently taken a nosedive, but it goes to show that quality/inovation/fun products can command a premium.

The current climate is not an easy one to adopt this strategy, but Pentax has (a bit like mini/MINI) a history/nostalgic association that it must use to it's advantage. I was saddened to see the recent news about the closure of the Pentax museum. This could have been part of a marketing strategy ! I hope the accountants dont pull any more stunts like that.

But for Pentax to succed as a "premium brand" minority DSLR manufacturer it needs to get not only the product and marketing spot on, but also after sales and quality control. The latter two have had some question marks recently.

I think often in these cases the answer is that to do nothing is not an option. If the shareholder is not seeing a return they want or growth they want, they will demand change.

As you rightly point out increased sales is "change", but will probably not lead to the one that the shareholder desires. Putting prices up to protect margins is a do or die approach, easier to do when it appears to be industry wide, but with I believe an inevitable result.

Canon and Nikon are obviously in the strongest position here, and of the rest the ones that will do well/ok will be the innovative ones with imaginative products. The public has to "want" to pay the higher prices. With the forums abuzz with the K7 maybe Pentax have got this one right ?

They come up very regularly so it is all down to how patient you are