These are all brilliant, and a tribute to the photographers. The 150-450mm lens is great for larger insects like butterflies as it can focus relatively close but far enough away not to disturb them, and get that beautiful soft background.

In my local LCE the salesperson told me they stopped selling Pentax as they have gone down the pan. Not true, obviously, but the lack of any visible presence and promotion must help to foster this view.

For a while now I have been lethargic in going out to take photos unless for a specific purpose, and rarely take my K1 when just out for a walk. I have put this down to the weight of the camera plus lenses, it just seems a lot of effort to carry them on the offchance I might see something. Even going for a modest walk is an effort with the trio of f2.8mm zoom lenses plus a tripod, and if I decide to take the 150-450mm zoom then it will only be accompanied by one or two lightweight primes. Consequently I have been researching other systems but the modest weight saving gained if I stay with full frame isn't worth the major outlay, and probably wouldn't actually solve the problem. My solution has been to purchase a well-known M4/3 camera and lens for such occasions and which both arrived today, and I can see that the weight and space saving given by telephoto lenses will give what I want. This will enable me to keep my Pentax kit for specific projects where I want the extra resolution and shallower DOF.

I don’t understand what is planned here. A switch from mass production to workshop type looks to me like there will no longer be stocks of equipment ready to sell which is the traditional retail pattern, but instead a build-to-order format. This might be more efficient for the manufacturer but for the buyer this would mean having to wait every time for an item to be built and shipped. I can see that for high end esoteric equipment but not for a typical consumer product, we are now used to getting next day deliveries so how long would a bespoke order take now? Or perhaps I have this all wrong if someone could enlighten me.

Given the communication with customer spiel it would be a good start if Ricoh actually told us in clear and simple language what is going on.

The problem with online retail is buyers rely entirely on reviews and paper specifications which removes the process of physically comparing camera bodies and lenses; now the only other place that could be done would be a photography show but Ricoh have withdrawn from those events outside Japan. Several times now I have visited photography shows with products in mind only to change when seeing them. The bias shown by reviewers and YouTubers towards their favoured systems and the economic advantages of so doing (Cameraville said his click rate increased threefold when doing Nikon) means there will be very little positive exposure to Pentax so I can only see sales declining to non-existence outside of Japan if Ricoh really do follow this route.

Sadly this will impact on all of us even if we don’t buy new gear as our existing kit will be harder to exchange or sell, with a dwindling pool of buyers around and retailers not wanting to be burdened with unsaleable stock.

What does this mean for retailers here? If I cannot pick up and try a product then I am not interested - example: I tried the much vaunted Fuji XT4 yesterday and put it straight back, poor grip made it unusable with long lenses.

Well at least the lady at HMRC had the grace to laugh as I paid my bill, when I said I would have to bin the cruise brochures now.

I had a similar issue a couple of years ago after sending a cheque to pay my corporation tax to IR; the bank anti-fraud sent a text message to my mobile which I didn't pick up for a couple of days and when I called them it was too late: they had bounced it because (allegedly) they didn't have a record of my signature despite having had the account for several years. As the cheque wasn't represented or returned I phoned IR a month later only to be told I owed nothing, no record of a bounced cheque. A couple of months went by, could I get lucky? No chance, they got in touch six months later!

One was sent into space: link

My daughter has just been asked if she would like to be nominated for Woman of the Year or some such, the first question was how do identify yourself?! Her reply has probably guaranteed her name won’t be put forward. As they say in the tabloids, you couldn’t make it up!