I understood that there are negligible margins on cameras these days so presumably a deal has been reached with Ricoh on a batch much like the occasional special deals on lenses offered by dealers. Nikon has just reported shrinking sales for their cameras for the second (or maybe third) year which is key to their more lucrative aftersales market - lenses, flash etc. Is this an example of Ricoh's marketing strategy to achieve their stated aim of becoming no. 3 in DSLR sales? This strategy might be ok for attracting new Pentax customers but for existing it diminishes the value of their equipment, and it is really galling to see items you have already bought being sold for such a huge discount.

Another thing - we tend to equate the cost of something with quality and Leica rely on this with their control over retail prices, and as a result your Leica camera will retain a good second-hand value. You don't see this with other manufacturers so they sometimes need to boost their trade-in prices with special offers. If something is cheap to buy then is it any good? Should I therefore look elsewhere - that would be my response to this very short-sighted strategy.

I am patiently waiting for the new FF camera, but whatever it costs there will now be the question, how overpriced is it and when will be the first big price drop? So, this discounting might give a quick shot in the arm to quarterly sales figures but is more likely to harm sales in the long term.

The problem with street photography is that the earlier proponents like Vivian Maier saw opportunities where no-one else had, and made you look afresh at subjects and captured moments in time which were outside the established genres like portraiture and landscape. This was facilitated by the advance in the technology of hand-held cameras which could be used for the first time without having subjects pose. That is what made their photos fresh and interesting, and of course black/white was the standard format whilst colour was expensive and probably slower.

Capturing the critical moment can still work if there is an unspoken narrative or a humorous juxtaposition, but otherwise the earlier novelty has worn thin (a bit like abstract painting) and black/white is more often just an attempt to emulate the earlier style.

Here's something that's been niggling for some time - it is all very well having a WR camera body and lenses but this is breached whenever you change lenses. How about a protective shutter between the body mount and mirror which opens when a lens is engaged and closes when released? Many small cameras have such a cover to protect the lens whenever it is switched off so it can't be difficult or expensive. It could be manually opened for cleaning.

Nicely composed, and I like the illuminated steam defining the top of the loco. It looks as if the lighting was really tricky and is flaring a bit - could the highlights be toned down in processing? Also, being hand-held at that speed means there is lack of sharpness; I would have thought a tripod would be essential for any night-time shot but is there a restriction on using one here?

Link referred to: http://www.amazon.com/Pentax-100mm-Macro-Digital-Cameras/dp/B0030GGS3O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446589637&sr=8-1&keywords=pentax+100mm+macro
This is the WR version of a lens originally designed for 35mm bodies and is still shown in the current line-up on the Pentax UK website (couldn't find the US site to compare)

Wow, talk about starting at the top!

Someone gave me a Kodak Cresta 3 for Christmas as a small boy which I happily experimented with until a while later I had an Agfa Selina (I think) when I learned about light metering etc. and took 35mm transparencies but don't know where it went. Always had a bit of a yen for a Pentax (or Nikon) but marriage and kids intervened and for years I made do with a Fujifilm cassette film point and shoot until my first Pentax, the SF7 35mm slr with a 28-80 macro zoom which I still have, although I left it on auto setting most of the time. First digital was a Nikon Coolpix followed by a Panasonic Lumix which I still use for work, and first digital DSLR is the K50. So a rather hit and miss photographic journey with a big gap between my teens and now.

Hi Andy, Like you I bought a K50 to get to grips with DSLR and have nothing but praise for it. Try a look at http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/ and select the K50 on the drop-dow menu for some great examples of what it can do. I feel very smug about the WR feature when, like yesterday, I saw a Canon bloke doing an arty street photo whilst trying to hold a plastic bag over his kit. If you would like to see my efforts try https://www.pentaxuser.com/user/robl-24294; the surfing pics were taken in driving surf spray with sand, salt and rain to no ill effect! Experimenting with the settings I have found TAV (unique I think to Pentax) has almost become my default setting but try them all to compare. There are some great lenses available too and I have been really impressed with the 50mm f1.8 which for around £90 gives some beautiful sharp results and a lovely background. I confess it's a steep learning curve for me but taking a bit of care when setting up a photo reaps rewards. So good luck and enjoy!

Best pictures here: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/9606774224/life-in-a-glass-case-we-examine-new-...

Just noticed, the clips for the strap are misaligned. Why?

I wonder if it will be launched at the NEC Photography Show in March? Now that would be a coup! Looking at this I might well be tempted. I watched an old interview with a Pentax exec from last year when he described their core customer base as being well served by a good APS-C range, and efforts till then had concentrated on the launch into the medium format with the 645Z to target the professional wedding market. The success of this strategy means that Pentax will be taken seriously in the top end enthusiast market, especially if their aggressive pricing has the same impact as the 645Z did on Hasselblad. This latest preview ticks all the boxes so loved by reviewers - articulated rear screen, wifi, gps.....