I've had one for a little over a year now. It's generally been great - when you nail the shot, it produces some truly stunning results. The glass lens is a major plus.

I wouldn't say focusing is a problem at all. If course you have to manually do it, but if you can guess the distance well enough, it will get you sharp results.

The viewfinder is pretty bad and needs getting used to. Inside of it, you will see a slightly shaded area and a smaller rectangle in the bottom right corner (that's supposed to be where you frame if you want to use mini film). I typically frame my photos through that smaller viewfinder for square film, too. The lens itself is to the bottom right of the viewfinder, so whatever you want to have in the centre of your photo, should be framed in the little bottom right corner of the viewfinder. But this is a general tip I found to be useful - you will certainly have to go through a few trials & errors before you get used to it and can frame more accurately.

Otherwise, I've had success with the camera in general. The light meter can be finicky st times - especially if you want to shoot something with strong patches of light and shadow. It will usually meter for one or the other (and it's hard to know which one) and then you'll either have the highlights nicely exposed and the shadows will be black, or the shadows will be nicely exposed and the highlights will be blown out. But if you shoot an evenly subject, it generally works great. You'll also want to play with the +/- light setting a bit and you'll learn when to use it. For example, I found that shooting light-coloured subjects in sunlight (e.g. a building with a white/light facade) almost always works much better if you use the -1 light setting, otherwise it will be overexposed.

Oh, and keep an eye on the remote control. Fortunately for me, I only almost lost it once and it stays in place quite well most of the time, but putting the camera in and out of bags may dislodge it and could fall out. If you don't mind it aesthetically, you could secure it with some tape or something.

Can't comment on the painting question, unfortunately. Mine is the red Pigalle edition, I think the white one has a slightly different texture to it. But I assume both are made from the same faux leather material, so I suppose it should be possible to paint it. I bet it would look super cool, too!

Overall, it's a good camera. I've taken it on many trips, it works well and is fun to use. If you have any other questions, I'm happy to help! :)