education

A chum has just bought a K100 and phoned from holiday - how do you work this thing? - put it on the green setting, I said.

Can any of you suggest any books which would be good for a beginner? Its not for myself... honest.
Ken

Not being funny.....but the manual is always a good place to start !!

In addition to the manual, I would suggest the Magic Lantern Guide for the K100D/K110D.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pentax-K100D-K110D-Magic-Lantern/dp/1600590861/ref=sr_1_1/203-1229431-6444757?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184682677&sr=8-1

'If all else fails RTFM'

Seriously, I'm looking for a book on the basics and generalities of digital photography... should have made that clearer

Scott Kelby does a good one I believe.

http://tinyurl.com/3c3p69

With an ever increasing range of ever cheaper DSLR's I wonder how many people are moving up from compacts?

Some, probably.

I have a mate, who was at one time quite a keen film SLR type. She's about to buy one of these:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Ricoh/ricoh_gx100.asp

It's the fact that it's small that makes the difference to her, so I expect that compacts will be around for a while yet. She also says that she doesn't know how long she'll be able to hold off getting a DSLR as well.

I suspect it's more that for those that can compose a picture, the compacts will be invading (D)SLR territory for quality.