As the Doctor says, the requirements are pretty specific link. One rather pernickity lady in a post office near Aberdeen regularly rejected 90% of the photos submitted for a pre-application check, most produced by professionals. Make sure the background's white and and evenly lit.

Edit: I see they seem to insist on a "light grey or cream" background, although I've always used white without a problem.

Al

I've been using Clickfree products for the last few years in preference to NAS systems, disk imaging software and all the other gubbins. Their products just do the job and store the files in native format, so there's no fear of losing images because of a software failure. This gizmo -- link -- attaches to any hard drive and its firmware takes care of incremental backups automatically. I have a couple of their all-in-one units as well, which cost more than the equivalent hard drives alone but work a treat. I think the product in the link has been discontinued by the company itself but it still seems to be available on Amazon and works a treat with Windows XP and 7 (don't know about .

Al

I was going to recommend Bushnells. I've had a pair of their Sportview 8x40s for about 30 years and a brilliant set they are -- light but well made. Took them out for the first time in years just to confirm the optical quality and noticed a couple of cracks in the diopter-adjustment dial. I've managed to waste the best part of the afternoon a) supergluing it back together and then b) trying to source a spare part. Bushnell UK asked to a email them a photo of the part and said they'd try to get one. Thanks, Mike, for filling my day so productively.

Having said that, I'm a bit like JR -- like to have a good set of binos but seldom use them.

(I hasten to add that I use them to scope out the landscape for any suitable subjects for my PENTAX cameras.)

Al

You may want to try out the free edition of Serif PhotoPlus as well. I've used their paid-for products for years and find them excellent: link

Cheers

Al

The whole thing remains a mystery. I spoke to a Pentax technical chap today and, at first, he came up with the standards: "We don't advise you to use any flash not made by Pentax." I quizzed him further and said the trigger voltage seemed OK but the polarity was reversed. He didn't know if this would be a problem and said he'd pass the question on to other technical chaps and get back to me.

I don't have a circuit diagram for Pentax cameras but I would have thought transistor and thyristor circuits simply wouldn't work if the polarity was wrong, particularly at a relatively low voltage. This seems to be the experience of many on the internet, who report certain flashes just won't work with their cameras because of reverse polarity. For some reason, the Achiever works fine on my Pentax and Samsung DSLRs, although they may blow up the next time I try.

The safest options, I suspect, are a) get a Wein Safe Sync or similar gizmo; B) reverse the polarity of the flash's hotshoe. This site shows how to do it. You would get better access to the wires if you could disassemble the body but there's no obvious way to do this and I didn't want to risk cracking the case.

I'll let you know if I hear back from Pentax.

Al

I fear there could be a problem. I did some further checking on the TZ250 and it turns out it has "reversed polarity" -- the centre pin is negative rather than positive (should have noticed this when I checked mine).

Several Pentax manuals advise again using this type of flash. Having said that, many internet posters say they have used the TZ250 successfully with the KX and Samsung GX10 (K10D). It also works perfectly with my GX20 and K30.I suppose there's the possibility of long-term damage to the camera but there's little official technical information about this. If you "win" the flash, send me a PM and I'll see you're not left out of pocket by what could have been a bum steer. I plan to contact Pentax next week and try to get some accurate info.

An apologetic Al

I think the Achiever should be well under 17.5 volts. This site gives 0.5V (which can't be right) to 8.5V. I just measured mine and got 5.6V. Should be fine either way.

Al

I don't know about the K5, but P mode on the K30 works the same way as it does on the GX-20 (K20).

When you switch the camera on, the chosen aperture and shutter speed are seldom what you want. Just jog the rear wheel in either direction and the aperture will be underlined. Turn the wheel further to set the stop you want and the shutter speed will vary to accommodate it. If you jog the front wheel in either direction, the shutter speed will be underlined and you can adjust it similarly. You're now is shutter priority.

The only downside is that it resets to the normal program line when you turn the camera off, so you have to pick the aperture or shutter speed at each switch-on, unlike in AV, where the setting is retained. In practice, P can be used in the same way as AV, with the benefit of being able switch to shutter priority almost instantly. The e-dials can be configured to swap the functions of the front and back wheels.

Al

Good luck, Mac. If you get it for the right price and it's in good condition, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Al

One of the Vivitars would be ideal but if you ever come across an Achiever TZ-250, it's worth a look. I'd never heard of the brand before but bought one in the Canaries when I found I needed an external flash. Can't remember the guide number (still have it -- can't find it) but they're powerful enough for a normal-sized living room. The voltage is low enough to use with a DSLR and there's a switch to configure it for all the major brands, including, of course, Pentax. The head swivels vertically and they came originally with a set of coloured filters and a wide-angle gizmo. Hate to say it but the auto function gives P-TTL a run for its money. I imagine you'd pick one up for a fiver, if that.

Al