I'm no accountant (although I was a financial journalist of sorts in the dim and distant past) and hesitate to get involved in this typically Pentaxian row, but my publican, a successful businessman in many spheres, prefers to sell customers a pint of Coke rather than beer "because the margin's higher". He's talking about the the cost price versus the selling price.

I must say I find these linguistic points far more interesting than the price of any particular product, which will settle at a sustainable level in God's good time.

Al

There was obvious banding in the sky when I first opened it on my netbook. Zoomed in and then out -- and the banding disappeared. It looks like a screen thing.

Al

Yet more splendid work, Gary. Thanks to your earlier top-class work with a GX-20, I've resisted the temptation to go for a K-5 until I can match your efforts with the Samsung. Could be some time.

Al

Was cooking up some fish fingers, onions and beans tonight and listening to an interesting programme on Radio 4. Went through to the drawing room to eat and turned to Radio 4 on Freeview to hear the rest of it. Up came the dreaded graphic -- Radio 4 is not available on Freeview on weekdays from 5pm to midnight, Saturdays from 4pm to 1am and Sundays from 4pm to midnight.

Why? to make room for the Gaelic TV, which has a potential audience of 1,000 people, 999 of whom are involved in producing the programmes and therefore unavailable to watch them. I thought we'd settled all this nonsense at Culloden.

A furious Al

I don't think you can get the effect you want with natural light unless you're outside in the Mediterranean. Kick in some extra light with a couple of flashguns (with or without brollies) and reduce your aperture.

Food photographers used to use floodlights, which quickly melted ice cream and discoloured other foods, so they swapped the ice cream for shaving cream or something similar and used porcelain eggs instead of proper hard-boiled eggs. The Advertising Standards Authority was kept busy with complaints from people who'd bought a product on the basis of "pack" shots that turned out to be some distance from reality.

Al

I mentioned this thread in the pub tonight to a pro who uses Nikon gear. He said he may sign up to the forum to explain why he is politely declining my suggestion of joining the Pentax "family". Did my best.

Al

I was close to buying a Plustek a few years ago and all the reviews I read suggested it compared very well with the top models for scanning negatives. It fell a little behind with slides because of a lower Dmax rating, which meant it couldn't pick up quite as much detail in the shadows as the best of the rest. Current models are presumably better or at least as good. I wouldn't have hesitated in buying one if I hadn't been distracted (can't remember by what) and negative scanning fell down the priority list.

Al

Elasticity of demand, as econonomics bores use to say. Lower the price, you sell more and make more money. It's all about finding the right balance.

I think Dr Orloff has has made a pretty convincing point.

Al

Most newcomers to DSLR photography are so mesmerised by the instruction book's focus on operating what is essentially a computer that they fail to learn the basics of photography -- the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, ASA (sorry, ISO), depth of field and composition. These haven't changed. My advice to anyone interested in buying a DSLR has always been to find good book on photographic basics written in the last 40 years and absorb it. Then, it's just a case of finding out how to achieve the settings you want on your hi-tech gizmo.

The technology can make things easier, but also a darned sight more complicated. I had no difficulty mastering Pentax, Minolta and Nikon manual-focus film SLRs, but my last serious 35mm camera, a Nikon F80, has so many obscure options that I can't be bothered mastering them. Sadly, all DSLRs are as complicated as the F80 (although the AF doesn't seem as good nowadays, even on the much-vaunted K5). Old books are the way forward.

Al