Here's a screenshot of Samsung Raw Converter 2 link. Like others, I've downloaded Silkypix 4 from the Samsung site and this, too, seems like the full version.

Cheers

Al

My sympathies also, TT. Combi boilers don't seem to have anywhere near the lifespan of the older design. My Potterton's still going strong after 20+ years. I'd be pretty unhappy with any any engineer who advised me to replace a boiler but couldn't tell me what was wrong with it. It might be worth getting a second opinion. It's not the space shuttle. On the other hand, it's the middle of winter and you want things sorted as quickly as possible. Life will get better.

Good luck

Al

Many thanks, Joel. Like Algi, I couldn't find it when I checked after your first post but your link did the trick. You do indeed have to register your camera before downloading.

Cheers

Al

The Samsung Raw Converter 2 that came with my GX20 seems to be a rebadged version of DS3. It claims to be based on the Silkypix product but looks like the full package. I doubt I'll be "outgrowing" it any time soon.

Al

Photo Paper Direct has a sale on at the moment. I must have bought something from them in the past because they keep sending me promotional emails. Might be worth a look. link

Al

I has a quick play with this, if you don't mind, TT, and got a half-decent result using layers. link

Just make a duplicate layer of your photo and alter the WB of the duplicate to the temperature that works best (in this case, I just used the "cloudy" preset). Make a layer mask of the duplicate and paint black over everything you want to "show through" from the original photo -- in this case, everythng except the foreground snow. I lightened the snow a tad with levels, but you can continue fiddling to your heart's content.

I use Serif PhotoPlus, but the same technique can be applied in -- what do you call that other software? It's made by Abode or Adobe or summat.

Apologies for never mastering the image embedding intricacies of the forum.

Edit: Looking at my effort agin, it should be a tad lighter and a tad "whiter". Easily done, though.

Al

About 20 years ago, I had the dubious role of writing promotional material for a major Scottish fund manager. Brochures for their investment "vehicles" usually compared the performance of their product with the price fluctuations of gold over time. This was an attempt to undermine any notion that gold was the safest investment. In all cases, their investment products outperformed gold, often spectacularly. This may no longer be the case, but I suspect it is.

Al

Jessops list a 20-inch cable release, which should be long enough for most purposes. As others have said, for more length, an air release is the answer. Here's one for under £7: link If you do a search for "air shutter release", you'll find many more. This is the sort of thing that any small camera shop used to stock by the rackful -- before they all went out of business.

Hope you get one in time. By the way, the P30t is a very capable camera and should give you splendid results.

Al

There's one for Windows Mobile devices Here. Works fine, although I haven't used it as much as I thought I would. Worth having in the armoury, though.

Al

My MZ-M went into rewind mode unasked while I was on holiday several years ago. It happened only once, but another owner on the net reported this was a regular occurrence with his. He said he sent it to Italy for repair after emailing a company over there and they solved the problem for a very small outlay.

I've hardly ever seen reports of problems with the MZ-M, which apparently uses the body and most of the internals of the MZ5n, which was pretty highly regarded. It has the full KAF2 lens mount, which allows use of the full range of Pentax glass.

As others have said, it's probably uneconomic to repair. They're undervalued cameras IMO and you could pick up a replacement for a bargain price.

Al