Sadly, I an confirm there are no independent camera stores or repairers in Aberdeen or the surrounding area. The local Jessops branch used to be a goldmine for second-hand equipment, but no more. On the bright side, you don't have to feel guilty about giving your business to a lower-priced internet-based company.

As others have said, you won't go wrong with SRS. In fact, the postie delivered a parcel from them today.

Al

Jessops used to market a couple of cheap ring flashes under the Centon brand. The output was pretty low but more than enough for macro. They work in manual or automatic mode, with no TTL or P-TTL. I picked one up with a second-hand 50mm Sigma macro lens and it worked well the few times I tried it. You can occasionally find them on eBay. This one link looks like the same flash under a different name. Coincidentally, mine had been used for scientific work too. Can't remember the model number (I've loaned mine to a friend), but they can be worth a shot if the price is right.

(Another) Al

My last three photo printers have been Epsons, most recently the R265. They've all produced top-notch A4 prints when used with Epson's own papers and inks and all cost under £100.

Ink costs are a little high (the best part of £60 for all six Claria inks for the R265) but I've used compatibles in the past from Premier Ink and they've been just as good, although longevity with the compatibles is a bit of an unknown.

Friends of mine use vastly more expensive Epson A3 printers and a comparison of output shows no discernable difference between their A4 prints and mine.

A4s take a good few minutes to produce, but I just go off and have a coffee or do something else while it's printing.

Being lazy by nature, I use an uncalibrated iiyama monitor, with Serif PhotoPlus for editing, and the results equal anything you'd get from a photo lab. Customers for the odd print I sell are delighted.

Based on experience, I would expect Epson's latest "value"
offering, the P50, to be just as good (although I stand to be corrected).

Al

I've been using a 500gb Clickfree unit for a couple of years without any problems. It automatically backs up all data files when it's plugged into a USB socket and keeps the back-ups for up to 10 PCs separate without user involvement. There's no indication of which brand of HD it uses but it will certainly be one of the big names.

I also have a 250gb Freecom Toughdrive as a secondary back-up. The Clickfree uses a separate power supply and the Freecom is USB only.

As others have said, the major brands are all pretty good but will fail eventually, hence the need for multiple storage locations.

Al

Mr pub serves the best chips I've ever eaten. Their secret is to par-boil them before frying. I don't know what oil or fat they use but will find out tonight. It's probably not dripping, though. I may suggest they try it.

Al

Just had a quick look at one of my Minolta MCs and can confirm it's not one of those. The notch is in the wrong place and the flanges are in a different position relative to the actuating lever.

Al

My mate Andy (the bird expert) asked me tonight for advice about buying a laptop for his son -- a talented artist who photographs his work with a compact camera. He wants a laptop to store his photos and send e-mails.

There was talk of hard-disc space, processor speed and brand reliability. Someone had told his son it was all about processor speed.

The best advice I could offer was to shop around for the best deal, try to get as much RAM as possible and forget the rest. Unless you're into post processing in a big way (I use an easily upgradable PC for my serious work), any laptop on the market will do the job. The only deciding factor that I can see is the screen, and this can be judged only by looking at it in a store.

Computers can be interesting tools and magazines are full of mind-numbingly rigorous comparisons to help you choose. I've come to the conclusion, though, that I've never taken a photograph that would have been better with a more complex camera or found an issue with my software (DTP, spreadsheets, WP or photo-editing) that would have been addressed by a "better computer". Simplistically, women love shoes, men love technology.

Al

There is a trespass law of a sort in Scotland but it looks like you'd have to set up home in a shopping centre to foul foul of it. The "travelling people" are trying to get it repealed because they claim it it is used exclusively against them, while so-called wild campers from the "settled community" are left alone.

link

Al

Apologies. Because of the lateness of the hour, I thought we were still talking about the Voigtlander. As others have said, there's no way of setting the aperture on the MZ-M body.

Al

I can't see any reason it wouldn't work with the MZ-M, which has the full, "uncrippled", KA2 mount. They're superb little cameras that are considerably underestimated by Pentax purists.

Al