Sometimes it's simply the need to pay the rent and cover their wine merchant's bill.

Al

Good find, Stefan. It's unusually accurate for an internet source. It would pay most British journalists (not so much North American) to consult it from time to time. I'm passing it on even now.

Al

To narrow down identification of the bird in the first pic, my bird-watching mate Andy reckons it's a willet, which is indeed a member of the sandpiper family link. He says he's seen quite a few of them in Florida. Excellent shot, Womble.

Al

All the posters have raised valid points and it's up to you which of the moral stances to take. On a purely technical front, the photo seems to record the reaction of the girls to an attempt to photograph them rather than show them going about their normal business.

It might be worth developing the technique of setting the exposure, pre-focusing, quickly swinging the camera up the eye (or shooting "blind" from the waist) and firing off a shot before your subjects know what's happening.

Nine times out of ten, if you continue to move the camera about, apparently seeking another subject, they won't know what's happened. This is easier with the likes of a Leica, which is rather less conspicuous than a DSLR.

Having said that, the photo as it stands is an interesting commentary on a social phenomenon and would be of interest to anthropologists and others in the future. You moral dilemma remains, Dr Mhuni.

Al

You're absolutely right, DoctorJeff. The old memory's playing tricks. It is indeed a sound card connector. I think it was described as a "CD drive to sound card connector" or something similar. You'd have a heck of a time carving an IDE connector down to fit. Thanks for pointing this out.

Al

If anyone's interested in making their own MZ series remote, I knocked one up for my MZ-M a few years ago on the basis that £1.50 of Maplins components and 20 minutes' work was a better bet than paying Pentax £30 link.

The connector is the same as the data connector for a computer CD drive. On AF MZ cameras, you need three of the connections to operate AF and the shutter release. With the manual MZ-M, you just need two, connected to a momentary make-and-break switch.

The small Maplins switches fitted perfectly into a section cut from a disposable pen, with a cable running out the other end of the pen barrel and soldered on to the CD connector. This wouldn't work if you also want the AF function because you'd need two switches. In that case, you'd have to fit the switches into a small plastic "project" box.

The top-most two connections on the MZ-M trip the shutter. The lower one and one of the other two (I don't know which) operate the AF. I'm beginning to wonder is life's too short for this sort of tinkering.

Al

I bought a 55-300 recently as an upgrade to a 50-200 DA-L and can confirm what many here have said -- it gives amazingly good results for the price. The DA-L version offers even better bang for the buck if you can live with the lack of supplied lens hood and Quick-Shift focus, which lets you tweak focus manually while the camera's set to AF. The DA-L, presumably, is also smaller and lighter. If you're not planning on using a tele lens very often, the DA-L 55-300 has a lot going for it. I've no experience of the other tele-zooms mentioned so can't make any meaningful comparison. I'm sure you'd be happy with the 55-300, though.

Good luck with the second of what could be many lens purchases.

Al

My old Vivitar 283 had a similar problem and a good cleaning of the battery contacts solved it. The main issue was the contacts in the removable battery container, but I don't know whether the 2500 uses a similar design.

Al

Apologies for any confusion. Consider a smiley popped at the end.

Al

Sounds like you've also been taking a course in "grooming", vjayshutterbug. You may find the chaps here are a bit long in the tooth to fall for it. On the other hand, a drink's a drink.

Enjoy that lens.

Al