That's been my experience, too. I'd be happy to buy Pentax batteries if they were priced (a lot) more reasonably.

You often hear the claim that long lenses "compress" perspective. It's an interesting experiment to take the same shot with, say, a 300mm lens and 16mm lens. Enlarge a distant feature in the 16mm shot to the same size as it is in the tele shot and you'll get exactly the same perspective "compression". As John says, camera-subject distance is the sole determinant of perspective. It's just not normally visible in the fulll wide-angle field of view.

A plug-in USB card reader is the simplest solution (I use one with my Android tablet), but I installed an Akasa reader on my main PC a few years ago and it's worked flawlessly ever since. Most of the Akasa readers have several slots fot different formats of card and include a USB socket. They cost about £14, which seems reasonable. Don't think I've ever hooked a camera up to a computer. Clearly this solution isn't available to laptop users, and this seems to be most people these days.

Very odd. HP recommends its Advanced Photo Paper for your printer and this is listed at about 266 microns. You will have a setting somewhere for paper type but this mainly controls the amount of ink delivered for your chosen paper finish. My Epson printer feeds through any paper up to the maximum thickness regardless of the paper type setting. I'd check the manual, but it sounds like there could be a mechanical problem. Good luck.

If you're interesting in its Samsung clone, the GX20, I've still got one for sale (mint condition, low shutter count) in the classified section. There's no practical difference between the brands. It comes with, or without if you prefer, a virtually unused Pentax DA 18-55 WR lens. Give me a PM if you're interested.

Al

A dedicated film scanner is the best way to go for quality, although some of the cheap scanners (which don't actually scan but have a 5MP sensor) could be good enough for your requirements. Others will come up with some specifics. The cheapest option of all would be my old Panagor Zoom Slide Duplicator", which you could have have for the cost of postage. It's fitted with a T-mount adapter for Minolta cameras but you can pick up a Pentax adapter cheaply on eBay. PM me if you're interested. It's boxed and in mint condition, which shows how much I used it over the last 30-odd years.

I would think they'd have to state if the cameras were reconditioned, ex-rental or demo. The implication in any advert for a high street chain is that the products are new. Jessops' normal guarantee (and Sale of Goods laws) should apply.

I think "appropriation" artist is a contradiction in terms. As you say, he's a thief.

Sadly, Vuescan won't work because it needs a WIA driver specific to my scanner and the manufacturer, Visioneer, can't be bothered providing one. You're right, though ... it looks like time to forget Twain.

I'd update from Windows 7 in a flash if Microsoft reintroduced Twain support. My top-notch scanner has been languishing in a cupboard since I "moved up" from Windows XP to 7 and found it no longer functions. I don't know what would be involved in bringing back Twain but I would have thought a few extra lines of code would accomplish it. I'm more interested in this core functionality than in some rearrangement of the desktop deckchairs. Having said that, I'll probably give Windows 10 a try-out on my netbook and could well be sold on the claimed improvements.