I was informed by Pentax that when there are two sets of batteries present, the cmera draws power from whichever set has the highest actual voltage (in other words, the freshest set).

It's possible to have totally dead batteries in the camera while the batteries are fine in the grip. As long as at least one set is up to par, the camera works. That happened to me, I went to take off the grip for some reason or other, and the batteries in the camera were dead.

So my battery changing method is to first, recharge the batteries from the grip, then when they're done put them in the camera and charge those up, then put them in the grip. (It's also wise to carry extra batteries).

Get all your friends to petition, too. This is a very unusual method for a company to do market research, but it's pretty clever!

For years I used a couple of MX cameras for my work. They are basically K-1000 with professional features (DOF preview, for one) and they are built like tanks.

Are you sure the LX has a mechanical shutter? I thought it has an electronically controlled shutter. That means no batteries, no photos!

I rarely use anything but RAW (old darkroom hound) but the couple of times I used jpeg, it looked just fine. I like the fact that Pentax has decided not to oversharpen the jpegs, you can do a better job with less artifacts in Photoshop.

But since I'm used to taking a photo, then processing the result, it seems natural to me that images straight out of the camera need some work. Using RAW with Adobe's converter brings back the control I had in the darkroom!

Why would you use Windows Explorer to rotate files? It's not an image editor, it just tells you what's on the drive.

Try using the software that came with the camera, I use Photoshop with the *st D and have never had any problems.

As to "the file is in use by another program:, that's a memory leak. It's a system problem where a program doesn't give back some of the memory it was using, and it just stays stuck. Do a defrag and disk scan, you might have corrupted files on the machine.

I got my *st D and the 16-45 a short while ago. It's the professional version of the digital line, the frame is steel and the polycarbonate body feels really solid.

I looked at the other digitals, and the *st D had features I needed (battery grip, the two control wheels for apeture and shutter speed, etc) and the others had some features that I didn't have any use for (scene modes, whatever they are).

You have an excellent kit, and you can always download the firmware update from Pentax. It is user-installable.

The important thing is the lenses. I still use my old M lenses on the new camera. Bodies come and go / but the lenses just roll, roll, roll! (Apologies to Robert Hunter}

Penbtax Canada and Pentax USA are equallty vague about the release date. We'll just have to wait and see!

I'd use color, or referrably digita. Then I'd watch to make sure he really did go down!

On the other hand, with Dick Chaney next in line, maybe not. Maybe I'd just sell the photo and let W sink or swim!

George, that's actually a pretty standard way of bidding on ebay; they even send you an email to remind you to get on the site and "remember, another buidder can outbid you especially in these last minuites" or something like that.

It's part of the ebay "culture" which I don't particularly like, but as I said, I gained one and I lost one that way.

As soon as I ditch my old Canon and Olympus gear, I'll be out of that whole circus-like setting. But it's the way it's done, and us old dinosaurs just have to live with it.

At least you and I managed to conclude an honorable deal in a respectable manner. Keep that in mind.

I got it for $165 which works out to about £91.46. I almost los it, but someone outbid me in the last one minuite. I had a higher bid ready to go, and as soon as I saw it I sent in the higher bid. It was more than I actually paid, just a tad more than the bid I was competing with.

To do this you need to be there as the auction ends, and have two browser wndows opened, one where you're constantly refreshing the page and one where you've got your higher bid ready to go.

I got the lens with 17 seconds left. The other guy didn't have time to react!