Glad it was of help.

This is a bit of an alert in case anyone is considering buying a HP colour printer.

Not so long ago I purchased a HP Photosmart D7160 from one of the major office supply retailers. When it came to replacing one of the ink cartridges recently I came across a rather astonishing problem that took some time to resolve. It seems HP have regionalised their ink cartridges, much like DVDs, to prevent unauthorised international trading of them. Having done this, they supplied me with a printer set for Malaysia and some starter cartridges suitable for that region, even though I purchased it here in Britain. The retailer knew nothing of this when I told them the ink cartridges were rejected by the printer, nor could I find it mentioned on HP's website or in the product documentation. I finally got an answer by calling their help line and had to do some quite convoluted 'reprogramming' of the printer. This involved, amongst other things, holding down several keys and simultaneously clicking on a secret area of the printer software screen and entering in several sets of numbers to reconfigure it for the UK so that I could use HP cartridges sold in this region.

Upon asking do they think this is how customers should be treated, the HP help desk person finally and reluctantly offered that higher management had been informed of the issue but I wasn't offered an apology for the inconvenience caused. I later telephoned the retailer who were going to ask HP about the issue. I can't be the only person affected by this and it amazes me that having let this happen no effort is made to notify customers, in fact the reverse seems to be the case. Clearly registering a product is only for the marketing departments benefit. I'll be rather reluctant to buy HP again, more because of their attitude than anything else.

Having said all that, I'd like to hear from people who are happy with their home printers. Hopefully this sort of thing is rare.

Will I have to take my K100D back to have the word "Hoya" inserted before PENTAX?

Have a Merry Christmas everyone.

Thanks very much Matt and Peter,

I won't be doing a lot of studio work so that's the sort of advice I'm looking for. I haven't got a flash unit at all yet so getting the two Pentax flashs will be the way to go. I assume the flash has a slave setting?

By manual mode, could you let me know a typical set up please? Is that needed so it acts as a slave? I will have to read up on the flash units so sorry if these questions could be answered in the user guides.

Does the in-body flash play a part? I'm thinking it could trigger the AF360 & AF540 flash units on separate tripods or is only one off camera flash required?

I'll look at getting a Hama brolley and another tripod.

I also really appreciate the advice regarding practice. Some of my subjects will have little patience i think so when I get the opportunity I will need to be sure of what I am doing.

The family would like to get some family group photos for a grandparent. Some of the older children are reluctant to go to a studio so I'm thinking of getting some entry level studio lights and taking them myself.

I recall seeing a starter kit of some sort in Jessops and wonder if this is the right way to go or would I be better off getting individual items?

I'm live in Derby when I am in the UK, which is several times a year so would like to meet up.

Thanks Michael,

Glad you found what you need.

Cheers

Hello Michael

I've had great success with cPicture. You can get it for free from http://cpicture.net/en/

I've got a short tutorial on it at my hobby site. www.britanniacreek.net

I needed to create a backdrop photo and this program handles the printing very well, especially colour at the join.

erinjojo, Like John says you use the excellent viewfinder. You really do not need to see the picture on the LCD with such a good viewfinder. You won't be disappointed.

Thanks for that advice