You did quite well with your M-135, though, I noticed !!

I've got one to sell too, and I'd be delighted if I got the same for it.

My understanding is that cancelling a listing and then selling off eBay is prohibited under eBay rules.

It seems (from http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/end_early.html) that they do permit a listing to be closed early, if the item is sold to the current high bidder, at the current bid price.

Their rationale is this (from that page):

"We strongly discourage sellers to end listings early because it undermines the trust buyers have in the eBay platform. eBay buyers are told that their bids are binding. Equally, buyers expect the auctions they bid on to conclude successfully."

No worries - and don't get me wrong, people here collectively know just about everything, and are really helpful. I've learned a lot myself from people here, for which I'm very grateful.

It's just that there have been one or two, over the last year or so, who show up only to ask any number of questions that can easily be answered with a very small amount of internet research, clearly put little thought into the answers they receive, and give nothing back in terms of providing help of their own.

I just like to think that this is a community where there's give as well as take, that's all - not at all having a go at you.

By the way, just to be clear...

It's the camera that does the metering based on the pre-flash's reflection that comes back Through The Lens.

I used the word 'it' above rather loosely, sorry.

However, the high end flash guns also have a sensor built into them, which is used in A(utomatic) mode. In that case, the flash gun's sensor cuts off the flash when it has measured enough light.

It's not quite as good as TTL metering, since the flash sensor (although not the flash head itself, if it swivels or bounces) has to be very close to the lens axis, and pointing towards the subject, otherwise what it meters will bear no relation to what goes through the lens during the exposure.

With TTL metering, it's the camera that measures the light coming back, so the flash can be anywhere you like, and point in any direction.

You're the only one then.

Thank heavens. The Pentax design team can sleep easily tonight...

Joking apart, P-TTL is thought to result in more accurate metering, but it does suffer from one huge drawback. A lot of people have reactions quick enough for them to blink when the pre-flash goes off, resulting in half-closed eyes during the actual exposure. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that for portraits (and informal party shots) this can be the biggest right royal pain in the **** imaginable, so manual mode can often be best (or A mode, which uses the sensor on the gun itself to cut off the light when it thinks it's had enough).

Interestingly, I find that if they're a bit drunk, the problem is a lot less bad, not surprisingly perhaps...

As I said, there's a lot on the web about all this stuff (hint: don't necessarily expect people to always save you the trouble of doing your own research).

However, a very good place to start for basic info about just about every bit of Pentax equipment under the sun is http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/.

For non-Pentax equipment, supplier web sites usually have spec sheets.

It's where the flash emits first a small flash, during which it measures the light coming back and then sets the flash output for the main flash, which takes place a very short time later (but long enough to see two flashes if you look carefully). The 'P' is usually taken to mean "Pre", although I've never seen that written down.

It differs from TTL flash metering in that with the latter there's only one flash, and the amount of light coming back is metered during the exposure, and the flash is cut off when the camera's had enough.

There's lots about it on the web, and here.

Unless you particularly want the AF assist light on the flashgun with the flash off the camera. I find a silent red grid shocks people a little less at parties than the pop-up in 'manic strobe' mode.

I think he means JPEG quality, which can have a large effect on file size, even for given pixel dimensions.

It's all made more complicated, though, by the fact that different online gallery sites apply different auto-image optimisations, irrespective of how big the file you upload is.

We have a fairly loose guideline IIRC of a max of 800 pixels on any dimension, but not, AFAIK, on the actual file size. The reason for this is not so much for fast downloads, but to allow the picture to be viewed without having to scroll the browser to see it all (and also to see other posts on the same page, which can be quite annoying).

The trouble is, internet download speeds can be so incredibly variable that it would be very difficult to pick a suitable file size - I find a variation of at least a factor of five even between peak and off-peak periods.

If you're using a modem to access the web, then you're going to be stuck with slow downloads in many situations, not just looking at pictures.

Sorry not to be more help...

Well one of my NYRs is to finally get my "find out what the heck I have in all those negative albums" project off the ground.

So I've been saving again, and I have a reasonable proportion of the price of a Nikon Coolscan V ED.

I must confess it's with some trepidation that I contemplate looking at about 25 years of negs, all taken with the Super A, and later (when the ex took that and the prints leaving me with the negs), the ME Super.

I'm rather expecting to be shocked at how awful most of them are by current standards.

Still, hopefully I'll find some gems in there and it will all be worth while. The memories should be sharp and brilliantly composed, if the pictures aren't.