There's an F 70-210mm on ebay UK at the moment. Might be of interest, they will apparently post to Finland.

An odd one I know, but check the screws holding the lens mount on haven't worked loose. It occurs to me that if the metal ring were to shift slightly then it would jam both those parts. I know I had that problem with an MV I was trying to fix the metering on.

UGH!

"for free"

The "for" is American English. We just say "free" in this country.

Rent-a-cops have no more legal powers than you or I, you're perfectly within your rights to walk away from them and leave the area. If they try to grab you then it becomes assault. They have no right to see images, cannot search you, and cannot force you to delete images.

A friend of mine used to work in that industry (he left because the company was almost bankrupt and failed to pay him for over a month, despite promises to the contrary. They've since gone bust and reappeared under a different name while he and other former staff attempt to get their back pay from the receivers). IIRC security staff are now legally required to be registered, if anyone can remember the name of the industry body then you could probably scare them a bit by asking to see their registration card and noting all the details on it. Petty bullies don't like it when the spectre of someone bigger and meaner is invoked!

"R" could also stand for Returned or Reject. What possible refurbishing could be done to an SD card? They have no moving parts and they either work or don't work!

I just buy the cheap 2GB cards from Aldi and have had no problems as yet. Since got hold of a couple of 4GB cards with the same brand from Tesco, again they seem fine.

If they're just grubby on the outside then don't bother with a professional cleaner. I use cotton buds and screen cleaning spray to get dirt/dust off followed by a lens pen to clean the glass.

Many of the Takumar designs were adapted by Pentax to become the first K mount lenses, of which I have a handful. The 55mm is a very nice piece of kit indeed, although mine seems to have taken up residence on a KM so doesn't see much action on digital now!

That simply isn't possible. You can never have too many lenses!

Although I am a little unsure as to how I've ended up with so many short zooms. On the plus side, only three are hopeless and they didn't cost much.

I think it'd probably end up along these lines:

Clarkson waving the biggest Nikon he could lay hands on around and raving about how massive and expensive the lens is. Then complaining that in order to get the shot of the Stig jumping a snowmobile through a ring of fire he needs to be half a mile away as the lens is too long.

Hamster struggling with a similar Canon, they would naturally have to issue him with the largest tripod available so he'd need a box to stand on.

May quietly wandering around with a K-x and a handful of Limiteds, taking all the photos the other two missed.

The only things I watch on BBC are Ashes to Ashes, Dr Who, and Top Gear. For several years we were paying for content that we couldn't receive, in the form of BBC digital channels. There was no talk of partial refunds or reduced licence fees.

TV Licencing gained my everlasting scorn when they more or less called me a liar in print for writing to them and explaining that no, I didn't have a TV in my hall of residence. Frankly they seem to be a law unto themselves, allowed to harass and bully the general public with no accountability.

"Detector vans" are a load of rubbish by the way, they're just minibuses. All they do is find addresses with no licence and hassle them.

I do the "looking at the back of the film camera" thing now. Even with my original '70s KM. I'd have thought that using it would be different enough to remember that it isn't digital...