There are mutterings of a second airworthy Lancaster. Apparently the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre are gathering spares with a view to getting "Just Jane" back in the air...

Get her to take an MX along next time, that'll really confuse them!

I don't understand how anyone could find a DSLR harder to use than a camera phone. I know I find my K-m a lot easier to get on with than any compact or phone cam I've ever used, simply because it has clear buttons, menus designed for clarity rather than prettiness, and obvious controls. You don't have to fight through menus to find the camera, just switch on, line up on the subject, and press the button.

I tend to leave mine on AWB shooting JPGs, I usually take one test shot and have a quick look, if it looks ok I leave it. I only tend to change the settings if (for example) people come out orange, which generally means I need the Tungsten setting!

Sounds just like the Hereford branch, sad to say. I confused the hell out of their staff shortly before Xmas by gleefully rootling through the bargain bins and then approaching the till carrying an old-fashioned flash sync extension lead and a slide storage box!

So have you bought one yet? I keep being tempted by cheap ETRS bodies, but I know it'd cost more in the long term if I attempted to spread the cost by buying the components separately.

I regularly see working Bronica systems (as in body, finder, lens and back) for around the £200 mark, been sorely tempted myself.

Just had a play with mine in P mode, basically it seems to allow me to tweak the auto exposure (if I turn the thumbwheel I get different combinations of shutter speed and aperture). Normally I use Av, going into P from now on!

What is trailing curtain flash anyway? I hardly ever use flash, and then it's always the built-in one to illuminate the front of a subject when ambient lighting isn't doing the trick (I assume this is "fill in flash"?)

I might have to have a rethink then! The DA 21mm Ltd is a fair bit more expensive but I may just have to save for a bit longer...

My K-m has a "P" mode but also green mode, in P you have control over things like white balance IIRC.

What I will say is that I only needed the manual once with my K-m in the first few weeks of ownership, and that was in order to work out how to get Pictbridge to work. The menus are highly intuitive and have meaningful captions, so providing you read the labels and use some common sense you can get around them quickly.

Same here

The old primes I use, while superb value and the cream of their era, just aren't as simple to use as new glass. What I look forward to with the DA 40 is the fact that I can use the camera in Av mode with auto focus, or flick it into green button if my Mum decides she wants to have a go (the results of this with a manual lens can be very odd!)