Get friendly with your camera dealer, maybe they have a remote for sale, and will, if your actually buying something else, let you test it. record it to your palm to find out if it works and let us know.

George, what I know to be true is this...
In any art, sport or field of work, there are different levels of accomplishment and skill. The better one gets the tougher the competition gets. Races that once got setttled by car lengths, need lasers and cameras to settle who won by a fraction of an inch. Where one maritial artist breaks three bricks, the next tries to break the one in the middle, leaving the other two intact.
At some point photographers get to the level where basics become reflex, lighting set-ups become habitual, timing is always bang on, and competitions get down to splitting hairs.
You have to split those hairs because the work is so good. I would not presume to judge your work, the fact is this..It's damn good...and the subjective nature of all art forms is subject to the whimsy of the people seeing the work means hacks sometimes get thier 15 minutes of fame while true talents go unrecognized. I recognize that if I listen to you and others in this forum, there is a goldmine here. A wealth of talent and knowledge learning. But I really listen to the people who buy my work above all others. Thier whimsy becomes my bread and butter.
I believe the edge for film is gone, but that has yet to become widely accepted. You'll see more and more b+w digital images winning competitions and contests. and the competitions will be tougher. The fact that there's a debate at all is proof enough for me.
I don't want to forget that. In order to continue selling work, my work is going to have to be better than it has ever been.
It would be foolish to argue about which brick to break makes you the best maritial artist, and forget that a moderate blow below the left pectoral can drop you dead in your tracks.

I think anybody who wants to learn b+w will be surprised at how good digital from color conversions can be, and how easy to learn.
I think the resurgance, and wave of immence popularity of digital b+w, will resemble the tidalwave of digital colorshooters, with traditional diehards being the last to admit it. Of course this in no way dimminishes the true beauty of traditional film/printing, but rather pushes the envelope of what people percieve as high quality work as digital puts high quality into the hands of the masses. Not everybody could've produced work that was sellable a few years ago, but now it's possible for many.

By the way, the image on my website of my hand and my enfants son's hand, was shot with a canon g5 in color and was a multi-layered ps file which even had one layer partially solarized, was printed 16x16 (color c41)and displayed at a local gallerie and has fooled several pro photographers who thought it was silverhalide, printed traditionally.

I drool over the prospect of what could be done with that new digital 645...

And to be clear I didn't go so far as to say digital was better than silver, but I think it has the edge in terms of ease of use, quality and cost as a total package. As a tool to do the job, it is incredible.

Better ultimately, boils down to the talent and skill of the image maker relative to what the viewer who is seeing/buying the work thinks.

In my books, if I can sell just as many, for just as much, with no noticable loss of quality and a lot less work, then it's better...someone else may think my work is crap..good for them they're entitled to thiers.

I hate to dissagree with George, but digital black and white is incredible. You can achieve effects and techniques in computer, that were time/labour/skill intensive and even impossible in the darkroom, with simple tools like pse. You don't get channels with elements but you can use two hue/saturation adjustments layers over your color imige to simulate any combination of filtration. You have all contrast controls plus dodgeing and burning. The noise filter.
You can simulate your favorite film and paper combos, plus tinting, and with the right printer/ink create gallery quality prints up to 11x14 easily.

I seem to rember having an old ricoh, that had a "Backlight exposure compensation" button located in that spot...by the lensmount...

I'm guessing the little lever near the a is for multiple exposure, as it's proximity near the shutter advance lever would suggest.
The lever near the lens mount is probably a dofp Depth of feild preview button, or miirro lock-up.

You want to try something bizzare?
grab your slr with telephoto (best if your lens has a tripod mount), or your camcorder.
Set your tripod up with the legs approx waist high, with the grip and lens pointing straight down. (keep the lens in line with one tripod leg.)
Pick it up by the grip and fold the other two legs in line with the center column(leave them extended).
Hold the one leg (in-line with the lens (which can be collapsed)) with your left hand (if right handed), and find the center of balance. You are now holding it like a rifle. The weight of the other two legs act like a ballast forming an improvised steadycam rig. Extra 2-3 stops on your new image stabilized camera.

oops that last post was me...

Ever go camping in Canada? those squirrells are like the campsite mafia...."Hand over all your goodies or we'll get our buddy Bruno the Bear to come and trash this place!"...Psychotic twitchy little things if you ask me.
You'd probably not approve of my idea for a camp golf game with those squirrells...You start by gluing a peanut to a golf tee.....

You should try the manfrotto pistol grip....

Anyways here's my usual two cents:

Get thee to the hardware (Canadian Tire) store.

1) Buy a foldable (umbrella type) chair, toss the chair in your car trunk and admire the zip up case it came in- your new tripod case....zips up and has a carry strap!
2) Buy some foamtype pipe insulation and duct tape. Cut the foam to short lengths and clip them onto the top sections of your tripos legs...use way too many pieces (short pieces- 6 inches or so long) of duct tape to secure them in place.

your hands won't freeze to the 'pod legs if you carry it in the cold, your shoulders will thank you if you carry it over your shoulder, and little pieces of duct tape will always come in handy if you need to secure a branch, or flower or squirrell in place while shooting.