I'm using a Minolta Dimage IV scanner, which cost around £250 although Minolta gear is getting very scarce. If you really have a lot to do this could be the most cost effective way to go. It does batch scannnning of either 4 mounted trannies or 6 frames of uncut film. There was a bit of a learning curve at the start but it is quick, easy and effective.It ahppily works in the background as you get on with other things.

Ken

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for the comments, this is driving me mad. The buttons were all working as they should on my site's last incarnation and now they are as you describe. I thought it was something wrong with my flash player but obviously not. They should change colour on rollover and then work on the mouse click. Back to the Dreamweaver drawing board!

one hour later...

Did a search on the net and discovered that this pain in the neck comes courtesy of Microsoft due to a patent infringement and will be here for some time the full story is here:

http://capitalhead.com/articles/click-to-activate-and-use-this-control---kb912812.aspx

Thanks, Matt, sorted now I think
Ken

First results from the new 50-200, quite pleased with it really
http://www.penciloflight.com/snaps.htm

Thanks for all the advice.

The 50-200 is half the weight of the 70-210. I was going to go on holiday with the S50 but...

I've just thown the CC at Jessops web site who are selling the 50-200 for £169 today

Ken

good point George, I'll give Harrow Technical a ring. I've got another lens (a 28mm Shift) that needs looking at as well - the whole front half is slightly loose although its stunning performance isn't affected. Certainly wont be using Pentax UK who still have my 645 after almost 5 months!

Ken

Thanks for all the helpfull suggestions. Loved the pic of the elephant's eye, Fernando.

Ken

Have any of you used one of these extensively? Might I be disappointed? I'm thinking of buying one to replace my Pentax-F 70 - 210, which isn't stopping down reliably anymore. I was using my DS at the weekend snapping my wife running in a 10K race. Put the camera on 'sprinting person' mode and I was impressed by its performance but noticed (and all this is totally subjective) that the 18-55 seemed nowhere as sharp but much more contrasty than the 70-210. I've always thought that the 70-210 was sharp but flat but I'd be interested to hear some other opinions.

Ken

I use a Manfrotto head with 2 levels built in. I bought it to use with my 28mm Shift and a grid screen. You need a plain ground glass screen with a shift lens since any rise makes the microprism/split image thing go black. Funny thing is as others have observed, quite often you have to ignore the true levels to make the image look 'right'.

Ken

I had this and it turned out to be a software issue. When I installed the *ist DS stuff it disabled the S50 software. I'm with Liamd on this.