I think we're in danger here of worrying too much. If we apply rules and restrictions people won't wait patiently to qualify, they just won't bother at all.

The ability to post PMs was restricted to stop spammers flooding the PM system with unpleasant material, which is a totally different issue.

As regards the judges opinion, Martin is dead right there, the judge's decision is final. Challenging every judgement is not a happy prospect. If we want to be the judge, then we have to win a competition!

We do have a consensus that the competition is for Pentax Users and Pentax images. There's also an expectation that the winner of the previous week will judge the current one, with comments. There's plenty of examples of how to judge that we can look back on.

However, as regards eliminating non-Pentax images, that's left up to the judge and all the other entrants to police! And the judge has the final say in their own competition.

The 18mm f3.5 was a lower cost lens when new than the 15mm f3.5, but as the 18mm lenses are rather rarer, it may now have a higher value than expected.

The 15mm is a superb lens, big and heavy by today's standards but very capable on film. I'm not sure now which version I had, although mine wasn't in as good condition as Clarky's.

Very Carefully is the only way to read that page....

Impressive indeed.

The 30mm is rare, but not worth hundreds of pounds or dollars.

I think I should add to that that I was referring to photographic technical quality, not content. The prints I saw were staggeringly impressive, but the content was extremely boring. On a monitor screen they would have been poor.

What we have gained is massively better in so many other ways and the quality is very very good also. Content has improved beyond any possible doubt, just as one example.

I think you may have misunderstood the point I was making. I wasn't talking about cozy darkrooms and a longing for that red light - I would never want to go back to that - but about the very very highest standard possible. I have only ever seen that level once and wouldn't have the patience to try and emulate it, but it was a quality level that far exceeds the levels of digital photography. What we have lost is the skills that make that level of printing possible. We've also lost the ability to make stone tools as well....

The trouble is I can't show you what I mean so the real point is that for most of us, me included, digital will be the only way to go.

I was reading some mobile phone instructions and it clearly said "do not paint this phone" and I wondered who would possibly want to paint a phone.

Then I noticed that one of my daughter's friends had indeed just painted her phone. So maybe the idea that someone would paint a camera isn't beyond the bounds of possibility either....

Hard to say really - it could be fixed under warranty but against that would be the delay whilst it was away.

I would try resting the CCD by removing the battery and then after 30 minutes or so booting the camera back up and trying again at a lowish ISO, such as 100 or 200. Maybe it will stop mis-firing.

If not then either clone the fault out of all your images, use a pixel mapping program on the images (there must be such a thing out there?) or indeed return the camera for repair.