That was the question I was posing, because I don't see much evidence that the RAW aspect actually adds anything to this.

I just wondered how others felt about it.

I used Asahi Photo recently to reapir a lens and they were fast and efficient.

Yes we can, by all means.

I've been watching this with interest and I wonder how the RAW aspect is relevant? What seems to be happening is an exercise in supplying variations on the original image, a bit like ePHOTOzine.

What would be lost from this exercise if the file provided was a JPEG straight from the camera? Any thoughts?

Because f1.7 sounds better or because it became possible with a lens redesign to get just a little more speed from the typical 6 element standard lens.

Someone managed a f1.6 50mm lens, I think it might have been Fuji.

It just all sounds a bit extreme, because there's no real evidence that you can equate any of the camera manufacturers to a 1970s Lada.

Nobody wants faulty products and we don't really have any, not to any significant degree anyway. There will always be some, owing to the law of diminishing returns. When we get something faulty, it gets exchanged, which is better than a huge price increase I think.

The standards are probebly higher than the days of the M series, which suffered from a design weakness in the film transport mechanism. I would ask when did you last buy a faulty camera?

The last faulty camera {from new) that I bought was a Pentax MX, which was exchanged FOC by Eric Fishwick in Haydock. Anyone remember them?

Pentax are Japanese and really have very few QC issues when you think of the huge number of units produced.

They have never had a complete lens recall like Canon have.

It's ironic that now we worry so much about dust and the problem has never been less. In my film days you should have seen how much of a problem dust on negatives was. Anybody fancy returning to the days of spotting prints - for those who don't know, painting out the defects with dyes and a brush...?

I don't for sure. The equivalent in Photoshop takes seconds and with just a little practice cannot be seen at all.

No point having a SLR camera and not changing lenses.

Don't ever send a film without its container - if it gets squashed then when the packet is opened your film will be ruined.

I only ever did this once, in 1972, and yes, it got squashed. The light did not ruin all the images competely, but it was far from ideal.

Discussion for elsewhere please! Terry is trying to sell something here...