In terms of cost the K100D with 18-55mm lens is hard to beat at £299.00

I'd stick to the later models as the processing will be quicker, JPEG quality may be better, SD cards are more compact than CF ones and there will be backup for longer.

Things change quite quickly in computing so there may be all sorts of minor advantages to the newer models.

The K10D would be the one of choice...

This is a repeat to a thread already entered,

Please only post once to avoid repetition in the forums.

MZ5, MZ5n, MZ3.

The camera is not unusually loud, but how do we know what you might think or not think is loud? Difficult....

I don't think it's any louder than the "schllooch" noise that a P30T makes, if that's any help!

I was on holiday in the Lake District this last week and found an excellent walking stick that doubles as a monopod - unscrewing the head reveals a tripod screw.

Excellent for occasional use and of course for walking as well.

With some of those Lakeland hills you need all the help you can get...

I don't think you will have any problem whatsoever.

It's worth asking are you formatting the cards before use?

When you clear a card also format it at that point.

Formatting should be done in the camera you are going to use the card in.

Hope that helps!

Sometimes there is confusion about what the histogram shows. If every shot was adjusted to give a nice even histogram then shots of black cats in coal cellars would be grossly over-exposed. If there are lots of dark tones in a subject then there should be lots of dark pixels. The reverse is also true for high key images, where there are predominantly light tones.

I would suggest you forget the histogram as a means of checking exposre and concentrate on using the meter to evaluate the scene. Very simply, if the =scene is dark under-expose slightly and if the scene is bright over expose slightly. Most of the time centre-weighted or matrix metering will get pretty close with little or no input from the photographer.

You think not?

Try tungsten film at dusk, flash with a correction filter for the foreground (perhaps a girl) and you get an interesting effect as well.

The possibilities are endless...