I think I might spend the extra £50 for a brand new one, but the choice is there.

How much cheaper can DSLRs get?

Every Jessops store I have ever asked has been perfectly willing to allow handling of cameras and the taking of a test shot or two.

It's a very good idea.

However, at £299 for a very fine camera like the K100D I wouldn't wait too long....

I like the idea of the black background. This concentrates our eye on the flower. Your exposure and colour is also good.

A few minor points might help. Flowers for photography should be good specimens, and certainly straggly leaves and insects could be removed. I also wonder why you have felt constrained to the shape of the full frame for the images. A crop to a squarer format would remove some excess black and leave the subject sitting more comfortably in the frame.

Flower photography is certainly challenging to technique but the results can be very satisfying.

There aren't many of those round here, but I'll see what I can do...

300mm is indeed very long, but for photographing birds, as we tried to do yesterday, it is nowhere near long enough.

We are now looking at 2x converters so we can try 600mm (900mm equivalent) to see if that is good enough.

If not, we're going to have to be a bit closer...

No need to be nervous, Ben, just enjoy the forums and let's hear more of your constructive input.

Your home insurance company would give you cover and this could be very reasonable.

We have an "all risks" section to our policy that covers both generalised items plus a few named items anywhere we are in the world.

If they don'y accept whatever you put on the package in customs then you'll pay import duty, VAT and maybe a service charge or not get your lenses back.

Only you can say if the risk is worth it!

When making large (A3) prints, the K10D has significantly better quality in terms of definition, detail and general photographic reproduction.

It's as well to be cautious about third party inks. If it works, fine, but I have quite a few of our club members who have had dreadful colour problems with inks.

The combination we have settled on are Epson original inks in our 890 and 1290s printers and Jessops paper.

The glossy paper gives superb results, but our new discovery is the 230gsm Matt paper, which is absolutely gorgeous.

However, I would say once you find a combination that works for you, stick with it and learn its characteristics thoroughly. Just as with film/developer combinations...