1 The red filter can be used for portraits, but that would be unusual as it will make skin look rather odd. Skin and lips will become very pale. Try it, but don't expect your subjects will like it as pictures of themselves. The metering will compensate for the filter.

2 With auto you set the aperture and the camera sets the shutter speed. Why manual? You need a book on photography, but in essence it gives to total control. You might want a specific shutter speed or combination to give the effect you want. But you can't understand why you would want to until you've had a good read about the basic stuff.

"The ME Super Book of Photography" would actually be a very good place to start. Or one of the many general guides.

There are some quite nice and little mentioned Pentax compacts at the moment.

On a practical basis, it's nice to have the wqeatherproof one (currently WG-2) as that can be taken anywhere, even under water, without hassle. It's quite compact too.

The LS465 is stylish and fashionable, so could appeal. Lots of snazzy colours.

The VS20 has a super zoom range, but is a bit bulkier.

The RZ-18 is ultra compact.

Have a look at the specs on the Pentax web page.

http://www.pentax.co.uk/en/digital-compact.html

Corrected it for you.

If possible I would try another battery, just in case the one you have is faulty or perhaps beyond its normal lifespan.

Batteries should be good for 1000 charge cycles or more, but sometimes they fail.

The alternative is to use a card reader.

When you post an image in a thread it shows the forum where to look for it on the internet. If you delete the image the link will then just point to an empty space.

This is why the older weekly competition threads in the forum look so messy - people have not maintained their images.

Cliff, you will see it on your own computer as it will be in the cache and also it's your image. Can you check that you've marked it as publicly visible please. If it's private we won't see it.

It's fine, but if you post in a thread it will bring it back to the top of the list. That's why people sometimes post "bump".

I've popped this into Local Groups and Meetings so it may attract a group of us to get together.

I presume you are asking if this is Pentax related, well it's certainly of interest photographically to Pentax Users. And I do understand that Curiosity actually took along a couple of K-5s as backup....