Not necessarily Mike, it is perfectly possible for an eBayer to end up with something that they have limited knowledge of. We just need to bid accordingly.

It's going to be potentially useful for days when she's out and about but not on a photographic trip. It means she could carry DSLR+lens unobtrusively in what will other wise be a handbag. The camera will be held securely away from keys, purses, phones, other things that girls carry in their handbags.

If it's a photographic trip then it's the Billingham Hadley.

Having said that, such a purpose has not yet arisen.

It's not the area for discussion of techniques, it's the Your Photos forum for discussing pictures. However, I felt the point was usefully relevant.

This becomes important because people could benefit from discussion of the techniques of slide copying, and they probably won't look in this section, which means they probably won't find it.

This isn't really the place for a discussion, but your slide set up is OK but needs to be closed in on all sides to increase contrast. As it is you'll get light reflected from the slide.

Also, the lens does not have a flat field, so at that distance you'll lose edge definition if you focus on the centre. A macro lens would be best, or even an enlarger lens.

Before you buy the Jill-e from Amazon bear in mind Sue bought one for £39.95 so there may be a bit of price variation in the marketplace!

It's important to differentiate between a robust reply to someone's argument or opinion and it becoming an attack on that person.

Attack the argument please, not the person.

I've only read what the judge wrote and the judge is unlikely to pick this query up now, but the title of the competition refers to football. Given that, I'd just enter and see. Your signature indicates Australia so whatever football means in Australia would have to be the thing to go for.

Judges are not usually too proscriptive, probably more likely to be too lax in interpreting their own themes, and it's for fun not for mega-prizes, so go for it and see what happens?

It always depends on the final use. If we're talking about web images, all Pentax lenses will look pretty much the same.

However, for certain applications the differences do tell. The prefessional quality zooms are fantastic, but bulky.

The 70mm and 77mm are both brilliant lenses. As portrait lenses they excel. The 77mm is technically slightly better, but the 70mm is more compact. Personally I found the 77mm to be slightly too long, so the 70mm will suit me better for portraits.

There's really very little in it.

If I told you that.....

But seriously, the judge is bound by the Judges' Code of Honour not to be influenced by anything anybody writes here, and not to look.

I'd like to remind everyone that this is the area for discussion about this competition. The judge doesn't look here and rtermains uninfluenced therefore by anything that is written.

The actuall Gallery Competition area is for the judge only until it's all over. Then we can comment as much as we like.

It's all about the judge having a clear mind about his or her selection and comments.