I've spent a fair bit on memory cards over the past two years (I've had two SD cards that have packed up) but at least they are now more affordable.

I've just bought an MP3 player c/w 512MB SD card from 7dayshop.com for £15.......less than a year ago, I paid nearly £25 for a 256MB SD card - and that was cheap!

Don, you're probably right



Thankyou George, I've been looking in but I've been rather pre-occupied with things at home recently.
We've been carrying out some home improvements and also trying to deal with the legal issues re. a car accident that I was involved in some six months ago. It looks as though the matter is going to court but it's been a nightmare trying to sort everything out, as I'm sure you can imagine!
Don't worry, nobody was hurt but as far as I'm concerned, liability is obvious and the guy responsible is NOT going to get away with it.

I'll not go into details, this isn't the place but suffice it to say that I have been and still am thoroughly pi$$ed off - the insurance companies are in the same group and seem to be protecting each other and even my solicitor has only just started taking the case seriously (talk about banging your head against a brick wall!)

Sorry if you didn't want to hear about that.......but it's made me feel a little bit better

It's actually not such a bad thing, I mean at least with your own man-boobs, you don't have to beg permission to play with them!

Matt, I was just about to post a link to the Samsung website - but you basically beat me to it.
It will be interesting to see the comparative prices, although after a few months they'll vary considerably. My DL was priced at around £500 body only but I doubt if many people paid that much for one complete with kit lens!

If you chose the Samsung, for whatever reason, at least you couldn't be accused of betraying Pentax

They're essentially the same...........aren't they all?

The DL2 has a 5 point AF system (DL has 3 points) and a couple of extra PICT modes................as far as I can tell, that's it!

There are numerous brands of converters available and you can even use manual ones (obviously not in AF mode), just make sure that the one you choose has the KA contacts in the mount!
Chances are that they'll all work fine with Pentax and third party lenses but to quarantee 100% compatability, see if you can find a Pentax F1.7x AF converter - superb

Most zooms, esp. AF zooms tend to have some 'wobble' when fully extended.
My F35-135 is a good example but it doesn't affect the performance.
If the lens is new and you think the 'wobble' is excessive, take it back and/or compare it to another one

I know, even the pro's can trip up from time to time and it's having the foresight to use such techniques that distinguishes them from the rest of us.

Goes to prove my point though, that pro gear is whatever the pro uses and it needn't be the latest, greatest, most expensive kit available!

To return to the original question, if you make a living from your photography then that is your profession and the camera used can be described as professional.
A local photographer that visits schools in our area - to take those over-priced pics. that you feel obliged to buy despite the fact that you've already got more decent photos of your kids than you can shake a big stick at, uses nothing more sophisticated than an Olympus OM10 with a bracket mounted flash (always looks impressive to the untrained eye!).

To be fair, the images are perfectly adequate, serve their purpose and make the guy a living so in this case, the OM10 is a professional camera.

Pro-spec. cameras, of whatever format, are traditionally designed for the rigours of field work, high volume usage, compatibility with studio setups etc. etc.
Many pro's would use a Polaroid instant camera, not for the end result but simply to assess the scene (always seemed strange to me that an experienced professional would need to do this) but digital and mobile computing has largely superceded this. Whatever back-up or 'test' model they choose can also be described as 'professional' and many well known pro's have endorsed products aimed at the amateur market.

A wise professional will purchase good quality, reliable equipment that gets the job done and not necessarily pay for features that are not needed (and that's something that should apply to us all!).

Funny things, spirit-levels, they're a great idea but I never trust them.

Imagine putting up a shelf in your home, using a sprit-level the shelf will be spot on but it'll look completely wrong if your skirting board or ceiling aren't equally perfect.
In that situation, I prefer to trust my eye and will usually match the shelf to the nearest parallel or perpendicular.......if you know what I mean, after all it is the perceived image that you have to live with.

Needless to say there aren't many shelves in my home that I'd place anything valuable onto that might have a tendency to roll