Correct. It's one of the methods available to people who don't have a mobile phone.

I don't know whether a check would be required for a £3-97p battery. The system is to prevent fraud. If a fraudster makes 1000 £2 purchases using 1000 stolen credit card numbers, they've got away with a £2000 fraud - just as much of a problem for the financial institutions as a single £2000 purchase. We'll just have to wait and see what happens,

Steve

What worked for you in the past might not work in the future. The law changed on 14 March. 'Strong Customer Authentication' is now required for many online transactions in order to improve security. My bank and credit card providers have each sent me details in the last couple of weeks. In essence, the supplier must confirm that the customer is genuine. This typically involves sending a confirmation code to the customer (e.g. by text message) that the customer must then input to the supplier's website within a limited time. If you don't give the correct phone number then you won't get the message and won't be able to confirm the purchase (other methods are apparently available if you don't have a mobile phone). It's your choice...

Steve

Same as any wildlife photography...

Steve

A quick rummage through the internet suggests that in this context "workshop approach to production" could mean collecting and analysing data from users, potential customers etc. and using that to determine what items to make now so they meet today's demands. Imagine a world in which a computer held the instructions for manufacturing every lens in the Pentax catalogue, when sufficient demand was identified for a particular lens it sent the instructions to an automated machine that produced a batch of that specific lens sufficient to meet demand. Get it right and distributors across the world would get products when the demand is there rather than having to try to create demand for existing stock (might even be able to get new Q lenses again...:wink. Contrast that with the current practice of Ricoh marketing people guessing what the market wants, hoping it will still want it in several years time, lengthy development, setting up a production line, producing a big batch then holding that stock for a long time until it's all been sold.

It's hard to believe that it won't be possible to hold a camera in the hand before buying. But it could become more like buying a new car - try the demonstrator, specify the details you want, wait for your new toy to arrive.

And like John, I've consulted my existing Pentax kit and it doesn't care at all about what is going on in the big, wide, world outside. All it wants is to be loved and cared for and in return promises to give many years of good and faithful service.

Steve

There's nothing in the Ricoh blurb about replacing retail by digital sales. It's about digital communications and 'workshop' manufacturing. People (here and elsewhere) have been complaining for years that Ricoh/Pentax doesn't engage with its customers and marketing is poor. Perhaps this is recognition that they really do need to sort that out and digital is the way to go.

Steve

Before cameras acquired computers, centre weighted was the best there was if you didn't want to mess around with spot. A lot of very, very good photos were taken with it and nobody complained that they wouldn't be able to get a decent exposure until matrix metering was invented!

Steve

It looks like you're a pioneer!

Steve

As you will know, matrix metering tries to get a reasonably good exposure taking the entire picture into account so whatever else is in the frame as well as faces will affect the exposure. The only way of being really sure of whether the lens is affecting exposure is to take exactly the same picture with a different lens. I've seen K3 + matrix metering exposure change significantly just by moving the camera slightly.

You could try centre-weighted metering and compensate for whether the face is lighter or darker than mid-grey, exposure should be pretty good if the face occupies a fair fraction of the centre. (Johnriley just beat me to it!)

Steve

The first time I got an 'Are you sure you want to do this, it could be a scam' warning was when I was making a transfer to LennyBloke for a lens. Did they know something I didn't? I took a chance...

To be fair to banks (well, somebody's got to try...), people do expect them (which means us) to foot the bill when the person concerned has their account emptied after giving their account details and password to a complete stranger who phones them and says the account is no longer secure; or when somebody transfers a large amount of money to a scam account; or (until they started matching account names) someone who's had too much to drink makes a late night money transfer to a typo.

Steve

Note to all fraudsters: Do it at a weekend. You'll be well away before anyone comes after you on Monday.

First time I've heard that actually paying tax can be fraudulent, I've always assumed that tax fraud involved not paying tax. I wonder whether "My bank said the tax demand was fraudulent" is a valid defence in court against a charge of not paying tax.

Steve