Why not 'go digital' with one of these ?

Unfortunately you may have to. A quality 10 stop ND filter will set you back about £100.00.

Welding glass, which is actually 12-14 stops, will cost less than a fiver, but the glass quality is not good and the image suffers as a result.

You can download a .PDF version of the manual for your camera here, which you can then put on your iPad.

I have never understood why people buy expensive and very capable cameras, and leave them in what I used to call AFE mode, Auto F'ing Everything.

All it tells me is that these people are only interested in snapping, and a much cheaper and pocket-able Point 'n Shoot camera would do just as well for them. Perhaps posing factor comes into it a little too.

I would find it very difficult to believe that anybody who has taken the trouble to learn, and understand, even the basics of photography, would use AFE mode on a camera that is capable of so much more.

You could try leaving the freezer door/lid open for a minute or two before staging the shot to allow frost to build up on the contents.

You might find TAv exposure mode interesting on some of the other Pentax bodies, I think the K20D was the first to have it. As its name suggests, you set the aperture and shutter speed, leaving the camera to choose the ISO for correct exposure.

I use it quite a lot.

FYI: If the drivers are not compatible with modern OS's, use Vuescan, it works with almost every scanner ever produced.

In my previous post, I forgot to suggest using a radio trigger, which is probably the best solution to your Pentax Camera/Nikon Flash problem.

Probably best to get it repaired if you are so dependent on it. $40 doesn't sound extortionate to me.

Use a manual lens (M42, K or M series) on the camera, or put a basic flash set to a very low power on the camera hot-shoe, otherwise you can't turn off the pre-flash.