The USB spec says that 5m of cable should be possible. However, that would depend to a large extent on the quality of the cable.

If I get a mo' I'll try and set it up with a couple of meters (which should normally be more than enough).

Matt

Maybe you've got a USB 1 extension? The K10D is USB2 and uses a much higher data rate.
As an aside - we had a Dell LCD with built in hub that worked intermittently. We recently rewired the PC using a new, longer, USB cable and the thing has been fine since. It was the cable all along
Matt

I think Lynne Truss got there before you Her book "Eats, Shoots And Leaves" now has little stickers with "The Panda says NO!" so you can publicly identify mis-placed punctuation

You can even try the "Punctuation Game" on Lynne Truss' website (see my use of the apostrophe )

Best one I ever saw was "STANS STEEL'S" on a van. ROFL!

Pete - good news about the TIPA awards! About time too

Matt

Hi Steve,
Yes, generalised a bit

But it's still true that even if you know how to develop and print on film that digital is a completely different beast. Certainly, digital is more flexible - and that flexibility can create confusion, especially when it's coupled with lack of experience in that area.

Who can tell about the experience of those that submitted responses?

There's a place for film, and to be honest, I think the "film vs digital - which is better quality?" is not a good question. The premise should be "film is different to digital".

If you have quality issues with either - these can be addressed as long as the end user doesn't immediately jump to this wrong conclusion that one is "better quality" than the other

You should be able to get top notch quality from either film or digital - they are just different.

Matt

I find the trouble with these polls is this:

When people use film, they concentrate on the taking of the shot. The developing, the processing, and the printing is usually done by a lab (who generally know what they're doing).

When these same folk switch to digital, they suddenly take on the roll of taking, developing, processing and printing.

No wonder they get better results from film! It took me several years to completely get my head round developing and processing for digital - and get the experience. And so far, I do little printing (generally get it done by a lab) - so I've got more to learn still

For me, at least, I get vastly superior results from even 6mp compared to what I ever achieved on film.

Matt

I've used CopperMine gallery... that's not bad, but will require MySQL and PHP. Not too tricky to setup, but I haven't used it in ages.
http://coppermine-gallery.net/

If it's a static gallery, then the combination of SimpleViewer and Picassa with the SimpleViewer gallery addon is a doddle. (see my website for the gallery).

You can even use SimpleViewer with PHP if you want a dynamic gallery.
http://www.airtightinteractive.com/simpleviewer/

Matt

Don't worry. You decide, phone 'em up and say "Put XP on instead" and they say "Don't you want the latest and greatest?" - "NO". No problem You get a laptop with XP.
You'll notice that XP is available for business Dell sales, and they've been in the news for going back to XP.
Matt

I've used Dell laptops, and generally they're pretty good value for money. A couple of tips regarding their website:

* Their offers are renewed every Thursday. If you don't see what you want, then hang on.

* Try all combinations of deals at the time. I jot down the specs and the price. I've known a price differential of a few hundred quid

* Try both the Home and Small Business (but add VAT). There are different deals.

* Note that the deals in print (like in the newspapers) are not on the web - you key in the code and adjust from there. So there are LOADs of permutations... but it's worth checking them out.

The nice thing with Dell is that it generally just "works" and you can rebuild the OS from scratch (assuming you pay the few quid extra to get the driver and OS CDs).

However, I still rate Toshiba higher in terms of build quality. www.insight.com/uk are a good place to start. Again, Toshiba have numerous different "build" states of the same model - so pay attention to the small print in the spec and the price.
And sometimes places like PCWorld do get Tosh deals (but I wouldn't rely on their support, and would never pay extra for their "extended" warranties )

HTH!
Matt

AFAIK, there is a two way handshake between the controller and the slave. The camera has to see the remote's preflash, as well as the remote seeing the controller/master signal.

Generally, I find that you need to keep the distance down - especially if the ambient lighting is high (such as outside). Don't think I've used them more than 2 or 3m apart...

Matt

Ditto John's comments