Kimbo - try this link:
http://www.micro-quiz.co.uk

http://ccgi.microquiz.force9.co.uk/newshop/products.php?id=6

Digital image to slides for £1.35
I've heard the quality is superb.

Matt

Yes, I've found filters to affect the image quality.

For example, had a cheap 49mm UV filter on the SMC-F 70-210mm, changed it for a Hoya Pro-1 (99.7% light transmission they say), and the contrast was muchly improved... didn't try comparing against the lense minus the filter sadly.

Apparently, Kenko do Pro-1 filters in the Far East and seem to have the same specs as the Hoya Pro-1 but at vastly reduced price (I'm given to understand that Kenko, Hoya and Tokina are the same group).

That's about all I know for now!
Matt

Arthur, I quite agree with you
In fact, I don't even use the sharpening from Capture One even! I let it output "soft" images which sharpen up beautifully with some techniques in Photoshop
Matt

Interesting... remains to be seen what the result will be.
Personally, I'd rather see more of the solid-build, high resolution, high quality pro-level DSLR (rather than prosumer). I'm wanting to push the *ist-D further (dynamic range and resolution) and am feeling the limits.
Matt

Some threads on the subject:
http://www.photoethnography.com/blog/archives/2005/03/keeping_cameras.html
http://homepage.mac.com/mattdenton/photo/cameras/repairtips.html
http://www.europa.com/~telscope/fungus.txt

Maybe there's something in that lot
Matt

Try phoning Pentax directly.
Here in the UK I have called the spares department, received excellent service, and obtained replacements (inside parts too!) at reasonable prices.
For tricky parts they can send you an exploded view, but in the case of a battery cover, I'm sure they'll be able to sort one out
Matt

For what it's worth, I made some "spanners" by hacksawing a couple of old washers and filing them to fit. Cut the washers so they become "C" shaped, rather than "O" shaped

That enabled me to take apart the MEF, ME Super etc without too much difficultly at all

There's always a way...
Matt

Also, if you enable red-eye reduction there's about a one second pause between the preflash and the main flash, and hopefully the slave will have recovered in that time.

Matt

Terri,

The date, and all other information about exposure etc, is embedded inside the JPG image. It is there for an editing package (like Adobe Photoshop Elements) to be able to read. Indeed, the free viewer Irfanview (www.irfanview.com) will display this information, known as EXIF data.

In fact, Windows XP Explorer will show you the information - just switch to "Detailed View" in the file explorer and you can see all kinds of information.

If you want the old-style date-printed-in-bottom-corner, there are packages that will superimpose it for you.

Exactly what did you have in mind?
Matt

LOL! Thanks George Glad you're getting to grips with it all

The only other problem is the exponential storage issue... I am wrestling with RAW, TIFF, and PSD files in the gigabytes per month!

Regarding exposure - you can claw back shadows, but only to a point. A full half of the values from the 12-bits of the RAW is in the first f-stop, a quarter of values in the next stop, and so on. By the time you get down to the shadows you don't have much to play with.
Ideally you should expose so the histogram just touches the right of the preview graph. That way you get the most information. However, this isn't always possible... but as you say, you can get an amazing amount of info from apparently blown highlights

Matt