This is great advice - backup your drive now because it will fail soon.

Most external HDs come formatted in FAT32 because it's guaranteed to work with virtually any PC but since Windows XP NTFS is the best option (if you don't have a Mac ). If you need any extra formatting help I can post aWin XP guide tomorrow.

I always use Seagate drives if possible. Western Digital and Samsung are also good. Maxtor are considered a step down in quality and reliability. Rather than an external HD have you considered a network attached storage system? Netgear's ReadyNAS range are great. You'll need a larger budget and also a router if you haven't one already. Advantages are that you can set it up in a RAID configuration to protect all data if one drive fails and you can choose a unit which takes 2 to 6 drives. Netgear has a proprietary RAID setup which is very easy to manage. I think you'd be looking at around £300 for a 2 drive unit and £500 for a 4 drive unit.

Hi Mike

I received 7 test prints from Proam Imaging last week, 12x8 size. I was really pleased with the quality for colour and b&w. Service was great, I called them to set up an FTP account which was done within a couple of minutes.

A Fuji ICC profile has to be applied to each image - one of my test images showed some posterisation afterwards. The guys at Proam offered to work with me to get the images correct if necessary. Luckily the issue was my monitor profile not fully covering the Fuji profile - the prints were fine.

The prints arrived really well packaged - corrugated cardboard outer envelope with tough card inner envelope and stiffened using a piece of corrugated plastic board.

Hi Steve

In my experience any inkjet printer will suffer from blocked nozzles if left a while. They all have print head cleaning routines in the bundled software - of course that uses even more ink.

HPs designs used to build the printhead and ink cartridge into a single unit - maybe they still do - you should check if you're thinking of buying one. Replacing the print head so often helped print quality but the cartridges were wickedly expensive.

Canon's BJ W2200 is supposed to be a super pice of kit producing contract proof standard prints to A3+ size. But it's not cheap.

I think HP, Epson and Canon are all capable of producing good results providing you set them up right and calibrate correctly. Whichever you choose, check for updated drivers online as they can significantly improve print quality.

You might want to work out which is cheaper per print and (especially if you've got a smallish office/studio) which is quietest and takes the least desk space.

SRS had the Pentax version for sale last week.

Thank you John - at least I'm doing something right

@Bodyheat. I bought an end of line Crumpler Daily x-Large last year. It's the right size for carrying 1 slr body with lens attached, plus 2 other lenses or 1 lens and filters, chargers, etc. It also has space for a 15" laptop and notebooks, leads etc. I bought this model to fit my MacBook Pro, otherwise I'd have probably bought it one size smaller. It's official dimensions match the maximum for air travel hand luggage but it does tend to balloon a little when I have a lot of kit in the flap/cover pocket - never had a problem getting on a plane with it though.

It is a shoulder strap design, OK with camera and lenses but not really comfortable if you're lugging a laptop around all day too.

It's not perfect - it's top flap design is not 100% waterproof (OK for light showers though) and sometimes there is a small gap between the closing flap and the top of the body. I think that might prove tempting for pickpockets... Also the strap had some stupid "quick release/adjustment" system which kept springing open - I rethreaded the strap and forgot about it.

Don't know if anywhere still has these bags to clear but they should have an equivalent model.

Does anyone use Photoshop's Calculations function to convert to B&W? I've used this method for a few years and had good results (to my eyes at least).

Opinions anyone?

Nice one. And that's a good point about learning by using manual lenses.

Thanks for the reply and even more info, especially as you've done yourself out of a sale. I understand what you're saying r.e. lack of aperture ring, you're right - they won't be any good with either lens...

R.e. my kit - yes, nice to learn on - too nice really. I'd not intended upgrading from the kit lens until I had more experience but recent price rises spurred me to make the lens purchases a year or so early.

Thanks again.

Thanks for the explanation Chris. I'm showing my beginner status here...

While I was originally thinking I could increase the focal length of my lenses, being able to focus closer may also be useful. I read through the info from the link you provided and it seems there are a few question marks over their compatibility with lenses.

Do you have any experience of using these on a DA*16-50 or 50-135?