Less of this camera nonsense then - what bike(s) have you got now?

FA* 24mm F2

I've never actually been to a camera fair - where do you get information on when and where they're being held?

I'd have thought a lot of the trade in 2nd hand equipment has moved to Ebay now. I buy the occasional bit of used kit from camera shops buy they tend to be somewhat overpriced and it's rare for them to have any interesting stock in.

When I lived in Hong Kong I used to buy a lot of stuff (not just Pentax but Bronica and Contax kit too) from a fabulous little shop which was great for reasonably unusual kit (SMC-M 35mm F2, SMC-M 40mm F2.8 etc.) at decent prices. If such a shop existed in Edinburgh I'd probably be bankrupt by now...

My concern with dust particles would be that they might cause some flare and loss of contrast.

[quote="George Lazarette"]The mags preference for digital is about convenience rather than quality. What they're saying is that digital is good enough - not that it's necessarily better.

In my own case my Z1p and an ancient Minolta ScanDual are capable of better results than my DS is, however as with the mags the DSLR is good enough and a lot more convenient.

I'd also agree - the stuff I've seen would be better regarded as a test of a scanner v a DSLR, not as film v digital.

Oddly enought it's B&W that I prefer film for - I still prefer the grain effects from devoping Tri-X or Delta 400 in Rodinal. I find digital B&W too clinical in comparison, unless a lot of post-processing is done.

I've seen a couple of these sorts of reviews, however recently I've been scanning my own slides (using an old Minolta film scanner) and comparing the results against shots taking using my DS. My findings have been that the film results are still better, although that doesn't necessarily mean sharper.

On the subject of backgrounds is there any mileage in taking along a portable background support system to make sure you've got a nice clean background to use?

Well you certainly sound fully tooled for the job and the limited group sizes so it should be an ideal starter, as controlling the larger groups was certain something I found a struggle.

Thanks - that was probably my best shot from the day. My mother and her husband look after children taken into care by social workers and that little boy was with them more or less full time for several years. They're still see him even though he's back with his family (he lives with his grandmother) and I know it's a picture they like. I'd expected to get shots like that using my AF 35mm gear but that one was actually a grab using the Bronica - I was using a metering prism and a handgrip though, which made the handling a lot faster.