I don't doubt it to be honest, there's tremendous variation in quality in all marques, and the lens is the single most important factor. I'm lucky, in that the compact I have does have some great glass in front of the sensor.

I'm very happy with it. Apart from one thing. It doesn't have 'Pentax' on the front!

True, but the lenses are made to Leica standards, enough that Leica are a) happy to put their name to them, and b) rebadge and sell some of the same cameras as Leica cameras.

Played with one of the new Lumix Bridge/interchangable lens jobbies at work recently, and the macro is stunning. But... It's not a compact, so I'd keep my FX (Or similar) and my K10 thankyouverymuch!

Panasonic Lumix FX7, bought it many years ago, and it's still doing my wife and I proud. The Leica lenses on the Lumix compacts really makes a difference.

I think that's the point he's making, a lot of people insist that you need to format the card in camera to ensure compatibility. If that was the case, then you should have to format the card for compatibility with any device.

I've only encountered problems like that with an old camera, and that's because it used a proprietary format, and that wouldn't even read in card readers as a result.

Get yourself one of the old Pentax straps with the little pockets at the end for the eye piece cover. The Pentax remote fits in those lovely. I still use the basttery grip to hold mine tho'!

Same, and enjoying my Metz 48 immensely. Once you get used to the menu system, it's pretty straight forward, and, IMHO, best price/features flash out there.

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/5024297.Police_used_terror_legislation_to_stop_...

They used Section 43 for this one

This is just one of the many varients on a theme that has been doing the rounds for the last year or so.

In the 'industry' we refer to them as 'Scareware' infections, as they are trying to scare you into buying a product you don't need to fix problems you don't have, and to get back control of your computer from their own programme.

The problem is, that they are incredibly profitable for the scammers, netting the organisations at the head of the pyramid tens of thousands of dollars a month. Essentially, rather then rying key-logging, etc, they scare you into paying from the privilige of giving them your credit/debit card details.

As such, there are new varients coming out almsot weekly, and each variant has to be recognised by any security software you run, and as they can only defend once they've identified the infection, you're always at potential risk.

Facebook seems to be one of the primary infection routes via fake or infected invites and apps. Other websites may be directly infected, or carrying the infection via a banner ad unwittingly.

Windows 7 seems more resilient, but Vista and XP machines are both very vulnerable to these infections.

Removal is possible, but the infections know about most of the removal tools. Malwarebytes is one of the most effective programmes used in the removal. A PC mag ran an article on these infections last year, and the guy writing it said at one point 'After 4 hours trying to remove it, if I wasn't doing this for the article, I'd have just wiped and reinstalled the system by now..."

If you are able to get into your accounts, in my experience, the infection isn't a virus,. and as such, doesn't infect other files, so backing up personal data is possible. Sometimes, the infection can be temporarily aborted via the Task Manager, and then launch a new task for 'explorer.exe' if your desktop hasn't loaded.

That is my concern. As I've stated in other threads, I've never been stopped, however, I have armed myself with print outs from the Home Office Guidance and Met Police website in case I am.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2010/feb/21/police-arrest-photographer

This has come to my attention. Another one for the list?