Hi Don, this does not really work for me, but I find it interesting none the less.
Are the background images of the same girl? I find myself wanting to know if her eyes are green, Maybe if the skin tones were closer to the top left area, which shows her mouth, it might work better.
I guess what I am trying to say, is that a more direct link between foreground and background and also less colour clash would work better for me personally.

Are the bugs biting in Winnipeg yet? I travel there frequently. (51 times and counting).

Steve

I am not proficient enough to criticise technique, all I can say is that I like the images, especially 1-4 - Steve

Similarly I have no one standard resolution.
Main PC is widescreen 1440 X 900
A PC at 1280 X 1024
A PC and Laptop at 1028 X 768

True, there are many wierd and strange things that are filed, for a patent to be granted it has to have a commercial application and the applicant has to make efforts to develop that application or lose the patent. I accept that interpretation of above is not always consistent.

I have had involvement both the writing and analysis of patents and a well written patent can provide a huge competitive advantage for a company. SMC for example allowed Pentax to make smaller 'fast' lenses than its rivals. It could be argued that this was a necessary precursor to the launch of the 'M' series of cameras and all the success that went with them. Obviously other manufacturers have since developed there own multi coatings, maybe some have licensed the technology, but if the Pentax process is cheaper and better then the commercial advantage remains as long has the patent protection remains.
Intellectual property is something that companies will always value very highly and I am sure it was part of Hoya's due diligence.

If you are interested check out the US patents office at http://www.uspto.gov/index.html. It like an old library, you can lose yourself there.
In 2006
Pentax filed for 143 patents, Nikon 142, Canon 2366.
Interestingly Minolta Camera are listed as filing 169.

Steve

Good colour range on my screen - well done

I have found connecting USB devices to Vista PCs particularly troublesome. You can try and force an XP driver and sometimes this works, but not always. I have 3 machines running Vista. Recently I tried to install a digicam via USB, it installed on one machine, but not the other two. I came to the conclusion that the problem must be related to the USB ports on the motherboards, so I purchased a PCI USB card and put it into one of the machines that would not install the digicam, lo and behold it installed perfectly. Wishing to test my theory I then installed the card in my other PC and sure enough the digicam installed. Since then I have managed to install other devices including an old scanner and webcam that would previously not install via a motherboard USB port. The card(s) (I bought one for each machine were dirt cheap on Ebay around £5 including postage).
Hope this helps

My suggestion would be to contact Pentax customer service, giving details of the missing part. They will most likely send a schematic drawing of the camera, from which you should be able to identify the part number.
You then have a choice of sourcing from a camera specialist or direct from Pentax.

Alternatively you may find that the part is common with other MZ series cameras and it may be cheaper to buy a non working camera on Ebay for spares

Update to my earlier post

Ebay auction listed to end 22:15 BST tonight
Pentax PK Fit 2x 1:1 MACRO Converter Opt Perfect

Current price less than £8

Steve

If you can find one, I recommend a Vivitar 2 X Macro Focussing convertor.
I have used one sucessfully with 50mm and 70-210 zooms.
I saw one on Ebay last week, not sure what it sold for.

Steve