For the price, it's okay. There are other scanner manufacturers available. Use the search facility on this site - there was a topic about this a couple of months back, but I can't remember the names of the more prominent brands.

Bernard - I know what you mean!.. If you go to Yahoo Answers (photography section) you will run through the whole gamut of emotions at a lot of the posts there. The questioners will have you laughing and crying in equal measure.

Typical of what to expect is:

Q.1 - "I want to be a freelance photographer, but I've only ever owned 2 compacts. What is a big camera that I need?"

Q.2 - "how do I make orange squiggly lines on my photos?"

There are of course, some decent questions, but on the whole, it seems to be full of teenies that think Blackberry and i-phone are DSLR manufacturers!!

I had a Pentax digital compact that needed a clean a couple of years back. I have a couple of friends that work at their Langley (Slough) office, and asked them to see what they could do. The best price they came back with was £80, which was obviously "uneconomical", so I got a quote for a replacement model. I accepted their offer of an Optio A40 at £125. At that time, they were retailing at £225, so I got a bargain.

Try getting Pentax/Johnson's Photopia to see what they can do. Worst-case scenario is they offer you a similar discount against an upgrade, and they cannibalise your existing camera for parts.

Welcome, Neil! I'm sure you'll get lots of tips and tutorials here. One of the members here (Cabstar) does a lot of concert photography professionally. If you look at the official Facebook of Simple Minds for example, a lot of his photos are there! He's even uploaded some photos of Florence & The Machine, etc here! If you use this site's search facility, you'll come across them.

Pete - I'm guessing that the other cameras that can read the cards are different models/makes? Rather than format the card via the computer, browse to the card via the control panel, then individually erase (not format) every file, including the root directory. Your card is theoretically blank when you do this, so when you insert the card into the *ist DL2, it should (hopefully) create a brand-new root directory for that card. Also follow JAK's advice by updating your firmware.

As a "worst-case scenario", download a program called ZERO ASSUMPTION FILE RECOVERY. Run this program with your card, as it may simply be a hidden corrupt file on the card that's causing this error. I'd also gently blow some air through the card insert slot, as it might even be a stray bit of fluff in there!

There's a pseudo-IR filter built into the Kr. Set it up in Filter mode. It may even give you the kind of results you want without the added expense of buying a dedicated filter.

I'd imagine both are good for capturing video, and I think an in-camera format of either card allows it to write and read identically, Algi. Being a tight-fisted jock, I'd buy the £23 card!

They have a wholesaler in UK, but I bought my 8Gb 433x sd card from King Of Flash (Manchester) via Amazon. I'm gonna ask our Hong Kong office if they can track down Pretec products there, then maybe ship some cards over in the company mail.

Algi - They most certainly are real! I first became aware of them when our company had to help shift some computer stuff over to the CeBIT in Hannover earlier this year. The 2 and 4Gb cards are probably lower spec (class4/class 6/class 10). I already have one of their 8Gb 433x's, and my Kr can handle it no problem!

Very good, Shaun!

There's a program available on the Tripadvisor website that allows you to create short movies (probable about 2 mins max.) about places around the world. For example, you might have a few pics taken in and around London, and they get uploaded to their server, so that others can view them. After 10 people have viewed them, you get to download them to your own personal blog or website. If this sounds like it may be of interest, go to:

http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/