I don't know if you have many lenses for your Pentax, but if you do, look at the Pentax istD or istDS. You can use your old lenses on the new body. The effective focal length will change, so if you have a 50mm lens it will become approx. 80mm, excellent for portraits.

Pentax bodies are normally lighter, smaller, and cheaper than the equivalent Canons or Nikons.

I agree with Ash about the new epson inks, they are probably as durable as standard chemical prints on resin paper.

BigRed

quote:

camera/card to the PC then download them to a USB memory stick then clearing the card for more shots. (any alternative advice on this cheap charlie approach would be most welcome)

Sure a 1GB card for £50 would suffice. I mean it should take close to 400 photos and how many of us used to take 10+ rolls of film when we had film cameras.

quote:

how many of us used to take 10+ rolls of film when we had film cameras

Me, but only for full days out.

I use an Archos Multimedia MP3 player and that has a 20GB hard drive and an adaptor to download my memory cards to the device. Can then plug it into the TV for a slideshow.

BigRed

antlers

quote:

any alternative advice on this cheap charlie approach would be most welcome

I have a 2 gbyte compact flash which cost approx 80.00 stg on max quality (Canon RAW files ) I can get 600 photos on large i.e. Jpeg 900 and on medium well the counter only goes to 999.

I normally take my laptop to use as a DVD player and I have a HP photo printer which I use for running off 6x4 prints for the family and for passport type photos etc.(before anyone comments yes the embassy accepted these as okay for a visa application)

Now the 512 Megabyte cards have dropped into the bargain bin price depending on format but can be had for 20 stg or less.

Steve wrote 'I mean it should take close to 400 photos and how many of us used to take 10+ rolls of film when we had film cameras.'

Absolutely not because the cost of processing and film was excessive. Digital removes this problem for example my kids visited a zoo and took 400+ photos in just under 1 hour.(thats why currently I just bought another terabyte of hard disks for my mac)
ash

[quote]Epsons new inks last 100 years plus and the quality is the same if not better than professional printers (whatever they are?)

across from our desisgn studio is photo refinnishing lab,5 kodak machines 5 agfa machines they also have machine capable of photos upto 20"x 24"thes rae professional printers. not the 20minute type either as found in high streets.

epson ink lasting 100 years you will never see that as proof will 'you',lab testing and false ageing do not work
nt staff print all kitchen, bedroom, designs on epson
photo ink jet paper to give the best quality views of proposed designs, after the project is fitter we often take
digital photos and print these as portfolio for future clints, one opening one couple weeks passed desinger found
that several prints had lost the colour just naturally faded
this also happens on photo paper its the ink used which causes the problem.

prenders an active member is profesionl within the field of media ask him.

sean

quote:

across from our desisgn studio is photo refinnishing lab,5 kodak machines 5 agfa machines they also have machine capable of photos upto 20"x 24"thes rae professional printers. not the 20minute type either as found in high streets.

quote:

we often take
digital photos and print these as portfolio for future clints, one opening one couple weeks passed desinger found
that several prints had lost the colour just naturally faded
this also happens on photo paper its the ink used which causes the problem.

prenders an active member is profesionl within the field of media ask him.

Thats why Epson have replaced the ink already. My printer prints A1 & A2 sizes as well. Only cost 3000 stg

ash
http://www.wilhelm-research.com/hp/hp_5550.html
http://www.epson.com/pdf/LightfastCPD_15334R2.pdf

Thank you bigred and ash.

It wasnt so much the amount of shots but the use of the video feature on the camera that would fill up the memory pretty quick, I know the quality wont be as good as a purpose built video camera but I can live with that.
Guess it comes down to the cheapest memory, card or usb stick.

damm new key board needed

sean

Richard
I flew to the UK on friday and I bought a pentax optio waterproof camera (on a whim in Zuerich airport). I have not really tested it very much but is very small and light and is waterproof to approx 1.4 meters.

I got this because I have a small boat and there is always water sloshing around in the boat. Its also useful in swimming pools.

It cost 558 swiss francs - plus a 1 gbyte sd card and looks cool. Its only 5 megapixel and only has a 3x zoom.

Just a thought
RGds
ash