Finepics

How about this - you are obviously more than competent at photography so this is not as difficult as you might think. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...mMakeTrack=true

Easy with a $50 ebay light tent and daylight balanced lamps - no need for flash!

Woah - what a [censored]. Great photos - Neil are you looking here? Who needs a Minolta eh?

Dia 33.25mm - thickness at edge 3.5mm - thickness at centre 4.9mm

Nice - I love my S3. Usil have you tried out the Sigma 10-20mm lens yet?

Yeah I know the measurements - it's fukkin huge!!!

Hey Usil - did you forget to put a CF card in the camera!!!

Pics Pics Pics

Good luck with everything Chris, hope it all works out. Will definitely miss that avatar.

not sure they get much worse than this

Unreal - name and shame!! Hey Eddie if you need any help with the Giggolo activities I am happy to oblige (anyone checked the lady in Eddies photobox! - I might be out of line here!!).

Actually it's not me - but I did make some of them!!!

This jaw dropping enough for you Neil!!

If you look at the bridge plate under the balance wheel it will be stamped ETA - no stamp if it's asian. And it's not true that the asian 6497 is as well made as the ETA. I personally would not have an asian one as I have had a few through my hands that have had problems - not least of which has been the separation of some of the gears rendering the watch useless. I know that a couple of members here have had the same problems.

The Konica Minolta gets an excellent review here: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/konicaminolta7d/

China will have to start cracking down as it starts to become a global economy player. To attract the big names to their shopping malls intellectual property rights will have to be respected. Also the Swiss are well aware of what goes on and it will not be long before ETA stops the sale of movts to the asian markets. Hence the asian copy of the 6497. Some movts ahve already dried up - the 2893 is a good example. I would definitely say that this is the Golden age but who knows how long it will last - another year or two!!

Actually the honpo case has a double O ring in the case tube (this is what Panerai use on all their watches). Mine was missing the larger of the two O ring caseback seals but Ken sent me a replacement. So it should be almost as good as the gen!!!

The jewel is easily replaced and can be ordered form any good watch repair suppliers like O.Frei or Cousins. It needs to be pressed in with a jewel press so replacement will not be DIY - but any competent watchmaker (The Zigmeister) can do this.

I have the S3 and agree with everything Usil says. The real benefit of the Fuji CCD is the RAW file size which is the biggest of any camera at full resolution of 25mb. This will convert to a massive 100mb+ .tiff file so has tons of detail and can go poster size without interpolation software easily. Only thing that lets it down compared to the D70 and 200 Nikons is the slower focussing module (but unless you shoot a lot of sports etc this is not a big deal) and the lack of iTTL (this is Nikons newest flash system and is a mile better than Canon). The other nice feature is the vertical shutter release (although it wont wake the camera).

No problem

This will not work so do not even try it. The datewheel is sunk below the dial because the asian 7750-7753 transfer gears sit over the datewheel directly under the dial which is why the datewheel is sunk down. You would definitely foul the movt if you attempt to stick something over it

Oh [censored] - I voted and now you tell me she's about to be married!! Does she want a long distance affair?

I would just like to pay a small tribute to my friend and colleague who was killed this day a year ago on the Russell Street tube bombing. This was a big shock for Londoners, despite being very used to terrorist activity over the years, this reached out more than most things. I never expected on that dreadful morning that my colleague, Michaela Otto, would be sitting right next to bomber Germaine Lindsay on that Picadilly line train when he blew himself up and that I would never see her again. Rest in peace Michaela - you are not forgotten.

Not a bad idea actually - will do that very soon as it is my bed time!!

Wow - it arrived today and is beautiful. It has a really loud but quality sounding tick - do you know what I mean? For anyone trying to get one of this type of movt here is some useful advice - do not get the 592 type as it is 17.6 ligne which is too big by about 4mm. The 616 is perfect and the Molnija is almost a straight copy of it so parts are interchangeable apparently. I cannot wait to fit it in my 6152 project - will post more as and when.