Mike remembers his first proper camera — after a series of hand-me-down Box Brownies and Kodak folders — and how much it cost him....

Which way up does your iPhone land when you drop it? Is it like a piece of toast, always on the buttered side (that is, the glass side)? I don’t believe in semi-intelligent selection of this nature. In theory, the phone can fall on either side, even though it does always seem to fall on its face.

Got a spare £20,000 hanging around and want something unique? American photographer Ralf Nelson is offering to exchange his two sequentially-numbered M4s for a batch of current digital equipment with a rather modest price tag of £18,400. The full deal is listed in Leica Rumors today and it is well worth a read.

There are few things I look forward to with less enthusiasm than putting a protective film on the screen of a camera or smartphone. Bubbles, dust, alightment—everything conspires to thwart your best intentions. And, once bubbled or misaligned there is not much you can do other than buy yet another protective film or learn to live with imperfection.