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

Bob White looks at the earliest days of press photography and describes the sort of gear the professional cameraman would have had in his hands in the first half of the 20th century.

This evening I faced a dilemma. One half of me wanted to go to the London Mac Users' Group to watch the Apple presentation in the company of like-minded anoraks. The other was sorely tempted by an invitation to celebrate The Queen's longest-reign-in-British-history record at a rather superior dinner in the gloriously faded surroundings of the National Liberal Club in Whitehall.

The classic camera half case is as popular as ever. Few people these days want the other bit that covers the front of the camera; that is definitely a dated accessory. But any Leica owner will have cast eyes over a half case or, as Leica like to call them, camera protectors.

Reader Treve Kneebone has had his new Leica Q for a couple of weeks and, despite being generally happy with the camera, has noticed a banding problem which has been highlighted by a some others, including Ming Thein. I have to say I didn’t notice anything amiss when I reviewed the camera and, in general, I find the image quality of the Q outstanding.