Hey Gordon,
The lock is good quality indeed. But it is not like it used to be your know... You can feel and see that it is made in China. No offense some things from China may be good but the most of them are not. First the incomplete plating on the Abus Rock and now security pins that lack in tolerances if you ask me. The padlock is Aluminum after all and ball bearing or not you can probably break it easily either way. I am not saying they are bad but I do not think they are good either. I can get a nice brass Burg Wächter padlock that is still made here for the same price so why buy China stuff? I am just a bit disappointed you know...
Hey Fox,
I am using a Leica D-Lux5 and I am VERY happy with it! The camera did cost me around 500€ but the money is well invested. I wanted to have something mid size that I can take with me. No lens changing and stuff like that... I would love to have a Nikon but can not afford it yet. I was talking to a good friend of mine ones who is a professional photographer and was telling him about my idea to buy the D-Lux5. He checked the specs for me and I told him I want to photograph safes where there are bad light conditions and he just said "Go for it!" I even found a button for a makro film modus just now so the camera will probably be focusing faster in the future
I do my videos in the attic and there is a window above me so that the light does not come from several directions.
My friend does music photography you may take a look if you want:
http://www.christoph-seubert.de/I wrote the English text in the "About" section for him.