Camera repairs - London

Hi-can anyone recommend somewhere in London or the South East that would repair my P30? Thanks

Harrow Technical or Asahi Photo.

K.

Thanks for the advise on camera repair shop, I took it to Asahi and it is now repaired.... Now I want to purchase a new lens that will work on my P30 as well as any Pentax digital SLR I choose to buy in the future. I currently have a standard lens and a Tamron 70-300, I was thinking of getting a 28-80 and found one on E-bay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250864039109?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1... Do you have any advice? Any one else have any recommendations?

Thanks again

In my opinion better choice can be the 28-70/f4 or 28-105 rather than 28-80

That's a Pentax-F autofocus lens. It would work on your P30 but AF lenses (this range especially) aren't particularly nice to focus manually as the mechanism needs to be free for the AF motor to cope (as opposed to your 50mm which has a greased screw thread mechanism giving some resistance for smooth, steady movement).

My advice: Get an older MF 28mm prime to complete your kit rather than a 28-80mm. Look up either of the Pentax 28mm f3.5 variants or if you want a single lens then look for the Pentax-M or Pentax-A 35-70mm. The M version is slightly faster but will only work in manual mode on your camera (suits me fine, others will vary!) The A version has the contacts and aperture ring setting for program mode.

Bear in mind that older primes are easier to use on digital than zooms as you can just set the focal length for SR and leave it. The 28mm makes a very handy walkabout lens on digital - I used an old SMC Pentax 28mm f3.5 as a standard lens (smaller than the kit zoom) until I had the DA 35mm f2.4.

Fantastic! thanks for the advice - I've found this lens on e-bay though it seems a little expensive; what do you think the going rate should be?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PENTAX-28mm-f2-8-Prime-Wide-Angle-VGC-/120759800724?pt...

There are others at around the £50 mark but the above seems to be (from the photos) in better condition.

I guess when I buy a digital camera it'll come with a zoom lens anyway.
Thanks again
Hannah

That lens will be more sought after than the Pentax-M lenses as it has the Auto aperture setting, which means you can use all exposure modes on digital. I doubt they'll accept an offer much lower than the BIN price as a result. It would also work in Program mode on your P30.

The lack of AF on these lenses isn't much of a problem. I know I tend to leave mine set to infinity and f8, at which point anything at a sensible distance is in focus.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pentax-Takumar-SMC-f3-5-28mm-WIDE-ANGLE-/360389767030?... has been wrongly listed but the photo is the M series 28mm I was on about, it's seriously sharp. I'd be a bit wary of that particular example as it comes with a hard lens case, which seem prone to keeping damp in and allowing fungus to take hold in my experience.