What's your latest acquisition?

Just collected an FA50/1.4 Classic, so apologies if that immediately invokes Sod's Law and brings a load of miserable weather given a major reason to choose this particular lens is the interesting things it does with rainbow flares!

As in the new one that's marketed as "classic" because it has lots of flare wide open and old coatings? Or the bog standard FA that's been around for thirty years?

The new one, which looks like it has even more flare wide open than the old original. Sadly though, as predicted the weather today has not exactly been compliant to give the flares a chance!

Forgive me friends for I have sinned....

A long long time ago, when I was a poor impoverished student, the Kodak retina Reflex S my Dad had given to me became u/s I wanted to buy my own SLR. It was a choice of the Canon T70 and Pentax P50, neither of which I could afford or the two Dixons specials - Chinon CP7m and a Miranda. I could afford the Chinon and as my Dad had a CE-4 I could use his K-mount lenses... So when the chance to buy a Z-10 came a few years later (in 1992), my Pentax story started.

Two itches remained unscratched....until recently.... Got the P50 (and an ME winder from here) and have enjoyed using it but I always liked the chunky look of the T70, so I bought a mint one with an FD50/1.8 for €49 at the weekend...bargain when you see that a roll of FP4 was €12.50...... I will use the T70 and P50 interchangeably or together. Sadly, the Chinon was stolen a few years back, I liked it but it was very prone to underexposure (and the odd blank frame).

Would be interesting to see how it compares with 'the' FA50/1.4, but somehow when I pick up a 50 it is usually the F50/1,7.... (and both get far more use than the AF-S Nikkor 50/1.4G)...

Haven't posted for a while, I haven't done any photography as I haven't been mobile for a month now, managed to break my ankle!

As I can't do any photography, my latest acquisition has been a few more JD bottles.

Do you drink it or rub it on?

Both

I think I may have been the first on this forum, and if not I was certainly one of the first, to buy a Pentax digital camera. At the time I was sure I would never buy another film in my life.

Fast forward 20 years, and I have recently acquired five film cameras and am loving the experience (though not the cost) of putting film through them.

Five??? Yes. One is a K2, in very good condition. It replaces the one that was stolen from me in 1975! Next come two SVs. First I bought a dodgy one for almost no money, fell in love with it, so then bought one that works. The SV is a really lovely camera. It's basically an SP2 without meter or hot-shoe, and is therefore slightly smaller than a Spotty (and nicer looking in MHO).

Next came two non-working ME Fs, without the AF lens. The ME F is a superb camera; much nicer and more capable than the ME Super (because it has focus confirmation - useful for old codgers). Sadly, they suffer from a Fatal Flaw. The battery compartment and cover are the very worst things Pentax ever made, and are not easy to repair.

So at the moment I am using the K2 with a 50mm 1:1.2 lens, and the SV with a traditional 55mm 1:1.8. And I am waiting to get back the film I shot on the Super A with 40mm.

I love my digital cameras, but these new ones are something else. The Super A is in danger of being knocked off its pedestal as my favourite camera of all time. Both the K2 (so purposeful and strong) and the SV (so beautiful) are now in contention for the top slot.

I like to think that I won't buy any more cameras, but a good LX going cheap might yet persuade me to open my wallet. Sadly, it would probably cost three times what I paid for the other five.

Unlike most here I started the other way - I bought a DSLR first and then a couple of years later branched out to film and started buying film cameras. I used film compacts when I was younger but just for taking snapshots, I wasn't remotely interested in photography as such. There's nothing quite like using a fine mechanical camera and lens and for many people, myself included, the first experience leads to buying and trying a multitude of others, each of which has a different feel.

If you like the K2 you should try the K2DMD...

I own three K2s but none of them is fully working due to their tendency to get gummed up inside and require a very deep CLA to fix.

What film did you decide to use George?

I recently bought a Tamrom 70-300 f4-5.6 Macro very cheaply too, it's also lightweight and fairly compact

The cheapest I could find! Kodak Gold. But if this unlikely love affair continues I will try others, including B&W.

Tempting. But they go for quite a lot of money. My new K2 came with a pristine SMC K 50 1:1.4 which I reckon was worth £75.00 on its own. As the total package was £100.00, that prices the K2 at £25.00. Quite a bargain for a little-used and well cared-for camera.

Just received this Kenko 1.4X tele convertor from fellow PentaxUser "prsjnb - Jon" I look forward to trying it out sometime soon, so thanks Jon and the zippy pac-man case is great