I'm yet another person who really likes the first three, possibly because we don't see much sunlight in't north.

Superb autumn colours. The 200mm does look very good.

Sounds a good buy for £300 + £25 postage. You will probably
have to split it into at least 2 packages.

Sorry to hear about your problem I hope you quickly
adjust to the new way of life and have many happy years
doing new things that you will enjoy.

It's purely down to the quality of the grease they use. The grease has to break down first only then does the way the lens is designed come into the equation. It's a common problem with Olympus lenses as well.

Yes.. it's still available. I've replied to your PM.

Nice shots, we could soon have it running again!!!

I have recently bought a Pentax DA* 300mm f/4 ED lens and although
I would very much like to keep the F* as well, there really isn't
any point in having two 300mm lenses with very similar performance.

So this is a rare opportunity to buy a Pentax smc Pentax-F* f/4.5
300mm ED IF Telephoto Lens. They don't come up for sale often
especially in this condition. The lens is highly collectable.

Possibly the nicest 300mm f/4-f/4.5 telephoto lens Pentax ever made.
With all the mechanical engineering involved the lens body would
certainly be about the most expensive to produce with a complex
built in metal lens hood and detachable shoe. Hardly surprising
that the FA* that replaced it used a much cheaper construction
even though the optics remained the same. (Links to Bo's site below).

The lens can be used on digital and film cameras. It has screw drive
or manual focus no SDM so it works on most cameras.

The shoe is only really needed on a tripod. Pentax designed the lens
with it's centre of gravity close to the camera to improve hand holding.
(quote from manual) "The inner-focus (IF) mechanism used in this lens
improves the imbalance of weight caused by the lens extension".
See diagram:




All the photos I have uploaded to my Portfolio were taken with this lens.

=======================================================================
This is the specification for this "High-End... High Performance" lens...

General Description

Lens has an 'A' setting and aperture setting from f/4.5 to f/32 for use on
any K mount body Digital or Film.

This lens is optically identical to the FA* 300/4.5, but there are several
important "mechanical" differences:

* the F lens has a (removable) tripod mount - a truly useful feature
in a lens with such a focal length. Can be rotated through 90deg
and locked with thumbscrew.

* F lens features a built-in hood which is more convenient than the loose
hood of the FA lens. It also can't be lost.

* the focusing ring of the F lens feels more solid and provides a better
manual-focusing feel.
* To use the lens for manual-focus slide the focusing ring on the lens to the
manual-focus position and the AF/MF switch on the camera body to the "MF" position.

* The F* has a nice Gold coloured plaque/label.

Optical Formula: 9 elements in 7 groups
Aperture Range: f/4.5 -> f/32
Number of Aperture Blades: 8
Minimum Focusing Distance: 2.0 m
Special Features: extra-low dispersion element(s), internal focusing

Mechanics
Filter Diameter: 67 mm
Maximum Diameter: 84 mm
Length: 160 mm
Weight: 880 g
Special Features: tripod collar, AF/MF clutch

Lens Hood: Built-in unscrew and slide out.

Case Soft: SS10-22 WITH CARRYING STRAP
Case is full zip opening with shoulder strap much better than the velcro
fastener cases supplied with later lenses.

===========================================================================

The lens is in Perfect/Excellent condition and has been
very carefully looked after.

Very tiny marks on the lens exterior from careful use. See photo 3
for small hairline size scratch near bottom of lens.

Some unavoidable marks caused by attaching and removing the bracket.

The glass is immaculate... no fungus or scratches.
Any reflections that you can see in the photographs
are either a window or tees outside.

The Iris is quick snappy with no trace of any oil.

Manual and AF focus work correctly just as they did when the lens was new.

Boxed Complete with original Pentax front and rear caps, mint black zipper
case and unused shoulder strap. Can be seen at the back on some photos.

Initially because of the high value I am restricting the sale to the UK
and Ireland.

Price including RMSD to the UK and Ireland is £625 payable (preferably) by
Bank Transfer or cash paid into any branch of Barclays.
Paypal by Gift is possible, but the buyer will have to pay
any additional fees direct to Paypal.

The lens will be sent carefully wrapped immediately the funds have cleared.

Lens UK supplied from new by Park Cameras.

1):


2):


3):


4):


5):


6):


7):




============================================================
The full set of 18 photographs (800x600 pixels) can be
downloaded in a 3.83MB Zip file from:

DLLink

The last two photos show the lens rotated through 90deg
on the mount.
============================================================
The "F Pentax Lenses Manual" can be obtained from here:
Download the SMC F Pentax Lenses Manual:
http://www.pentax-manuals.com/manuals/accessories/accessmanuals.htm
Use the password Pentax to read it.

F* 300mm f/4.5 ED [IF] Specification
http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/lenses/primes/extreme-tele/F300f4.5.html
This lens is in much better condition than the one on Bo's page.


FA* 300mm f/4.5 ED [IF] Specification
http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/lenses/primes/extreme-tele/FA300f4.5.html

The small plastic Netgear router stand I've used to prop up
the lens on some shots isn't included.

I just close both eyes I suspect I may be doing
something wrong

Very unusual and very nice. No: 6 is superb, everything works.

Has anyone on here managed to get the latest dispCalGUI to work with the latest Argyll CMS under XPPro SP3?

I couldn't get dispCalGUI to recognise Huey so I've had to remove Argyll (messy to do, you have to look through the inf files to find which one covers it and then delete it or it will install the latest Argyll again). Then install an old version of Argyll from about 3 releases back.

This works and the latest version of dispCalGUI is quite nice, even has a setting for Phototographs, but the results I'm getting are very poor so I may have to go back to an old version of dispCalGUI.