Very nicely balanced set! Interesting compositions and good RGB.

Very nice set. My favourites are the first and last.

Superb photography! No. 6 + 8 are my immediate favourites. Thank you for sharing!

I really like the first two images, beautiful result!

It is interesting to see how preoccupied we are today with ultimate corner to corner sharpness in lenses, and how far we have moved away from concepts like "soft lenses". However, many photographers probably use digital effects in PP to achieve similar results to that of soft lenses (possibly without knowing much about "soft lenses").

My MX had a slight dent in the prism housing, probably from a similar impact to the hot shoe. I was able to disassemble the top plate and level the dent, so that it is much less visible. I guess one will never be able to completely remove a dent in the prism housing, but it is possible to improve a dent damage.

I have learned that Robin Gowing is still repairing Pentax equipment, but on a smaller scale than before, maybe you could send the MX to him?

I will be travelling to the USA later in the spring and have been thinking about what camera kit to bring. Last February I was in New York City, and brought only a Pentax KX film camera fitted with a Voigtlander Ultron 40/2, and an iPhone 8 plus. I shot Ilford HP5 and Kodak Ektar 100, and especially the black & white images turned out really well. In retrospect I should have brough more lenses along, at least a good wide angle. However the confinement of the one camera + one lens approach was interesting for me. I purchased my films at B&H and also managed to develop my films in NYC before returning home.

This time I will be travelling to Florida and Georgia to visit friends and relatives, but also have time to drive around and explore different areas. I was initially planning to bring my Pentax KX film kit for this travel also, but have started to realise that film photography might be a bit more of a hassle where I will be travelling, than when visiting a large city like NYC. Where can one purchase film? Where can one develop film? And then there is the scanning at airports etc etc. So I have decided against travelling with film this time.

Part of the attraction with a film camera like the Pentax KX is the small size, and I have therefore excluded my DSLRs as potential travel cameras. Then I started to look closer at the Pentax K-5 fitted with a compact prime lens - it really is very compact! Why not just bring my everyday kit: Pentax K-5 and some primes (15mm, 30/40mm and 100mm)

I will be travelling with my Pentax K-5 kit this time

The Pentax MX is one of the smallest SLR cameras ever made, and when comparing the MX and K-5, one can see that the K-5 is quite compact. Is there really a need for a future Pentax mirrorless camera (that some people hope for)? Here is a photo of a Pentax MX + 28mm vs Pentax K-5 + Voigtlander Ultron 40/2.

Beautiful camera! The MX and KX are my favourite Pentax film cameras.

I still use the K-5iis as my main DSLR, and also have the K-5 (first version) as a backup, and am perfectly happy with the output from the 6 year old camera. Sure, the K-1 (and KP) is probably a much better camera in many ways, but for the time being I see no reason to upgrade. The K-5iis is not the limiting factor in my photo hobby I guess Pentax will be releasing a new high end aps-c model sometime in the near future, to complement the HD DA* 11-18mm f2.8 zoom. So I am waiting with interest to see how this develops.

Maybe a new high end Pentax aps-c body could be a potential replacement for your K-5ii Gwyn?

I store my lenses in an open bookshelf in my study, so plentyful air circulation. The one exception is a large Pentax 67 400mm ED IF which is stored in its original aluminum case filled with lots of packets of silica gel. The previous owner had stored the lens in this way for more than ten years, and the lens is in superb condition. Consequently I assume this is a safe way to store the 67 400mm.

I have been scanning quite a bit of film the last few years. One project has been to scan my father’s Kodachrome collection from the 1960-70s. I managed to get hold of a Minolta Dimage Scan Elite 5400 when scanning these Kodachrome 35mm slides, and the results have been great. The first version of the MDSE 5400 even has ICE noise reduction that works well with Kodachrome (the only scanner where ICE works on Kodachrome apart from the Nikon Coolscan 9000).

I have been shooting medium format film with a Pentax 67ii since 2012, and have scanned these films on an Epson V750. There is a lot lot learn about how to achieve the very best films scans from the V750. One crucial thing is finding exactly the right elevation for the film holder above the glass platter for maximum focus. Another thing is that one has to scan at 6400ppi (then one engages the dual optics) to get maximum resolution from these scanners. I usually downsize the unnecessarily large files in photoshop with bicubic sharper to 3200ppi or 2400ppi. I have read many tests of these Epson scanners (V700, V750, V800, V850), and most people agree upon that they are able to achieve about 2300ppi maximum resolution. Many people feel that these Epson are great for larger formats like 4x5, so and so for 120 film and not especially suitable for 35mm.

Never being quite happy with the scans of my medium format films, I have started to check out DSLR scanning. And so far I am surprised at how easily one can get good scans with this method. I use my Pentax K-5iis and a Kiron 100mm 2.8 macro lens attachted to a Manfrotto xProb 055 tripod. The center column of the tripod is reversed, pointing downwards. The films is placed in a film holder on top of a small Kaiser light table, and the room has to be completely dark. I have wanted to do scans that better my Epson V750, and therefore I have taken 10 shots of one 6x7 slide and stitched these into one very large file. The results from this DSLR multi shot method is vastly superior to anything I could achieve with the Epson. If I should need more resolution, I can take even more shots of smaller parts of the slide and stitch these together.

A good copy stand would make my work flow a bit more efficient. I would also like to experiment with other macro lenses and number of shots needed for producing good scans. A lot of people use the Pentax K-1 and pixel shift for film scanning, hopefully one day I will be able to purchase the K-1/K-1ii (or the successor). The K-1 and pixel shift would make high resolution DSLR scanning easier than with an aps-c camera.

I know my comment is not a direct answer to our question, but I meant to present what I believe to be a good way to "scan" film, if you have a good camera and macro lens, and are proficient with working with stitching and photo software.