London sorting offices are notorious for losing items...many people put this down to the high number of dubious temporary staff, many of whom are foreign students which are often used in the SE.

In the 1000's of items I bought & sold (many overseas) in the last 8 years, all 3 of the lost items went via london.

I won an item on ebay which was sent SD to me in the 1st week of Dec. It never arrived. It was sent from Kent to me in the West Mids. The tracking showed it arriving in Halifax (Yorks)it was then alledgedly returned to sender, without ever being delivered to me. The sender has not received it either...

German: either B+W or Heliopan. I recently picked up a brand new B+W current F-PRO circ polar 52mm for a mere £25. Just keep searching fleabay or general google searches. These two German made filters are the best and you do not need pay the earth either.

cheers Steve.

"are more like 25mm. Only Zeiss admit this I think"

Actually John, they do not. I assume you refer to the Contax/Zeiss 25mm f2.8 Distagon which Zeiss have made since the 1960's and now make for Nikon/Canon etc.

I will let you into a secret....this very old Zeiss design is actually a 26mm lens! The actual focal length is approx 25.8mm....so Zeiss have actually been a bit naughty calling it a 25mm lens.

cheers Steve.

Hi,

re "The 35-105mm 'A' lens was also supposed to be a Zeiss design?"

I have no idea where that assertion has come from, but I very seriously doubt it is true. Zeiss/Contax have never produced a 35-105mm lens. The closest in focal length was a Contax C/Y mount 35-135mm monster of a zoom lens that is nothing like the SMC-A 35-105mm. This was the Contax Vario-Sonnar T* 35-135mm f3.3-4.5 Zoom.

cheers Steve.

Hiya John,

This is re the Pentax SMC-K 28mm f2 & the Contax 28mm f2.

I just dug out one of my Contax books, which says: Contax RTS introduced at the 1974 Photokina and first shipped to market in early 1975. It also says that the Zeiss & Yashica agreement was signed in 1972. This information actually does not really tie in with the information that Pentax & Zeiss had a roughly 12 month tie-up before Zeiss joined up with Yashica. The book also goes on to say:

"A co-operative venture with Asahi Pentax seemed sensible because the two companies had been co-operating in the production of eyeglasses for several years, but the Japanese company had it's own concept of co-operation and no agreement was reached"

The book is; 'On the trail of the Contax vol 2' by Hans-Jurgen Kuc and is a highly regarded Contax/Zeiss reference. Zeiss were looking for a camera making partner in 1971 hence the tie up above. However, I have always thought there was a short tie-up with Zeiss & Pentax, but this book makes no mention of it and suggests there was no tie-up, if so, then how did the optically identical Contax 28mm f2 & the Pentax version come to be?

On another matter, if you compare the Pentax K mount with the Contax C/Y mount, you will find they are almost identical, indeed some body and lens caps are interchangeable between the two mounts. I am pretty certain that Zeiss & Pentax jointly developed the two mounts, although I have never found any black & white mention of this in any Zeiss or Contax book.

cheers Steve

HI,

Yes, this lens was a product of the Pentax/Zeiss relationship which lasted only about 12 months. They jointly developed the Contax C/Y & Pentax K mounts, which are almost identical. Then a brief spell of lens development. The Contax C/Y mount Distagon 28mm f2, sometimes called the 'hollywood' and the Pentax SMC-K 28mm f2 they are almost the same but not quite. The 15mm lens was also a joint venture.

cheers Steve.

""I hate nothing more than sugary photographs with tricks, poses and effects. So allow me to be honest and tell the truth about our age and its people."
August Sander (17 November 1876 – 20 April 1964) writing in 1929"

AMEN to that.

"Sorry, but IIRC 2nd hand items are still liable for import duty?

To the best of my knowledge all items with a value of over £18 imported via mail order from non-EU states are liable for VAT/duty/Parcelfarce's cut of the profits"

YES UK customs charges for ALL items imported including used/ 2nd hand items. The £18 level you mention is for any item, except IF the seller marks the item on the parcel as 'GIFT' in which case, the charges are for any item over approx £35 (not sure of the current exact figure).

It is worth remembering that the customs charges are on the figure written on the parcel by the sender/seller, plus the post charge showing on the parcel. So UK customs charges on the combined total of item value + post value.

I once won an item on fleabay from the USA, for some unknown reason the numpty seller wrote a far higher value on the parcel than I actually paid, so UK customs charged me on the high value written. I had to write to HMRC with proof of what I actually paid and they then refunded me.

If you buy mail order or via internet from outside the EU and import this, you will be charged approx 22% of the total value of the item (plus the post value).

So if you buy a £300 lens from say, the USA, and it costs £25 to ship it, add the two costs 300+25 = £325 and add 22% (71.50)

Total cost = £325 + £71.50 = £396.50.

This is just a ROUGH rule of thumb which is usually pretty accurate, having imported lots of items over 10 years.

Bear in mind that the 'handling' fees charged by the courier in the UK can vary hugely. The Royal Mail are possible the cheapest, but UPS are horribly expensive. So if the person you buy from wants to ship using UPS (or Fedex), watch out! If they ship using the USA postal service (USPS), then the Royal mail will deliver the item in the UK.

DO watch out for the subtle difference between UPS & USPS.

cheers Steve.M.

Can we ban old grumpies who put pointless whining posts on here about other peoples posts?