My first camera in 1947 was a Box Brownie followed by a 1920s Kodak Autographic Folding Brownie which I used for 12 years using Ilford FP3 B&W film for much of the time. In 1959, my father purchased a Kodak Retinette IIB for £29.19s.6d which gave me access to 35 mm colour film for the first time. However, I wanted to do things that the Retinette was never designed to do, e.g. close-up photography and, along with many other amateurs of the day, in 1967 I purchased my first SLR, a Prakticamat which at £89.19s.6d (plus £4.19s.6d for the ER Case) was about 7x my weekly wage! I bought it on the never-never! The cheapest Pentax Spotmatic at the time was £159.9s.6d, and completely out of reach financially. The Prakticamat was very good for the time – it had TTL metering, a fairly good 50 mm f1.7 Pentacon Oreston lens, an arithmetic shutter from 1 sec to 1/1000th with one control knob (many cameras up to that time often had two shutter ranges, low and high, with different knobs and were sometimes non-arithmetic!) and a very stiff wind-on lever! However, it served me well. I kept with 42 mm screw mount lenses for 12 years, purchasing an excellent Yashica AX with an f1.7 multicoated lens before moving to Pentax in 1979 with an ME. I then progressed through two excellent MX’s, Super A, LX, MZ5N and *ist D to my current K10D. However, the Prakticamat was certainly the milestone camera which took me into the sphere of “proper” photography.

Will check it out. When my dad acquired the Retinette in 1959, it retailed at £29.19s.6d including a leather case - but this was about 2.5/3x the average weekly wage at the time - very expensive - equates to probably around £1,000 at today's prices! Also considered was the Voigtlander VitoB at about the same price. With the 10ASA film you needed a very bright day to get away from f2.8 @ 1/30th!

By the way, my first colour film was Ilfocolour, also 10 ASA but cheaper at around 30/- for 36 exp as opposed to 34/6 for Kodachrome. Looking back at the Ilford, they were quite grainy and they have also acquired an overall "blue" cast which I have tried to correct. Trouble is when you counteract for the overall blue cast, the sky goes green! The Agfa CT18 were about the same price as Kodak but in Switzerland where we holidayed in 1960, Agfa was around 21/- and Kodak over £2!

John

I tried that on a few but the original colour had all but gone and it wasn't possible to get a suitable image. Thanks for the suggestion.

John

Just look at the size of the TV aerial on the building - the old H type about 6 ft tall for Band 1 B&W. Historic stuff!!

I have some Kodachrome 10 ASA from 1961 and earlier which are all OK. I changed to Agfa CT18 for the higher speed (ASA50) but almost all of them have deteriorated badly and are now magenta and unusable. I also have plenty of Ektachrome from the late 60s onwards (when HS Ektachrome ASA160 came out) and they have survived OK. Ektachrome 64 from mid 70's was a favourite!
[IMG]http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr269/brownargus/kodachrome1961.jpg[/IMG]
Kodachrome 10 ASA, Kodak Retinette IIB with 45 mm lens

I have one of these and they are capable of excellent results and very reasonably priced. When fully extended, they protrude rather a long way and are best on a tripod in this mode. The macro setting is 1:2 but this relates to FF camera - with the cropping in an APS Pentax digital camera this equates to 1:1.3 and is adequate for many macro subjects. Can't comment on comparison with the Pentax 55-300 except the latter is a bit more expensive and I don't know what its macro capability is. However, I would probably favour the Pentax as I now have macro covered with a Sigma 180 mm macro - the Pentax wasn't available when I purchase the Sigma zoom!

Hope this helps

John

Ordered one Chrismas eve at 1500 hrs and it arrived 29th - excellent price and prompt service. Transforms the handling even though it increases the weight somewhat!

Thanks Mike and Jessops

John

I have the Pentax one and I use it most of the time on my K10D, particularly when doing macro. It does help with fine focus. There is no vignetting and one can see the LCD display at the bottom of the screen. An excellent accessory and not expensive.

I find that my K10D tends to underexpose more in dark situations but is easily rectified in PSP. It also varies to some extent with which lens is in use. I understand that the cameras are designed intentionally to underexpose slightly to minimise the burning out of highlights.

John

I use the Pentax original in the camera and carry cheapo batteries as backup, using them from time to time. Had no problems using them so far! My K10D is now out of warranty.

John