The prototype on the K Mount Site is described as using "Honeywell Visitronic technology". I presume this was some sort of collaboration between Pentax and their US distributor, although I'm not sure who made the optics.

Given the focal range of the lens I would wonder whether this had any impact on the two M series 35-70mm lenses. I seriously suspect that the M 35-70mm f2.8-3.5 was originally going to be a K series lens but took too long to develop - there's a K 35-70mm f2.8 listed in the prototypes section of the Dimitrov site which looks identical to the M series lens which reached production, and which the production AF lens was evidently based on.

Might just be me then - I find I get variable results hand-held (sometimes great, sometimes hopeless) but they always seem good with a tripod. It's all to do with holding everything steady while panning between shots.

The other advantage of doing it this way is that you don't have as much distortion as you get from an ultra wide angle lens, even when shooting subjects which would show it up.

I think the two I mentioned had the AF kit inside the lens, rather than communicating with the body. The prototype is shown on a K2DMD, which didn't have any way of communicating with the lens. It can't have been terribly reliable that way and the lens looks ridiculously heavy and bulky.

Considering that the ME-F is apparently very slow to AF by modern standards (and was presumably much better than these early contraptions) I'm not entirely surprised they didn't catch on!

I plan to overhaul my ME F this year and give it a try (needs new light seals, new baseplate and new focusing screen but is otherwise tidy and working). I don't have the matching lens but the focus confirmation lights will work with any lens, so I can see how good it is at deciding focus compared to my eyeball and the split screen.

I have a couple of Auto Takumar 55mm lenses, one a standard chrome and black f2 which was missing the trip pin to lock it open and stop it down for shooting, the other a black f2.2 version which is in perfect working order.

Only snag is trying to find a black S1 to go with the latter - the S1 is rare as it is, black ones seem even harder to find. I do have an SV but the shutter has the capping problem, pity as otherwise it's a nice example. I might get it serviced one day, for now the Takumars all go on the Spotmatic.

Exactly. I've been printing most of my better efforts to frame and hang, as I'd rather have pictures which have some relation to the area and mean something to me (most of them were taken within a 50 mile radius of the house). The whole idea of buying something to hang on the wall from Ikea leaves me cold. As for Jack Vettriano...

Anyone else using this excellent bit of free software? Can be downloaded here for Linux/Mac/Windows

Effectively this allows you to carry fewer lenses. Your 35mm prime can now produce huge sweeping landscapes when you take multiple shots and stitch them together at home, although it works best if you have a tripod to make sure the camera doesn't move other than panning between exposures.

Done a bit of that...there's a photo somewhere of me getting my Discovery onto three wheels while scrambling up an ice-covered rock!

Or downloading the Hugin panorama creator software (free/open source). Works astonishingly well given decent source images.

I think I gave up on that one after someone yelled at me for daring to suggest that with good quality digital cameras widely available, people should make their own art rather than buying the same mass-produced prints as everyone else. With digital if your first attempt is dire you can always go back and try again, read a few guides, and eventually get something worth hanging on the wall.

You'd have thought that opinion would go down well on a site used by amateur photographers...

Also had one of their mods move a post, then another one start quoting forum rules at me after moving it back. I wasn't the one who put it in the wrong section.

I saw something very similar with "Sears" branding a while ago, it was listed in the USA and postage was a bit ridiculous. Both rather resemble this prototype AF zoom from 1976.

My brother just bought a Subaru Legacy B4. 280bhp, AWD, and looks like a fairly harmless saloon.

Still want a full width intercooler, custom-built side exit straight through exhaust and the 2.8 engine conversion for my Discovery. It'd produce a 15 year old Land Rover which goes like a scalded cat, has enough torque to drag a beached supertanker and sounds like a diesel locomotive with no silencers.