The Takumar 28mm f3.5 does appeal, although my original intention was to end up with a Spotmatic along with the period lens triplet (35/55/135mm) which I now have (along with an SV). I should probably just hang onto my money and keep my eyes open for a cheap 50mm f1.4 for the Spotmatic as the 55mm was really the correct lens for the SV.

Of course, if you want the true K equivalents of the Takumars then you want the original SMC Pentax ("K series"). I have the 28mm/3.5, 55mm/1.8 and 120mm/2.8 from this range and wouldn't part with any of them.

To be fair, the Spotmatic's metering circuit isn't exactly sophisticated. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the official Pentax service manual said that the tolerance was half a stop either way, so it's probably safest to regard it as a guide rather than a firm instruction! Bear in mind that these cameras were made in the days when only a serious photographer would have owned an SLR, said individuals would most likely have had a handheld light meter and their own experience to draw on in picking the correct settings. I'll bet that if you went back to the clubs and trade organisations then you'd have heard people moaning about how these new TTL meters were making it too easy and how handheld/MK1 eyeball metering was better!

Mine seemed to struggle with backlit shots and tends to produce slightly underexposed negatives, but this is easily sorted in processing (either by the GIMP after scanning or by extending the exposure/developer times in a wet darkroom). I'll definitely be looking for cheap M42 fit lenses now that I have a body capable of using them well. Just hoping the SV I've now got a film in is as good - I couldn't see any signs of shutter capping at 1/500 but the 1/1000 setting is too fast to see.

I find 28mm makes a good walkabout lens on digital, add the crop factor in and it's pretty close to 43mm on film. Pentax spent a good deal of money on developing a 43mm lens which people rave about, not least for the field of view...

I used my M 28/3.5 extensively on digital. You do need to use stop down metering but I found it worked pretty well if set to f8 most of the time, just meter and shoot. It's also more or less focus free with larger subjects, as by the time you have all of the item in the frame it's in focus at infinity.

The 40mm pancake is a nice lens. It is quite slow but I've never had any trouble with this outdoors in daylight with 200 or 400 ISO film. I would be amazed if you can't find an M 50mm f1.7 for less though, the pancake despite not being especially rare seems to go for mad sums. I paid £70 for mine which seems to be the lower end of the going rate, the main appeal is the size and the slightly wider field of view than a 50mm which gives you different images to all the standard lens users.

You could also consider the M 75-150mm f4 as an alternative to the 135mm, it's a very spiffy lens with a bit more flexibility than the prime, not much bigger or much slower.

Trying to improve my repair on the Auto Takumar 55mm f2. It keeps stopping itself down while focusing as the replacement trip pin I made didn't have a thick enough head, so I've removed it and put a blob of epoxy putty on which will be trimmed/filed to the correct shape when hardened.

The test shots with it came out ok, so it's worth the effort to restore as these don't appear to be hugely common lenses.

I've taken mine up mountains before, or as close as it's legal to get anyway!

Look for the M 28mm f3.5 rather than the f2.8, it's in a different league.

I paid £50 for a mint 135mm and about the same for a near mint 28mm/3.5 a year or so ago.

I have those two along with a black ME Super, 40mm f2.8, and AF160 flash which fit neatly into a compact waterproof box along with three or four rolls of film. A wonderfully stylish compact outfit!

From what I've read the Samyang 500mm is a good mirror lens, but with the inevitable compromises of a mirror lens such as the doughnut bokeh. I would guess that you have the f8 version for that price rather than the f6.3, so the viewfinder might be a bit dark.

JPG, unless it's a one-off event in which case I shoot RAW. For day to day stuff JPGs are perfectly acceptable and much easier to deal with (I tend to shoot and upload rather than fiddling about), but for something like an airshow or motorsport event RAW gives me the chance to recover well composed but poorly exposed images.

Weirdly I've spent more time in the GIMP recently working with scanned negatives from my Spotmatic than I have with native digital images. A few were slightly pale, so I cranked the brightness down to -60 and turned the contrast up to 50 giving them a very crisp, sharp look.

I've just fished my ES II out of the wardrobe and you know what? It isn't that bad...

There's a bit of scuffing and paint loss and the self timer problem which I've no idea how to sort out (the bolt sheared when I tried to unscrew it so I have a snapped bolt stuck in the hole), as well as the missing battery door (bodged with plastic sheet, copper tape, and gaffa tape to get it working).

I might well try taking the top plate off and sorting things like the bent rewind crank/scruffy film speed dial/rusty screws and the fact that the wind on lever doesn't seem to spring back (you have to push it back in a similar manner to the later K series bodies, the Spotmatic doesn't do this so I suspect something is jamming).

It winds on and fires at all speeds, and the metering sort of works albeit a little uncertainly so it's probably worth a go at a full restoration...