I should probably have read the original "V" comics, I have seen the film though. The sad part is that Moore's writing was inspired by Thatcherite government, when the film came out in the NuLabour era the building blocks for a police state had all been quietly put into place...

My nearest is probably Melgray in Hereford, although they seldom have any used Pentax gear in at sane prices. I realise they need to make a living but they're just asking silly money for fairly commonplace items, and the stock never seems to change.

I do buy from them when they have something I like the look of - my S-M-C Takumar 135mm/3.5 came from there at a very fair £50 for a tidy lens with original hood, front cap, and their guarantee. I was pleased to see that they had a K-x and numerous compacts in the window last time I looked.

Ebay and forum-based private sales have probably clobbered the 2nd hand dealers pretty hard. People won't take their old gear in and sadly accept the paltry offer which is all the dealer can afford to make when they can cut out the middle man and sell it for the true value instead. As a result, there's no space for a dealer's mark-up.

Thanks for the tip - I will see if the K-m has that and give it a try. The only editing I've done so far (in UFRaw and The GIMP) has been to correct exposure and give saturation a bit of a prod.

I wouldn't worry about the space between you and the aircraft - it looks better with said space IMO. You've fitted all of it into the frame and also managed to include the city it serves, as well as avoiding ending up with any buildings "growing" from it which can happen if you get closer.

It might be worth contacting the Air Ambulance and asking if they'd be interested in using the image, it's definitely fundraising calendar material.

Curious - which digital filter did you use? I've only had a brief play with the ones on the K-m which are probably the same.

Well at the moment he's trying to sell an S3 with meter and 55mm f1.8 for £50, that should narrow it down a bit... I don't think it'd be a good idea to name names as he hasn't broken any ebay rules, he's just being rude to potential customers.

His feedback is atrocious too, so I'm actually rather glad it was declined!

I thought £40 was a fair starting point for negotiations really, I'd have gone up to £44 or so but the best offer is supposed to invite haggling, where you always start low and meet in the middle.

I think ebay needs a "don't bother making offers to this seller" option.

Just sent a fair offer for something freshly listed and the arrogant little toad declined it with "thanks for the offer but it's just been listed and I think it will sell this weekend for very near the asking price".

If you don't want to accept lower offers then don't put the option on the listing!

You can buy a device to recover the film header (if you don't already own one) so don't throw those rolls away.

Your best bet is probably to buy another body. You can fix the problem but you need to be willing to unscrew things and take the risk of wrecking it completely.

If you want to stick with the MZ series then have a look on the Dimitrov K-mount site (Google it) and read about the "crippled" K mount. In general the single digit models such as the MZ-7 don't have it while the double digit ones do, although the MZ-10 doesn't. The "crippled" mount only allows use of lenses with an A setting which means you can't buy those lovely old K or M series lenses.

Or even better go properly retro and buy an MX or ME Super. If you can find a fully functional one then they're brilliant little cameras, the ME S has Av mode and it really doesn't take me any longer to take a photo with that than it does with a modern DSLR.

That's exactly what I plan to do - although I'd probably have unscrewed the front and cleaned it out by now. They aren't hard to work on, the only bit I ever have trouble with is persuading the finishing ring to unscrew as they seem to have been tightened by the Asahi factory Sumo team!

It feels utterly perfect in the hands too. I've been using it with the 135mm as a short spotting scope today to watch activity on the bird table in my front garden, just because it's so nice to handle.

I will be waving it at a couple of Sony owners I know on Monday, as they never had pre-AF cameras I think the reactions will be interesting.

I'm hoping I don't have to spend big money to get a standard lens for it - the 50mm f1.4 is going for silly money as it can be used on any DSLR with the right adapter.

Just noticed what the exposure counter was showing in those photos - no, there was no film in, I just tend to wind on and shoot with an empty camera when they arrive to check that it works properly!

Is it also making a whirring noise as though trying to wind on?

I know a common fault with the MZ-50 involves a drive cog cracking and slipping on the motor, which disables the camera as it can't operate the shutter sequence but just whirrs.

I don't know how similar the various MZ bodies are, but I managed to fix an MZ-50 by removing panels and eventually putting a tiny drop of superglue onto the loose cog, fixing it to the motor shaft without gluing the bearings solid.