Don't worry, there will be plenty of test shots on both digital and film!

Planning to try a couple of frames with it on my Super A to prove whether it's full frame compatible or not, just to prove the point. It will probably become the most-used lens on my K-m unless I specifically need a wide angle.

Well, mine's on order. As it's supposed to be a birthday present I won't be getting my hands on it until late November, but I thought it might be an idea to order now so as to avoid them going out of stock.

I think it's fair. You've included sample photos so buyers should know what to expect.

I did think about getting rid of my MZ50/35-80mm but I doubt I'd find any takers given how I've been advising people against buying the lens ever since!

If the ME Super winds but doesn't cock the shutter it's probably not worth repairing. Jammed ones can be sorted out with a squirt of lighter fuel and a bit of gentle prodding of internals with a screwdriver (you're just trying to make it complete the cycle and return to the resting position).

There are still people able to repair and service them, but TBH if you want an ME-S then I'd keep my eyes on ebay for a good working example. So long as you're happy replacing light seals (really simple providing you have steady hands) then you can get one back into working order.

That said, if you want rid then try sticking it on ebay as a spares or repair (either 99p start or £10 buy it now), it'll most likely go. There's a steady trade in them and they're not a bad buy if you're after something to learn camera repairs on. I have one on the way which, assuming I can get it unjammed and working, will be gaining the black bodywork from another one and having its peeling leather repainted dark red before refitting same. At this rate I'll end up with five of them, two standard and three custom finished!

Yep, I should probably have used a lens with that (the 28-50mm doesn't have one)! Next time I'll probably make the effort to use my 55mm and 28mm primes, the 28-50mm lives on the KX as a good all-rounder.

I bought a cheap 52mm R720 filter from Amazon, you can probably get much better ones if you pay 4x as much but I wasn't inclined to splash out as I didn't know whether it would work terribly well. It turned out to be pretty decent aside from a bit of flare in one shot, although I'm still learning how to get the IR effect to kick in properly. I've since been informed that a more expensive filter would probably knock ten stops off - easy enough to check by waving your filter in front of a camera with some form of illuminated viewfinder display to see what it comes back with. I checked mine with a handheld meter and also an old A3 body, both of which suggested around seven stops.

It works best if you take shots with plenty of sunlight, as there isn't much IR about on cloudy days. Big shadows don't help, even lighting is better.

I quite liked this one - the IR doesn't jump at you but I think it works:




and this one shows the IR effect pretty well:




As with all new techniques it takes a while to work out what will and won't work. This looked much better in my mind's eye than it turned out...:




At a guess the exposure wasn't quite right leading to blown highlights, this one was thirty seconds timed with my watch IIRC. Interesting water effects though!

I suspect they may struggle against the DA 35mm f2.4. Yes this is faster, but it's more expensive and it's also manual focus.

What I can't fathom is why other brand forums seem to have an almost visceral hatred of Samyang lenses, even when people here are producing very good results with them.

Just because they're badged as DA and sold for the current range of APS-C DSLRs it doesn't mean they won't work on a full frame body. I know the DA 40mm f2.8 will work on full frame as I've seen people using it on MZ series film SLRs. Pentax don't mention which are FF-capable as unless they bring out a full frame DSLR it's meaningless to their current users.

I will attempt to demonstrate FF compatibility of the new 35mm f2.4 when I get hold of one, it should work on my Super A for a few test shots in program or shutter priority mode (the latter giving the ability to force it to use different apertures by reducing the shutter speed).

I don't see Pentax offering full frame. It would cost a bomb to develop and I don't see it selling well, considering the CaNikon bias of the professional DSLR market (remember the LX - absolutely brilliant camera but disappointing sales). Far better to build up the 645D and offer a medium format system which isn't much of a leap in price from a top spec full frame DSLR, as that might well tempt a few pros to spend a few percent more and go to medium format when they need a new camera.

I suspect that zoom lenses have probably saved more than a few lives over the years, especially at vertical beauty spots!

I often wonder how much is shared between this lens and the M 35-70mm. They're of similar dimensions and age, the only difference is that the manual focus version isn't a constant f2.8.

Mind you, I suspect that the manual one was intended to be a K series. Dimitrov lists a K 35-70mm f2.8 prototype which looks suspiciously like the M series lens, so it's possible that it was on the drawing board when the big changeover happened.

Excellent, cheaper than expected!