Right, as I've now shot and developed a roll of this stuff with apparently good results I can offer some pointers to others who might be tempted to give it a go!

Ilford recommend that you use the smallest possible aperture so that depth of field can cover for uncertain focussing caused by IR light being at a different wavelength, so I set the lens (K 28-50mm) to f22 or f16, then focus. Note the recommended shutter speed, add the filter, then take seven stops off the shutter speed (so if the camera recommends 1/125 your correct speed with the filter is a second).

You will need a tripod and some sort of remote shutter release - I used a plain old cable release. The self timer isn't entirely suitable as for many shots you'll have to set the camera to B and use the second hand on a watch to time the exposure.

Developing is fairly normal for B&W film, just follow the instructions on the inside of the box.

If you use the film without the filter it will behave much like HP5 - I did a couple of shots without for test purposes.

You can probably get most of the stuff worth having from there on ebay UK from a UK or EU-based seller. Buying from Russia is likely to get you stung for VAT/Import Duty/Parcelfarce's take!

I tend to find that smaller, faster lenses auto focus faster than longer, slower ones. Presumably the greater light levels make life easier for the camera, and of course the smaller lenses have lighter elements to move.

Mine is currently undergoing a bit of a rethink, as the paint is flaking horribly. I'll evidently have to take it all off and start again. The camera doesn't cock on the first wind (but is fine on the second, third, etc) so I suspect it's only good for a parts donor like the black one I bought a while ago.

I have however just bought a jammed ME S which, assuming it's fixable, will gain the panels from my knackered black example. I'm considering attempting a gold finish on the resulting spare chrome panels, leaving me with sets of ME S panels in orange and gold awaiting working but scruffy cameras to be fitted to.

In the end I will have five of them - one chrome, two black, one orange, one gold!

We have a lot of mushrooms here. Some of them have even gone mouldy, which I think says a lot about the weather conditions!

I have no idea whether they're edible, so I'm guessing they're not.

When I click "go to last post" in this thread the first thing I see is that frankly scary-looking kid (before the page settles to the last post). I'm still recovering!

Has this been sold?

Sorry, I mean I paid £10 for the 80-200mm with fungus. The 35-80mm cost about the same but came with an MZ-50 attached to it, both of which were in near-mint condition!

If you want a decent lens of similar dimensions and range to the F 35-80mm then look for the F 35-70mm, which is a much better lens.

The SMC F 80-200mm isn't a bad lens at all. Probably not up to the standard of the new DA 50-200mm or the older F 70-210mm, but it's light and produces acceptable photos. Certainly an improvement over the 35-80mm (my example of which has the exact same problems and no evidence of damage).

I paid £10 for mine with a bit of something growing on the back of the front element, cleaned that out, reset the infinity focus using a hillside about five or six miles away and it works perfectly.

I use a 28mm prime and stitching software. Providing you pan carefully the results are very acceptable, with none of the distortion ultra wide angle lenses can suffer from.

If you're after a fisheye then how about the Samyang 8mm? Sample images look pretty decent, well worth £200 or so IMO.