I think the only way to get rid is to catch it out of the mirror and physically remove it. I tend to ignore them as sooner or later they'll leave of their own accord.

I think most cars I've come into contact with have a resident spider. They usually live in the mirrors with occasional forays to spin webs between there and the door.

I have one of these lenses with a badly marked front element. I've seen cheap examples of it for other mounts, so I'm wondering how much difference there is between the K-A version and (say) the Nikon one? Could I swap the perfectly good mount and aperture ring gubbins from my optically damaged example onto any old example of the lens to create a K-A mount version, or are the bodies different?

I've read elsewhere that it's a very good performer, but it doesn't seem hugely common in a K mount.

Can't say I've ever noticed the film drifting in storage. Is that something that happens to Defender owners?

Short answer: It depends on the Metz hammerhead.

The earlier Metz 45CT-1 has a high trigger voltage, the later version of the 45CT-1 and the 45CL-1 which followed it are safe (around 6v on mine). Multimeters are cheap and simple - just set it to measure DC volts, turn the flash on, and when the ready light comes on touch the positive probe to the centre contact of the foot and the negative probe to the side contact. This will give a reading of the trigger voltage.

Weirdly, the only two flashes I have which definitely aren't safe for digital are a couple of cheap old ones powered by a pair of AA batteries each.

Some information here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7356924@N02/1464918577/

I'm given to understand that this 28mm is more or less the same as the SMC K 28mm f3.5, in which case it's an absolute cracker. Probably the most useful manual prime you can own if you have both film and digital, it's sharp enough that you can crop and enlarge images without them suffering as a result.

Yes, but when you can smell the stale smoke from 2m away it tends to need some intervention...

Plus if you add the AF200S flash you end up with a camera which uses 16 batteries...

8 AAs, 4 AAAs, 4 LR44s!

I have one with a scratched focussing screen and a dent in the baseplate (but otherwise sound), so I'm keeping an eye open for a dead one with those parts intact to reactivate it. The AF confirm is entertaining but not as good as the MK1 eyeball most of the time.

Very nice - I'll have to get a photo of mine. I've kitted it out with a lanyard/wrist strap in place of the rather oversized neck strap and use it as a discreet pocket SLR with the 40mm f2.8 or 28mm f3.5. I also have a waterproof plastic box with about the same dimensions as a stack of DVD cases which will take the MES or MX, 40mm, 28mm, 135mm lenses, AF160 and two or three spare films. It's very well packed but it all fits!

The 100mm f2.8 is on my wish list as it has rave reviews, not sure whether it'd be different enough from a 135mm to be worth buying though?