I would be inclined to sell the two Super Takumars and keep the SMC ones, if you really have to thin the collection. Remember that they will support open-aperture metering with the ES II and Spotmatic F.

I did think the black ES II was rarer, but apparently this was the standard colour for the body with the silver one being more unusual. Still keeping my eyes open on ebay for a dead one as mine could do with a battery door and a pair of strap triangles, it also seems to have a bent rewind crank.

Talking of ES IIs, how is the metering supposed to work in manual mode? I can get mine to give sensible readings in Auto (using either stop-down or open aperture metering) but switching to the manual shutter speeds seems to turn the meter off. Any ideas?

Ah, there is a better plan. He was on about a Bigma a couple of months ago, so if he takes to the K7...

Ok, I know there isn't supposed to be any camera content in this thread, but...My Dad just bought a K7 (at last!)

Came with the WR 18-55mm and 50-200mm, battery is currently charging. Hoping it won't be too steep a learning curve from his K2...

I think they could do pretty well by releasing their old M42 designs in a K mount, or at least the desirable ones. M42 adapters are something of a pain and there's obviously interest in the old Russian lenses. They just need a sales outlet inside the EU as otherwise UK buyers risk being stung for VAT and duty.

The aperture pin problem won't affect this lens - it's because the M42 bodies had a pressure plate to control stopping down which pushed the pin. If it's a K mount it'll use the same lever as any other K lens.

Rude behaviour by sellers using the Best Offer option really annoys me. Rejecting offers outright for one thing - it's supposed to invite haggling and I won't bother making another offer if they just reject it. Neither am I likely to buy anything else from them.

I will also never bother with another one of their auctions if they simply ignore my offer. If you're going to add the option then you could at least be polite enough to respond with a counter-offer. If you want the full price then don't include the best offer option!

Nope, Halfords "Warehouse Orange" aerosol enamel!

I rather thought that enamel would be ok without laquer, it seems to be more of a problem with adhesion than with keeping the stuff on. I may well do a black K1000 in future, that would be simpler as with the metal panels I could give it a proper rub down, prime, spray and laquer just as I did with my alloy wheels. The laquer would be applied after the white lettering had been reinstated.

The MES has been re-sealed and now has a roll of HP5 loaded, I'm just hoping that it isn't suffering from the shutter-fails-to-cock disorder as I have a suspicion that on a couple of occasions I've wound on and nothing has happened. Then again, I've fired the shutter 40 times in succession without a film and had no problems. Hopefully it won't play up now, or at least if it does when I try to wind the first frame on I can still remove the film and avoid wasting it.

Poor storage? Box unsealed in a damp area for a while?

I'll be intrigued to see how they go. The only snag is that I don't think you could actually make a business out of it - if you charged your time at a fair rate then you'd probably be asking for about £60 per camera (in the case of my MES that would be £20 for the camera, £20 materials, and 2hrs to build it).

The main problem I have with cleaning fungus is dust. You can spot and clean the fungus easily but you will inevitably get some dust inside when you rebuild the lens.

A can of compressed air does help!

You may also have fun resetting the infinity focus depending on the lens design. I tend to put my Super A on a tripod and lock it in position aimed at a hilltop some miles away, then tweak the infinity position until spot on. The Super A has a split focussing screen so you can tell when it's right as the hilltop forms a smooth line. I've used this trick three times now and it's very effective.

That could be an interesting one. Samyang's offerings have so far been pitched at around the £200 mark, all evidence suggests that the Pentax will be cheaper and have AF.

I tend to find that AF struggles on the slower lenses (as in f5.6 slow), with things like the old Pentax-F 35-70mm it's rapid even indoors.