I would say that you can do better for your money. A little more would bag a new Pentax DA 50-200mm, or a used Pentax 300mm zoom (either the F 100-300mm or the FA J 75-300mm) in decent condition.

I'll throw the F 35-80mm at them, that should slow them down.

Seriously, I think that's probably the best use for that lens! I paid £10 for it attached to a mint MZ-50 before I found any online reviews, and it transpired that while a compact 80mm lens was good on paper it was a bit pants in reality.

Shh, if the CaniKGB realise we're on to them they'll unleash an operation that'll make Smiert Spionen look like a sandpit full of toddlers!

Hide your primes and pretend that you only shoot in green mode, that'll confuse them.

I'm not sure that counts as a personal attack, more like a justified response!

On a more sympathetic note, Lakeland sell boxes of latex gloves which are ideal for wearing while chopping chillies or similar aggressive foods. You can also wear them while fiddling with bits of camera to avoid getting fingerprints on things like focusing screens, or while filling a grease gun and crawling under your car. Note that wearing the same pair for all of these is not recommended...

I'm not sure where you'd get the chemicals from where you are, the dev tank should be easy enough to get hold of. I bought some conical flasks from a laboratory supplier to mix the chemicals in, as I only need small quantities at a time with the tank I use.

Or even better a 12-500mm f1.2. I hear it's planned to be made so you can tow it behind a car as an unbraked trailer...

This is probably the best forum I've encountered where moderation is concerned. The mods only seem to get involved if personal attacks or unsuitable content appear, which is how it should be.

On other forums I have seen:

Members petitioning mods to have other members silenced and/or banned for publicly (yet politely) disagreeing with their policies in a volunteer organisation (public criticism was not accepted, even when highly constructive. That's why I'm no longer a member. Not a healthy way to run any group).

One out of control mod who evidently lacks the maturity to understand that just because he personally doesn't like off-topic content it doesn't mean he can lock, delete, and attack such threads even though they are not breaking any rules. Said forum also sprouted the Kafkaesque rule that "searching for grey areas in rules may be taken as a breach of the rules".

Funnily enough, the only two I now visit (here and a 4x4 forum named Mud Club) have much more laid-back mods who only intervene when they have to and are otherwise human beings!

I tried one of the cheap Chinese screens and wasn't impressed, it's just too dark (especially with a filter) and the split prism bit is too big for APS-C as they're cut down from a 35mm screen.

I've changed back to a standard screen and turned the in focus beep back on. Given that my favourite manual focus prime is an M 28mm f3.5 it tends to be focus free providing that the subject is a few metres away.

What is it supposed to do?

I hang my prints behind glass in frames, which I think should protect them pretty well without needing to add extra coatings.

I could see a use for it if it's waterproof however - I have a few packs of magnetic photo paper which could be used to make temporary vehicle markings with an inkjet and this stuff, or make fridge magnet photos that can be taken down and washed to remove the inevitable gunge build-up from frying.

The DA-L is lighter due to having a plastic lens mount (never been a problem on my 18-55mm), lacks the quick shift switch and the lens hood.

I don't know whether the lens hoods are easy to come by. There are plenty of 3rd party copies to fit the 18-55mm DA-L but I haven't noticed any for the 55-300mm.

For the price difference I would probably save a bit more and buy the full DA version. It's likely to hold the value better too I would guess.

IQ is an abbreviation for Image Quality