There's one on ebay for a tenner at the moment, may be more than you want to spend though!

You can take the dents out of filter rings, there's a guide on the web. Basically you cut a semicircular dent in the edge of a piece of wood that's wide enough to support the lens barrel, then form a similar shape in the end of another piece of wood. Now place the lens in the dent with the bent area against the wood, and use the second piece of wood along with a hammer to gently tap the filter ring back into shape. As you're not hitting the lens directly with the hammer you shouldn't have any problems with it slipping and doing more damage.

I've now chased the seller up about my split screen and they're sending another one out. Hopefully this one will make it!

Works very well on my K-m, I took a shot in near darkness hand-held and only got a bit of blurring in the foreground!

Jessops staff are no different to those in any other electrical retailer. They're employed to sell, not for their expertise. It is seriously funny seeing their reactions when you mention Pentax though, especially if you say something like "Well, I have a Pentax K-m that I'm very happy with so I'm just looking to see if the competition have caught up yet" (Canikon still couldn't beat it for the same money last time I checked).

I picked up a couple of fungus-infected f2 for a fiver each a while back. Removed elements, cleaned, reassembled, and ended up with two near-mint lenses aside from a few dust specks!

It'd help if they could give some hints as to what brands and what sort of gear was pinched. I suspect if they took large amounts of brand new gear from a warehouse it's most likely stolen to order for export though. The sort of criminal who can plan and carry out a raid on a secure warehouse will not be trying to offload the loot via ebay or their local car boot!

Domestic burglars are usually after things they can sell quickly and easily, like TVs, MP3 players, etc and obviously cash or cards. They're not actually after the goods but the money they'll get from selling them.

I'm still getting my B&W film (Ilford HP5) from Amazon marketplace and my colour slide from Boots.

I guess the various incarnations of the 18-55mm are continuing a Pentax tradition. The old K, M and A 50/55mm lenses are still absolutely superb, and they were the kit lenses of their day. The new products are keeping the reputation going!

In contrast, I'm reliably informed that the Sony kit zoom is horrible...

Has anyone tested the 18-55mm WR against the DA L version? I have the latter and would be interested to see whether there are any optical differences between it and the WR version.

In my experience my vision with glasses is such that I just have to set the diopter adjustment all the way to the right. I can get close to focus, then the green hexagon helps fine adjustment.

I have ordered a new 45 degree split focussing screen, but as it's been the best part of a month I've just sent an email to chase it up. I suspect it has been swallowed by the postal system somewhere between Hong Kong and here (it was dispatched long before Iceland threw a load of ash at us!)

There's something wonderful about the way they handle, isn't there? I love my K-m but its 1970s ancestor is currently sitting next to me loaded with B&W film, and my MX with its newly-acquired motor wind is upstairs. I try to rotate the film bodies to even out the wear and ensure that they all get some use, need to try my ME Super next.

I have an SFX, but it just isn't as nice to use as the older gear. I mostly bought it as I wanted the 35-70mm lens for use on digital, but decided to try putting a roll of slide film through. The next roll is going in a mechanical body!

I do think a lot of sites simply don't look at Pentax gear. It isn't really bias as such but simply not bothering to mention it in their rush to talk about Canikon hardware.

Is Pentax seen as a slightly oddball brand that not many people know much about?