I've seen what happens when you buy a Sony anyway. You start believing that the coatings on older lenses are no good for digital and that you have to buy the latest shiniest ones.

Can't wait for my new focussing screen to turn up, should enable me to squelch that argument once and for all by ensuring that all of my photos are in focus!

Nope. Late Minolta AF lenses will fit Sony but they won't fit anything else!

In all honesty I don't think converting between lens mounts like that is feasible for the DIY engineer. You're dealing with measurements which make the old "thickness of a cigarette paper" look massive. You also need to consider how much money you'll have thrown away if it doesn't work - they may be "comparatively cheap" but you're still looking at £150-£200.

I think you'll be better off saving and waiting for a genuine Pentax 50mm f1.2 if you're that keen to have one. They are still making the A version to special order IIRC?

Same here. If I see a photo I like I look at the information about what aperture they used and so on, but with digital it costs nothing to play around until you get results you like. You don't have to be a "great" to take atmospheric photos or spot interesting textures, just willing to look for angles that don't necessarily fit into a holiday album. I know the last time I went up to the Elan Valley I found myself taking a mixture of photos that I stitched into panoramas and tightly-framed shots of interesting colours and textures, such as the water flowing over the top of a dam contrasting with the stonework and the darkness of the deep water behind the dam.

It really comes down to one question - do you like the results? It's your camera, unless you have ambitions to turn pro then it really does not matter whether you follow things like the rule of thirds or not. Personally I find that images I'm happy with usually unwittingly follow at least some of the rules of composition, which are, after all, based on ideas of what humans find pleasing to look at.

I think ebay has suffered as everyone now looks there as a first port of call, great for sellers but I have noticed that very few list their items as "buy it now" these days, which often used to be a way to pick up a bargain if you were searching at the right time (Got a very tidy ME Super with 50mm f1.7 for £28 that way).

Always haggle. Don't make an insultingly low offer, but if it's priced at, say, £25 then ask if they'll take £20. Likewise if you're there all day and an item hasn't sold then you may get lucky near the end, as traders don't want to have to load everything back into the van again so just might be willing to take a lower sum in order to get rid.

A farmer my dad used to work with had an interesting trick for haggling. He'd go along with cash in various pockets, pull out a likely sum and say "Hmm, well, that's all I've got on me see...". If unsuccessful he'd then rummage around and "find" more cash in another pocket until the seller was happy!

The Agfa Rondinax daylight developing tanks make life easier, although you do need to be careful that the film feeds onto the drum properly. The way you cut the end of the film is crucial.

Here's my P30t, got it out for a portrait as the weather is good. I tracked down a 50mm f2 as that was shown on the front cover of the manual (and when I saw one cheap I pounced on it), it also has the correct strap:

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP2131.jpg[/IMG]

Must try loading it with film this summer and using it again.

It drives me spare. I think I must have been the last generation to bother to learn to use proper words.

Most of it isn't even "txt spk", it's just a mix of ignorance and laziness, especially when they add random extra letters. If regarding them as the lowest form of humanity makes me elitist then fine, I'll cheerfully accept the label!

I have exactly the same education available to any other individual, at least where English language is concerned. If I can use proper words then why can't everyone?

I found vinegar quite effective, mind you the alcohol-based computer screen cleaning spray also seems to do the trick and is more commonly found here (nobody in this house likes vinegar). Just spray it on the fungus and swab with a cotton bud.

I don't see how this lens would be any use to anyone without the K mount part (which presumably unclips in order to make it easier to attach the camera to the lens, or allow portrait orientation?).

You might find a good engineering workshop able to machine one, but it wouldn't be cheap. I doubt Pentax still have stock of them as a spare part!