You wouldn't believe the amusement my old primes have given me in that respect - shots to embarrass cameras costing four or more times as much as my K-m with a thirty year old lens!

I can only assume that Pentax are better at tuning the sensors to suit their glass (and that the glass has been consistent in quality and behaviour for decades).

I spotted it when it was first listed - I've been after a KM for a while (as I have the digital K-m and a few K series lenses). The lens will end up on my ES II if it's an SMC, after some trials on the K-m with the adapter. I have an excellent example of the K 55mm f1.8 to go on the KM.

I've been told by a friend with a Sony that apparently "their" owners forum won't touch Taks as the coatings "weren't designed for digital", so I'm looking forward to producing some decent results with the old lens and proving otherwise. Even if it's a Super Tak rather than an SMC it should be a good one, and I don't have another lens at the same focal length.

Does anyone know precisely which version of the Takumar 35mm f3.5 is on this camera? It's either the Super Takumar or the SMC Tak, I suspect the latter as the manual/auto switch looks smaller.

I just bought it on ebay for £37 - not bad for what appears to be a nice KM with case along with an M42 adapter and the Takumar.

I did think that he might be used to people aiming cylindrical black things at him - evidently my 200mm f4 doesn't trip the warning signals!

Here's a Pheasant:

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1973.jpg[/IMG]

This one seems to have escaped and is now hiding out in my garden. I took this from an upstairs window but later on managed to get within metres of him - he didn't seem remotely bothered by the camera!

I'm slightly annoyed. I have eight photos left on my roll of HP5 and was planning to use them on Monday (along with taking the K-m up to Llyn Clywedog and getting some
better shots of the dam). What have the weather guessers forecast? Heavy rain!

Why Llyn Clywedog? Therein lies a tale...

When Land Rover launched the 90 they ran a famous advert showing one driving to the foot of a dam and then winching itself up the wall to the top. Guess which dam they used?

You need to enable the use of the aperture ring and also tell the camera the focal length of the lens for shake reduction.

In Av mode with a K mount lens the camera will meter and shoot with the lens held at the largest aperture. If you use an M42 lens with an adapter then you can set the aperture on the lens and the camera will sort the exposure out, but it'll be much the same as the old Spotmatic in that you open the aperture to focus and then close it before pressing the shutter button

In M mode the camera will use whatever aperture you select, in this situation you set aperture then press the green button to stop down and take a light meter reading. The camera will suggest a shutter speed which may or may not be helpful - I tend to use digital preview/histogram to check the exposure before actually taking the shot. In my experience apertures smaller than f8 tend to cause trouble with underexposure and need some manual fiddling with shutter speed to get good results.

I've tried taking the battery out for now - it was fully charged so I'll see how it is tomorrow. That will at least say whether it's a problem with the battery or the device drawing power for something or other while switched off.

A complete spare printer would be about £21 including postage - I might just buy a second one!

The print quality isn't up to serious photo printer standards but for £20 or so it's not bad at all. I just wish the battery would hold a charge properly - it goes flat on its own within 24hrs if fully charged and left switched off!

A great idea let down by a lousy battery and the lack of a car charger. It's just daft as the device itself feels well made, the shell is mostly metal and nothing rattles or feels cheap. I managed to source a rather spiffy leather case for mine complete with detachable belt loop - I would have it slung on the outside of the camera bag all the time if the battery held its charge properly.

I know mine isn't a rogue unit as I've seen two others with exactly the same fault.

That 75-150mm sounds very odd. I know of the Pentax-M 75-150mm f4 but that doesn't have any contacts on the lens mount.

Is this it? If so it's a decent lens although I'd consider £40 a little steep - mine is near mint and cost £25 on ebay.