There are two versions of the F 28-80mm - with and without SMC coating. I have one of the non-SMC versions and found it a bit flat and lifeless when I tried it. On the other hand it did come attached to a near-mint SF7.

The SFX is sitting on the sofa next to me as I type this. It needs a clean, a strap, and maybe an ever-ready case as these were made for the SF series and I think this will become my AF film body of choice. But it seems to function perfectly and after a quick going-over with the lens pen the optics appear faultless.

You could always save around £250 and buy a Pentax-M 28mm f3.5. Great lens, very sharp and with the crop factor it comes out at around 42mm.

That said, I'd love a K 50mm (either version). Nearly bought an M 50mm f1.4 for £55 a few days ago but "thought about it" for too long. Oh well, there'll be another one along eventually and my MX works just as well with the f1.7 version...

I'm a bit of an industrial archaeology nerd, so I tend to read anything I find about old dock machinery. I have some photos taken from the earlier S&P cranes preserved in Bristol but as I only had a 1.3mp camera phone at the time they're not great. At least one of the Bristol cranes is fully functional - they were preparing to use it to load deck seating back onto the Balmoral when I went on a tour a couple of years ago.

I bought one yesterday attached to an SFX - £33! Just awaiting delivery.

I'd heard good reports about this lens on the grounds that it's fairly compact and gives sharp results. The SFX was, after all, the top camera of its day so the kit lens needed to be something a bit special. Really looking forward to trying it out now!

Have a look around Rhayader on a map or use Google Earth - the Elan Valley has been a popular place for shooting landscapes for decades and with good reason. If you head over the mountain road to Aberystwyth you'll find a mix of wild moorland and abandoned mine workings, while Aber itself is a great seaside town. Also worth looking at the dunes out at Ynyslas.

Further south, Llyn Brianne looks like something from a Bond film (gigantic dam with spillway) and there are miles of fun mountain roads which often have amazing scenery.

We are a country by the way, the "principality" thing was an English attempt to conquer us. Hasn't really worked...

I really think that dropping the K-m was a mistake. Ok, maybe Sony had discontinued the sensor but surely Pentax could have considered something like fitting the K-x sensor to keep it in production? The K-x would still sell on the basis of being better specified and having video mode, the K-m would remain to tempt buyers into the range. As things stand their cheapest SLR is not much less than £500, whereas the K-m wasn't much more expensive than a bridge camera.

I also wonder if there's a plan for a K2. They have, after all, re-used the other two names from the original K series range...

I missed the split focussing screen and non-crippled K mount earlier.

It'd also be good if there was a way for the camera to report the aperture selected on older lenses by measuring where the ring has been turned to.

At least partly I see it as recording daily life. Early photographs have proved invaluable to people studying the era in which they were taken, and even now we see change within months.

An example: There will soon be a new Tesco here. In order to build the supermarket a large area has been cleared, including a factory building which, while of no architectural merit whatsoever, has been a feature of the town for over thirty years. Next door to this stood the "Drill Hall". Again, it wasn't anything special but it represented a chunk of local history. Up and down the country similar halls would have been built to support volunteer soldiers, in the era before the carnage of the trenches in the 1914-18 war changed views on war and international relations forever.

Unfortunately I failed to photograph either before they ceased to exist, but there are plenty of images of both in existence for future generations. I have recorded the faded lettering on an old hotel that hasn't seen paying guests for decades (it's now a further education college) and scenes at our local railway station which, while not unusual now, will one day be proof of what sort of trains were used on this line.

I think we're agreed that £200 (or even the £100 starting bid) is a ridiculous price for a Pentax-M 80-200mm f4.5 though - even if it was brand new and had been lurking at the back of a warm dry storeroom for the past twenty years it'd be stupid money.

On the other hand, maybe I should sell mine for a £180 profit? It has both original end caps (well, one of them has been replaced but it's a genuine replacement of the correct vintage) and I can guarantee no fungus, got to be worth at least £220 as a result...

On a serious note this is why I think a price guide for older lenses might be a good idea. I've seen more than a few beginners picking up on an ebay auction for an item that could be had much more cheaply from a different seller. I know that the "other forum" does this but their prices are all in dollars and I'm not convinced the market is the same on both sides of the Atlantic - I get the impression that used gear prices are higher here.

I'm not entirely convinced that my purchases fit the general pattern though, speaking as someone who managed to find a K 55mm f1.8 for £8.50 and a 120mm f2.8 for £65 (both perfect optically and with only minor paint wear). Most recent find? Pentax SFX with 35-70mm zoom for £33!

It's just a pity that the cranes are obviously dead hulks - no cables or hooks visible. They're Stothert and Pitt DD2s which were the first to do away with outside ladders to reach the cab (there's a spiral staircase inside the central column instead) and the first to include a seat for the driver rather than expecting them to stand throughout their shift.

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