I've just taken these two shots and was wondering what other people thought - the subject matter isn't terribly exciting (local TV booster station) but I chose it as it's quite a complicated structure a long way away, so a good subject for comparing relative sharpness. Both photos were taken in Av mode at f8. I'm trying to work out whether a heavily cropped image from the 200mm is better than a similar one from the zoom at 300mm - assuming that I crop so that the subject is roughly the same size in the resulting image. Personally I think the prime is the better of the two with a more natural-looking rendition of the colours and contrast, as well as similar sharpness.

First, the zoom:
[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1558.jpg[/IMG]

Then the prime:
[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1559.jpg[/IMG]

No post-production has been applied, these are fresh from the camera apart from using the on-board cropping function. I'm going to the RIAT airshow later this year, so I'm trying to work out which lens to take. Obviously the prime is smaller, lighter and faster than the zoom so it's currently in the lead.

I had the K1000 which was pretty similar, although I've never understood why Pentax felt that people didn't need depth of field preview or a self timer. Both are rather useful to the student photographer and hardly go against the all-manual ethos!

I'm not sure what the definition of a "pro system" would be. Full frame? People are able to make good money with a well-handled APS-C sensor DSLR. A good selection of lenses? Pentax's back catalogue extends from 1975 if you stick to K mount lenses.

As I've said before, I get the distinct impression that Pentax won't bother with a full frame DSLR but will instead go after the lower end of the medium format market with the 645D. They'd have to invest a lot into the tooling and the unit cost would be high, so I'm not convinced that sales would make it worthwhile. They're better off going after Hasselblad than trying to fight Sony/Canon/Nikon with a full frame DSLR as they're more likely to sell the product. Convincing all those pros with other gear to sell the lot and buy Pentax would not be easy, however persuading people who were about to buy a full frame camera that they should spend a little more and get a medium format one should be feasible. What matters is selling cameras, and if they do this by exploiting niches that nobody else seems interested in then more power to them.

Don't forget the LX, which was very definitely a pro-level 35mm camera. I don't know of any others that are as customisable as an LX (different viewfinders/grips/motor wind/databack/focussing screens and all can be fitted by the owner) or designed to operate for as long. In fact I'm slightly surprised that they don't still offer it on a made to order basis given the following and reputation it has.

I can only assume that the collectors are pushing the prices up on these - it may be a very nice lens but that's ridiculous money for an old manual prime.

Weirdly the 35mm lenses don't seem to go too mad, which is odd as with the crop factor they're equivalent to the classic 50mm.

Just hoping that I find an attachment lens for sane money now. I suspect my best chance will be to rummage through filter boxes at any camera shops I pass. Luckily Pentax printed "Attachment Lens 1:4.5/85~210mm" on the side of the part so I won't have to wade through listings for generic close-up filters on ebay.

It isn't that cheap I'll admit, but to my mind it's worth it to have the original hood as the rest of the lens is perfect. The hood itself cost £9, the rest is postage. Unfortunately I couldn't find one anywhere in the UK.

I paid about £35 and £8 postage for the lens which I don't consider unreasonable for a not-particularly-common (Dimitrov lists it as "once in several years") item.

The SMC Pentax 55mm f1.8 is a superb lens, only snag is that many people seem to have noticed this! Previously prices had stayed lower as few people seemed to know about it.

Well a chance wander around ebay.com (as opposed to the UK site) has snagged me a genuine lens hood for £18 delivered from Canada. Just need to find the close-up lens now!

I think the only way to win auctions for sane money is to wait until the last seconds before bidding. I usually put my bid in with about 50 seconds left and I've still had people try to snipe me!

Bidding early just seems to ensure that you either get outbid or become a victim of shill bidding - when associates of the seller bid up to just below your maximum to push the price up.

I'm not entirely sure - I know that the limiting factor is usually the scanner itself. Mine is a fairly decent one (Ion Film2SD) and uses a 5mp scanner, the results are fine printed up to A4 size although I'm not sure how much larger you can go. Here's a sample shot taken with my MX and a 50mm f2 I was testing after cleaning fungus from:

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/Landscapes/PICT0022.jpg[/IMG]

That hasn't been altered in any way, just scanned and uploaded. The scanner produces an SD card full of JPG images and can handle negatives or slides.