I'll recommend Ilford Hp5, if you look on Amazon you can get 36 exposure rolls pretty cheaply. It's excellent film and tolerates my home developing using a Rondinax tank with the kitchen clock to time it (no need for a darkroom, just a sink and three measuring beakers for the chemicals - see thread about it elsewhere on the forum).

IIRC the A series isn't really suitable for lenses shorter than 50mm? At least I'm pretty sure that was the advice when I last looked.

Another two test shots, first an old shed:

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1551.jpg[/IMG]

and secondly our local TV booster station (visible from most of the town and a good test for telephoto lenses):

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1553.jpg[/IMG]

That's a heavy crop from this image:
http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1552.jpg

All taken at f4.5, 400ISO in Av mode.

I wouldn't fancy trying to focus an f1.2 lens manually without a split focussing screen...

To throw a bit of an oddball into the suggestions, what about a Super A?

It'll operate in aperture priority auto or metered manual with any K lens, with A series or later lenses it will work in program or shutter priority modes. It'll do everything a P30T does but also allows shutter priority and the use of a motor winder. It also displays the aperture in the viewfinder when in P or shutter priority mode.

The P30T is a fine camera though - I used one for a few years with a generic zoom on the front and it produced decent photos. I just think the Super A is more flexible in terms of what you can fit and what it can do.

Hard to say, I do find that I use 28mm and 50mm in primes though. With zooms I just tend to turn the ring until I have a pleasing composition without paying much attention to the focal length.

I'm actually wondering if the mad pricing of 50mm lenses is levelling off?

I've seen a few M 50mm f2s for around the £20 mark of late, and I found an A 50mm f2 for £15 last week (snapped it up for my Super A). It seems to be the turn of the 55mm to go ballistic now - I've seen them priced at £80+!

If you're talking about the older lenses (eg the two versions of the Pentax-M 80-200mm f4.5) then Bojidar Dimitrov's K mount site is the place to look. He has photos of most lenses so you should be able to match yours that way.

Thing is, the "proper coppers" would agree with us. I read the Inspector Gadget blog on a regular basis and he more or less says the same thing - the management speak and target-chasing are ruining policing and losing the confidence of the law-abiding general public.

Now, I know someone who used to be a PCSO (she'd have been one of the better ones, especially where photographer's rights are concerned as she's since become a semi-pro photographer), it's a pretty rough job as people expect you to do wonders when you have no more power of arrest than a normal person. That said, I've heard a few tales of the airhead she was sent on patrol with who would apparently say that cars passing at 30mph were "speeding" because she was useless at judging speeds...

Brilliant!

I saw her at RIAT last year. The take-off was greeted with a literal standing ovation from the crowd, something none of the other performances got.