Check the battery terminals - it may be something simple like corroded contacts in there. If it works properly but just needs a CLA then it'll probably be cheaper than if it also needs a fault investigating.

The MX is one of Pentax's finest. Great to handle, and with tactile controls that modern manufacturers could learn from.

Mine's definitely bakelite - I have to put it in the airing cupboard for a couple of hours before using it, otherwise it'll cool the developing chemicals! I suspect that there are at least two variants as it doesn't have the orange/white knob either.

I must get out there and use the roll of B&W I have loaded in my MX. I haven't used it much of late as I've not really seen anything worth using film on. I think there are a few test shots from lenses I'd repaired (couple of 50mm bought cheaply with fungus, immaculate now I've cleaned them out) on there but nothing else.

For a 50mm look for the Pentax-A 50mm f1.7, very fast, sharp lens. As it has an A setting you can use all the modes on your camera, although it's manual focus.

For a 28mm consider the Pentax-M 28mm f3.5 - a bit slower but still very sharp and compact. Only snag is that you'll need to learn how to use manual lenses as it doesn't have an A setting, but that's not too hard. See my thread about the lens for a sample photo and crop from it.

The detail on the first two is incredible - can almost read the lettering on the tag around the swan's leg!

I still think dropping the K-m was a huge mistake by Pentax, as they've yet to offer a genuine replacement. The K-x is a lot more expensive.

A K-m with a kit lens can be as easy or as complex to use as you like. Use it in green mode for quick snaps (which will come out very well), or semi-auto modes for more advanced shots.

By the way, the DA L lens supplied in the kit doesn't come with a lens hood. Look here for one that's a perfect fit at a fraction of the price of an official one.

Mine has the compartment for the closeup lens but no closeup lens - I don't have the lens hood either so I'm keeping an eye out for both. I've used it with a generic 58mm hood but as the rest is perfect I'd quite like to get hold of an original one to complete the set.

I did find a rather natty cable release in the compartment, it has a braided metal outer and is simply marked "Japan". Wondering if this is a genuine Pentax item as it's a lot better made than most, but the K mount site doesn't list mechanical cable releases so I've no way of being sure.

As for the shoe polish, I used an old near-empty tin the contents of which had broken up into lumps. Simply don a pair of rubber gloves (surgical type), grab a lump of polish and work it over the outside of the case. The gloves will allow you to gently rub it in, after which you can allow it to dry before polishing it off with a sponge. I've also used this trick on an Ever-Ready Case before now as it does wonders for covering up cracks in the fake leather.

Bought this on ebay a couple of weeks ago:

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1538.jpg[/IMG]

The original case was included and has cleaned up nicely - I used shoe polish to deal with the fading and then buffed it to a shine with a sponge. Not perfect but I'm happy with it now.

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1539.jpg[/IMG]

The lens is perfect - no dust or fungus, immaculate paint, and both original lens caps. I had great difficulty in getting a photo of it due to the length - this was taken with my 28mm stopped right down in an effort to get decent depth of field.

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1541.jpg[/IMG]

Finally, a sample image at f32. After using this lens you rapidly understand why they're rare - it's an absolute monster of a thing! Weighs in at 730g, which is about on the limit for my lightweight tripod. Minimum focussing distance is 3.5m, so that photo was taken from across the living room in order to get the distance. Not a bad performer though, judging by the rendition of the windowframes and the pattern on the vase. I'll experiment a bit more when it's warm enough to hang around outside and take photos.

I can't fathom why the metering is so skewed in M mode either, as it's spot on in Av.

You could also look at a few older Pentax primes if you don't need AF:

Pentax-A 50mm f1.7 (or f1.4) - great lens for a fraction of the price of a new Zeiss
SMC Pentax 55mm f1.8 - amazing lens, from the original 1975-77 K series
Pentax-M 28mm f3.5 - great all round lens on digital, with the crop factor it's close to the classic 50mm focal length. Very sharp, little or no distortion.

I have all three of these and paid around £100 for the lot. The 28mm and 50mm are always in my camera bag, if I had space I'd keep the 55mm in there too.

I have an Eee PC 900 running Ubuntu Linux. Has an SD slot, battery life isn't superb but it's pretty handy otherwise. I can run the GIMP on it with no problems for photo editing.

What I would say is that if you buy an Eee then get rid of the Asus-supplied Linux distribution, it was utter rubbish on mine and never saw updates. I replaced it with Easy Peasy Linux (a port of Ubuntu) which has since upgraded itself to Ubuntu proper. Everything works, I can even run Memory-Map, Spotify and RAVE (Land Rover workshop manual program) via WINE. You don't need an intimate knowledge of Linux to make it work - once installed you simply boot it up, type in a password to unlock your network connection, and launch programs in the normal way.