There's only one way to get a completely vibration-free tripod...

Make up an adapter to put a ballhead on top of any triangulation points you find while out and about! These have some sort of threaded fitting for surveyors to screw instruments into (I think it's a threaded hole in the metal top plate but I've no idea what size or pitch). There isn't much more solid than a concrete pillar!

The Red Snappers may be cheap but they're all metal from ground to camera (metal legs, metal ballhead, metal QR plate, metal screw threads throughout). About the only rubber or plastic parts are the grips and the screw-down feet which hide the spikes. Now, I know some cheaper metal items can suffer from being cast from monkey metal, but the RS doesn't look or feel like this. You can usually tell from the finish whether the materials underneath are any good (cheap and nasty doesn't usually involve a high standard of finish) and the RS parts seem to be decent castings judging by the lack of mould marks or rough patches.

They are, naturally, rather heavy. But if I was planning to set up for a few hours in one location I'd lug it. I took it for a four or five mile walk a while ago and didn't feel overloaded, although I wouldn't suggest trekking across a continent with it. That said, if you wrapped a tarpaulin around it you'd probably get a serviceable tent!

I did this with an old Jessops PKA-fit 2x TC a while ago. After trying it and finding that I got better images from the same lens on its own (Pentax-A 200mm f4) if I just cropped them to the same size as the images taken with the TC!

Luckily this one was easy. A locking ring to unscrew, then the elements just unscrewed from the TC as one lump.

That's somewhat amazing - the M 100mm (both the f2.8 and the f4 Macro) seem to be going for very silly money. I've even seen people trying (and presumably succeeding) in getting £80 or so for examples with optical faults such as fungus or fogging. I'd love one of each but until I see them for slightly more sensible money I won't be buying.

The A could well have been fought over by collectors. You could almost buy a D FA 100mm Macro for that much!

I'm not sure of the exact year but I think the K1000 was the first (and maybe only of that era?) to be farmed out to Hong Kong. The first models were pretty identical to the Japanese ones with only a few cosmetic changes (serial number moved to baseplate, "Made in Japan" removed from back of top plate, IIRC the little dimple where the KX's battery check button would be was removed?)

The K1000 eventually had plastic top and baseplates but I'm not sure when. I think mine's probably from the early HK production as it's all metal and the serial number seemed to fit into that run.

I will be taking the MX/50mm f1.7 away for a few days next week along with K 28/3.5 and 135/3.5 lenses. Hopefully I will also manage to take some shots with the K-m and DA* 50-135mm, but the MX is just so sweet to handle! I've since transferred the better panels from my terminally jammed one to the working-but-scruffy example, giving me two very good MXs with only a few paint chips between them.

I'm not sure if anyone else has mentioned Red Snapper yet, but if you want a full size serious tripod for £100 or so then get their three section legs (£50) and ballhead (£50). Mine has handled a Bronica ETRSi with the 2x teleconverter and 200mm f4.5 without showing any signs of sagging, in fact the Pentaxes look daft on it as they're relatively tiny! The ballhead takes Arca Swiss-type QR plates so you can find specialist plates for specific uses. I have a couple of standard length ones, a slightly longer one and a 140mm long one which is handy for balancing heavier lenses as you can shift the camera back on the head.

If you want to go cheaper and smaller then look at used Slik tripods on ebay. I bought a 500G a couple of years ago for £8 which was great. When part of the pan head cracked I removed it and managed to fit a standard tripod head screw to the legs, this now holds a small Slik ballhead which is fine for a smaller SLR and prime lens - don't try a Bigma on it but as a hiking 'pod with a K-m and 35mm f2.4 it's a perfect fit.

I did look at a Slik 450G when the head broke and would still recommend them, if I hadn't been so bloody-minded about repairing things rather than chucking a perfectly good set of tripod legs I would have bought one. As it is, my hand-fettled 500G legs/Slik ballhead combo works perfectly.

I also have a Slik Mini Pro V which is very handy, I tend to take that one on holiday as I can invariably find a wall, rock, or indeed my car roof to sit it on for more height.

Well, I've done my bit for the week. They were actually about to throw a load of kit out! Nothing hugely interesting to us apart from an SV with a dinged 55/1.8 and balky shutter (still there if anyone wants it) and a battered MES/mouldy 50 1.7 which I bought for a tenner plus my time pricing the rest and will be cleaning out to keep in the car. I put realistic prices on rather than ebay prices, so they should sell it all and make a decent sum rather than chucking it all.

Definitely consider splitting cameras and lenses. I've seen ME + 50/1.7 go for less than the lens would alone on numerous occasions, and I often suggest that anyone after a cheap 50mm look for an MV or MV1 (not particularly desirable bodies, so the price will most likely be lower).

You'd think so, but it doesn't seem to work like that. My K-m is fine with SDM and HSM lenses but won't operate the power zoom on my 28-80mm. Dad's K7 will though!

I find myself wondering if Pentax reduced the available power from the contacts on the lower-end bodies. I could sort of understand it on cameras using AA batteries as they might be worried that in certain situations the PZ motor would draw too much current, leaving the batteries without enough juice to keep the camera working reliably.

Yep, that's my plan. Explain that they will probably get more if they ebay the lot and give some pointers on how to describe it (plus how to test basic function), but also explain that if they try to charge the same prices in store then it probably won't sell. After that it's up to them!

This is a small town with a lot of charity shops and not a lot else - the only specialist shops which manage to survive are a proper ironmongers, a bookshop, a couple of opticians and a branch of Boots. Tesco did no harm at all, as the town was economically dead before they came!