Beware how much you pay too. This is a ludicrous price for a used AF zoom. I paid under £30 for my 28-90mm which was pretty much brand new and boxed, I regularly see them for £35 or so.

See this - £51 including postage for a boxed MZ60 and 28-90mm

I'm not sure about the price being low. Takumars seem to be hitting mad prices at the moment, presumably as adapters exist to put an M42 screw mount lens on pretty much every DSLR.

General feeling I've seen seems to be that it's a competent performer, nothing outstanding but not a dog either. See here, although with that site you do need to read the comments - some reviewers are in the habit of marking a lens down because it "isn't a Limited" or "feels plastic", neither of which necessarily have any bearing on optical quality!

My advice would be to look at either the FA 28-90mm or the FA 28-105mm. The 28-90mm is a fine performer despite feeling a bit light and flimsy, and the extra range over the 28-70mm is worth having. I find it to have good colour reproduction, decent contrast, and it doesn't take up much room in the bag either.

One thing that may help with hunting a 28-90, they were usually bundled as the kit lens with an MZ60 so search under that heading as well as for the lens alone. There seem to be a fair number of later film SLRs out there that have hardly been used, which can be a good way of picking up a cheap lens even if you don't really want the film body.

I've actually been using mine for landscapes - it's quite a narrow field of view compared to the more usual wide angle lenses but if you pick your composition carefully then it works pretty well. I find it very handy for making structures fill the frame rather than ending up with huge amounts of greenery with a building in there somewhere! It's also handy for looking through gaps in greenery (say trees between you and the lake you want to shoot) without catching branches in the frame.

Manual focus isn't easy on DSLRs as they usually just have a plain glass focussing screen (as opposed to the split screen on older film SLRs where you focus until a line on the subject is smooth). You can buy replacement split screens but you have to spend a fair bit of money to get one worth having. I haven't bothered as I seem to cope well enough without one.

The in focus beep/green light in the viewfinder will both work with manual focus, which may help.

Of course, there's also the other end of the spectrum. Anyone else like picking up an old film SLR (MX, ME Super, etc) with a 50mm lens and just going out to take photos the old fashioned way? I find that putting a 28mm lens on a DSLR has a similar result - with the crop factor it works out as around 42mm which makes a good general use lens.

I do find that I have to pick film or digital before going out, as otherwise one or the other won't be used and will just be dead weight.

A 3rd party lens hood for the DA L lenses won't cost you much. I do agree it's a bit poor for Pentax not to include them though, they must cost next to nothing to make and include when considered as part of the lens cost.

Ahh! That makes sense now, thanks!

Guessing it should be on the underside of the lens then, to avoid weird lighting effects?

A few weeks ago I bought a 3rd party lens hood for my 18-55mm zoom, and I've just found something a bit odd:

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/IMGP1015.jpg[/IMG]

The small bit of black plastic is evidently supposed to do this, it unclips and clips back in rather like a battery cover. Anyone know what this peculiar feature is for? Why would you want to unclip a chunk of your lens hood?

I had a selection of horrific 35mm compacts, then an immaculate used K1000 in the mid 1990s. I've since discovered that my K1000 dates from the late 1970s, according to the serial number.

Still have one of the compacts - it was a freebie from Boots, bright yellow, no flash, no motor wind. Anyone know if they're worth something? It's still boxed as I used it once before buying the K1000!

Thanks for the offer but I'd rather get a proper Pentax one - aiming for originality.

I'm in no hurry - trying not to spend anything more on this camera until I've put a film through it and know whether it's working properly!