Presumably they have a way of paying the VAT up front? I'm always put off ordering from outside the EU as you never know how much you'll be stung for. Sub £18 is ok as obviously that doesn't attract VAT.

Interesting - I have seen a seller in the far east offering replicas of the original Pentax ERC for the MX as an alternative.

At the moment I store the body in a Lowepro Pouch 30 and the lens in one of their smallest cases, which fits neatly on the base of the pouch using the belt loop but obviously doesn't allow me to put the camera away with lens attached. It does make a neat package though, and I suspect the MX with a 40mm would fit perfectly in that pouch...

Just check the listing carefully for any mention of fungus. It isn't necessarily fatal but I wouldn't pay more than £5 or so for an infected lens. I have a couple of 50mm f2s that I've managed to return to health, so it is possible but I doubt they're quite as good as a mint example.

It is worth looking for older film SLRs as a source of cheap lenses. I got my mint M 50mm f1.7 along with a similarly excellent ME Super for £28 a couple of months ago.

The A lenses are indeed getting increasingly silly. I paid £42 for my 50mm f1.7 a couple of months ago, at the time that was cheap as it had been listed as "Pentax 50mm" with the full description only visible when you clicked through to the listing. I have just seen a fungus-infested one hit £36 with over a day to go...

Second edit! Not sure if you know, but A series lenses will allow you to use all modes on your DSLR. Auto aperture but manual focus. M series are all-manual and you'll have to use stop-down metering in Manual mode or shoot at the widest aperture in Av mode.

I've been trying to take less kit, as I feel it makes your creative side work a bit harder. But it really depends on what you're shooting. For example, an air show would see me with my 18-55 and 100-300, as I'll want wide angle for large aircraft on the ground and the 300mm for the air displays.

A stage show or concert will be either my 28-90mm or my 135mm, depending on how far I am from the action. Primes are much better for this as they tend to be sharper at wider apertures, unfortunately I have something of a gap between 55mm and 135mm in primes which the 28-90mm covers.

Museums, probably the 18-55mm as you often can't get far away from the subject without capturing items you don't want, such as people, benches, signs, etc.

For general walk-around use I like the old A series primes, especially the 28mmm and 50mm I have. The 50mm is nicely compact and a joy to use, I've not tried the 28mm out properly yet but it seems decent so far. Both are half as long as the zoom and can handle low light very well. The 28mm works out as a 42mm on digital, so not far off the classic 50mm focal length.

How did the 120 version deal with the backing paper on the film? I remember it being a pain when I developed a couple of rolls of 120 with my Dad's old Paterson System 4 tank about ten years ago, so I'm intrigued as to how the Rondinax would handle it.

(assuming here that all 120 film is the same - I had Ilford which had a plastic spool with the film and a light-proof backing paper around it).

There's a Pentax-M 50mm f2 on ebay for £15 at the moment, and an f1.7 for £25 when I last looked. I'd say to buy one of those as they're superb lenses.

Yep, I downloaded and printed the manual from the same source. Mine has the original box, but no paperwork.

They do come up on ebay fairly often, just keep your eyes open (especially in the new year when the consumer machine orders people to "de-clutter" and they turf out the old wardrobe with grandpa's camera kit in it). I doubt that I paid much for mine as I was sceptical of how effective it would be. Having put a couple of films into it and had them come out well developed and with good contrast I'm very impressed.

A few months ago I bought a Rondinax daylight developing tank. For those who've never used one, this gadget enables you to develop negatives without a dark room or light-proof bag. You simply place the film cartridge in the box, clip the end of the film to a rubber strip, close the lid, and turn a knob to wind the film onto the drum. You then use a built-in cutter to free the end of the film from the cartridge before filling the tank with developer and processing as normal.

I'm just amazed that these are no longer made. I wouldn't try processing colour film but for black and white it's absolutely brilliant. It takes roughly 15mins to process a film. I follow the instructions included with the film, but use the Rondinax manual's instructions on how to agitate it (a half turn of the knob every two seconds). The results are excellent.

If anyone else is looking at buying one, make sure that the film guide is included. I initially thought that mine was missing, but it turned up elsewhere in the packaging. Without the guide the tank is useless, as the film will not feed onto the drum properly. As the guide is not physically attached to the tank (it just sits on a pair of pivots and needs to be removed to lift the drum out after processing) they can go walkabout very easily.

Wikimedia has photos of one here http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Agfa_Rondinax_35_U

There is also a wider version that I believe is intended for 120 film. I quite like the idea, but for the fact that I can't see how it will deal with 120 film having backing paper.

Well, it looks as though I got away with not replacing the seals (although I have a new set on order as they've gone sticky):

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

Taken with M 50mm f2, the lens seems to have survived my amateur fungus removal. The lump of machinery is an old hydro-electric generator.

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/Landscapes/PICT0018.jpg[/IMG]

Taken with K 55mm f1.8 - the lens I mostly intend to use with the MX. Slightly over-exposed, most likely due to the brightness of the snow confusing the light meter.

The price of used lenses will be directly related to how many were sold. 50mm f2s will be the most common, followed by f1.7 then f1.4 and f1.2 versions. Genuine Pentax 28mm and 135mm are slightly less common as many people bought cheaper 3rd party lenses or zooms.

It's also worth looking at some complete cameras - the Program A/Super A/A3/A3000 and P30 series were sold with these lenses, so you might find a bargain from someone clearing out their wardrobe.

There are usually a few A series 50mm f2s on ebay for around £25, they're decent enough lenses. Not as good as the f1.7 but if you want to try a manual focus prime without spending much it's worth a look.