Providing that you keep an eye on the pad and brush/shake off any grit from lenses before using the pen on them then it should be ok. I use mine if I inadvertently put a fingerprint on a lens or (for example) if it gets a couple of drops of water blown onto it.

It does wonders for greasy marks, providing that you inspect it for any contamination before using it.

I will never figure out the appeal of things like that. A fully serviced MX with 50mm lens will cost you less than one of those things, and when you get bored with doing pretentious nonsense with vaseline smeared over the front of a spare UV filter you'll have a camera that can take photos that don't look like someone's slightly wobbly holiday snaps!

If you haven't already, get a lens pen. It's probably best to get a proper Hama one, I've not tried the ebay cheapies but with the Hama ones at £5 it isn't worth trying to buy cheaper. Absolutely brilliant for dealing with fingerprints, smudges, dust specks or drops of water on lenses.

(Thinking we could turn this into a thread for the newbies who'll most likely join after being given a Kx on Friday?)

She looks quieter and more polite than some tourists I've had to try to avoid including in photos (hard, when they stand smack in front of you for ages!)

35mm lenses in general don't seem hugely common. Mind you, there might be a post-xmas flurry as people look to dispose of old gear that's been replaced by new presents...

I have a K 55mm f1.8 that I paid £8 for on impulse, I now have no intention of letting it go (a little dust, otherwise somewhere between very good and excellent)! The K series lenses are superb, and I keep a constant eye open for more. They are slightly larger than the M series but they match the DSLRs well as a result.

I've removed fungus from a couple of 50mm f2s without any problems, and I wouldn't be put off buying an f1.4 with a similar problem although I'm not sure if they're as easy to work on.

On the f2s the mould was on the rearmost lens of the front element group and the foremost lens of the rear group, so all I had to do was unscrew the front group, clean the back of it and the front of the rear group, then reassemble.

I should perhaps add that neither of these lenses cost more than £6 or so, the most recent one was £4.50 and is perfectly useable now with only a small amount of dust. Just need to keep an eye on it for any more mould.

Finally got around to giving mine some proper use today - took it out to the Elan Valley with a couple of mm of snow on the ground and the 50mm f2 on the front. The only snag with 36 exposure films is that they take a while to use, I still have around 20 shots left before I can find out how well it's working.

The combination of snow and blue skies meant that I was at 1/1000 and f8 or so most of the time, so I'm expecting some good results.

I have seen instructions for converting M42 lenses to K mount with a cheap adapter. Basically it entails removing the clips from the adapter, fitting it to the lens, and drilling a small dimple to allow the locking pin on the camera body to function as it would with a K lens.

This also removes the other problem with some cheap adapters - the clips can become worn and jam in the camera body. No clips, nothing to jam!

In the modern standardised world the only differences are likely to be the language in menus/manuals, and any power cables. Most current transformers are switch mode types that can take input voltages between 110v and 240v or so, they merely add a different cable to suit different power sockets.

Do check that this is the case, as I don't want to be blamed for anyone connecting a 110v transformer to 230v AC and blowing it up!

Certainly where things like lenses are concerned it will make no difference where they were originally sold. A K mount lens is a K mount lens, the only ones to beware of are those with the Ricoh pin which jams in Pentax AF drives and makes the lens impossible to remove.

Yep, or my old Pentax-F 100-300mm and doing the same. Pity, as those giant telephotos do look cool!

I keep looking interestedly at these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/500mm-f8-0-Lens-for-Pentax-istDL2-istDs-istDL-istD_W0QQite...

A few sellers have them, I hear they're not particularly good lenses but I'm open to being persuaded either way. They're a bit too expensive to buy on the offchance that you'll get some good results (as opposed to "Lens in a Cap" and cheap Russian glass where it's worth the money for a few hours fun playing with it).