Well, I've shot a test roll with the MX and it seems fine. The 1 second setting sounds a bit slow (I've no way of checking other shutter speeds, but I compared this to my watch's second hand) but the film I developed today seemed properly exposed and with no sign of any problems at higher speeds or the 1/4 second setting I was able to try in the woods. There were a few light leaks (only into the sprocket hole area, interestingly enough) but my seal replacement kit should be here in a few days.

I was really checking whether the metering and shutter speeds were accurate rather than trying for anything artistic or original, but I was quite pleased with this. Part of the Claerwen dam taken as an abstract collection of shapes in stonework:

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/MX%20Test%20Roll/PICT0030.jpg[/IMG]

and this - next door's young, bouncy, and very talkative cat which kept twitching and looking at me when the shutter fired!

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/MX%20Test%20Roll/PICT0001.jpg[/IMG]

Yeah, I also thought that they were renowned for being able to spot valuable stuff and ebay it rather than selling locally, can't really understand it either. I thought the advice within most large charity shop chains was just "check ebay to find what it's worth".

I've seen some very "interesting" lens descriptions by people who obviously don't know what they're looking at, the misread aperture seems to be a favourite though. To be fair, Pentax did make it slightly confusing by putting "f1:2" instead of f2 on the front.

On a vaguely related note a friend who volunteers at the local Oxfam has volunteered me to help them figure out values for a pile of old cameras from their store room. No idea what there is yet, but I'm thinking I'll suggest they price items at the lower end of what they'd go for on ebay (as I doubt they'll get any takers if they price at ebay final bid levels - people may be willing to risk £10-£20 on a charity shop find but probably no more). The minty ME we regard as desirable is just an old camera to their average buyer, and I don't get the impression this area is overflowing with vintage photography enthusiasts.

Any thoughts on this? I know they should price optimistically and hope someone's willing to pay extra for charity, but I can't help thinking they'd rather just make a few quid from the kit instead of having it sitting around waiting for someone willing to pay market value.

In my experience providing the seller has a clue what they're offering (and how to check it works) then you're usually fairly safe. I wouldn't spend big money buying anything from a non-expert, but so far I've only had one lens not as described (easily sorted - I contacted the seller, sent it back, then got an email asking whether I wanted the lens back as they'd had the fungus cleaned out, I accepted as it was otherwise in very good condition and was refunded my return postage).

That's possibly one of the most depressing moments in photography - when you realise that one of your best shots was taken in green mode before you'd learned much!

Tends to make me reach for the MX really, that way the camera can't take the credit!

You do realise that if you just program it with the content of a couple of photographic courses it'll be at a similar level to a lot of people who call themselves pros?

To be honest it isn't that difficult or expensive to set up Freesat. You don't need to have anything to do with Sky (and I wouldn't advise doing so either - the minidishes are horrible cheap things in my experience!) Just find a good independent satellite specialist and talk to them. You may need to point out why you want to pick up German TV (let's just say they probably won't think it's for the sport!) There is free English stuff on Astra 2 (although it's much the same as you get through digital terrestrial), but you'll need two dishes if you don't want to have to move it for both.

There used to be a wonderfully restful channel called Bahn TV on there too. It was run by DB as an advert for their services, but a lot of the footage was cab rides on various railway lines. They'd evidently just strapped a camera to the dashboard and left it running, so you got a peaceful cruise through the German countryside (or in winter you'd get little narrow gauge rack railways in the snow). Unfortunately it has now gone web-only.

Not 100% sure but I think it's on Eurosport Germany too. This is free to air, you just need to aim a satellite dish at Astra 1. Commentary can be by Five Live if you don't speak enough German to follow what's going on!

I'm still waiting for mine. Been about a month now, I know the post is inevitably slow between HK and here but really! I must check how long I have to raise a dispute and then chase the seller.

I thought there was a fundamental limitation of the K mount in that it's physically impossible to make lenses faster than f1.2 or so for it? IIRC the mounting just doesn't provide a big enough hole?