I can vouch for dust not being a problem. I have an old K 55mm f1.8 with a few specks in which don't seem to make it any less sharp.

There does seem to be a shortage of reasonably priced prime glass in the 85mm-100mm ish focal length. The only one I've been able to afford is the FA 28-90mm zoom, which is an incredibly good lens for the price but obviously not up to prime standards.

135mm primes seem fairly plentiful, and I'll be looking for one of them when I next have some spare cash. A near 200mm lens (on digital) at f3.5 for about £50? Yes please!

I think I prefer the P30T to the P30

The P30 will only offer Auto mode with lenses that have an A position. The P30T offers aperture priority auto with any PK lens. I remember being rather annoyed after buying the P30 and discovering that its auto mode wouldn't work with the M 50mm f2 lens from my K1000. I hung onto it though, and stand no chance of ever recouping my investment as I bought it about a year before digital SLRs hit the market...

My P30T was probably bought after the *ist D had come out, as I remember it being abut £50 or so from Jessops. It's not in bad shape at all and now lives in the flight case with the rest of the non-daily use collection (K1000, MZ-50 I raised from the dead, ME Super, P30 and MG)

I recently bagged an ME Super, 50mm f1.7 lens and a generic flash for £28 on ebay. I was mostly after the lens to try that fast 50mm I'd heard so much about on my Km, but I'd always wanted an ME Super.

Once the horrible smell of tobacco smoke had died away (think the last owner must have been a fifty a day man!) it's a very nice example. Could do with new light seals/mirror damper foam as they're going sticky, but I'll definitely be making the effort to do that as it's in great condition otherwise. This one will be used as my classic film SLR I think - it's just so pleasant to hold and operate.

As for the lens, it's staying on the ME Super now as I've since bought an A version which gives me access to all exposure modes on my Km.

How about investing in an LX (the top Pentax mechanical SLR) and a complete set of original K lenses? It would be an investment too as they'd always be worth at least what you paid.

I'd like one of the original M pancakes, but they seem to go for ~£100 which is a bit much for me considering that they're reported to be less than stellar optically. I have an MG body here that would go very well with a pancake, after I replace the fogged viewfinder window with a spare.

Plus it'd be fun to play with on digital, even with the metering limitations!

The old SF series feel like proper cameras. I have an SF7 that I bought for the lens, but I won't be selling it on as I rather like the feel of it. I'll buy a roll of slide film at some point and give it a go.

Interestingly my Km feels just as solid, but smaller.

As I understand it Pentax have only made two true pancakes - the original M 40mm f2.8, and the new DA 40mm. The A 50mm is about 3cm long so not massive (but not a true pancake), and it's probably the best of the manual focus 50mm primes for sensible money. The faster versions seem to go for mad amounts, especially the A version of the f1.2.

I realise the thread has taken a different course, but on the subject of the pancake lenses: The M one seems overpriced for what it is, you can buy a Pentax-A 50mm f1.7 for about half the price which will work with all the modes on a DSLR, doesn't stick out much more, and is a far better lens optically.

I really wish Amazon would sell the DA 40mm at £200 or so more often - I'd like one, but the £360 price tag is well out of my budget. That's more than I paid for my Km!

I had a slight addiction to cheap 28-80 (ish) AF zooms, although that's almost settled since I bought an FA 28-90mm. This seems to be the best of the cheaper lenses in that focal range, slightly ahead of the F 28-80mm on account of the longer range.

Now it's primes - just bought an A 50mm f1.7 and I'm looking at a 135mm when I can afford one. These join a K 55mm f1.8, an M 50mm f1.7, a pair of M 50mm f2s and a Takumar Bayonet 28mm f2.8.

I ended up with the multitude of M 50s as I had a K1000 with an f2, then bought an ME Super with an f1.7, and then saw another cheap f2 which is a great fit on an old MV1 I had lurking in the wardrobe...