It might be possible to sort the damage to the K lens. The best technique I've seen involved cutting a semi-circular notch in a piece of wood of the same diameter as the end of the lens, then wedging the damaged part of the lens against said notch and using another piece of wood as a drift. While it sounds as though someone had a bash at your lens without this rig it should still improve matters.

Mine's the T2 mount version (I think - there's an adapter there which looks like a T2 to me). There is a strange tide mark in the rear lens elements which I can't work out how to dismantle and clean, but very little dust. I did adjust the adapter to place infinity on the top, rather than on the side as the last owner had it!

It's a 35mm film developing tank from the dawn of time - I would guess that mine could date from anywhere between the 1930s and 1960s judging by the box and bakelite material.

The wonderful thing about it is that you don't need a darkroom, it just loads the film like a camera (slightly more fiddly, but not complicated). If you google "Agfa Rondinax 35U" then you should find a link to a PDF version of the manual which some helpful soul scanned and posted online, this will make it much clearer. If you then decide you want one the fun begins - they do come up on ebay but they're not all that common, so you need to watch and wait.

One thing they don't mention in the manual: When rewinding the film you need to listen for the click as the leader disengages from the spool inside the camera, and stop winding then. If you manage to rewind the leader into the cartridge then you'll need a film leader retriever tool to get it back - these are around £6 and are essential if you want to use AF film SLRs which generally rewind the film fully (aside from two or three which can be programmed not to).

I don't bother with an enlarger. My negatives come out of the Agfa Rondinax 35U dev tank, hang up to dry, then are fed into a film scanner. All the mono shots in my portfolio here were processed this way.

Problem is, there seems to be a prevailing attitude in some very noisy quarters that mirror lenses are always useless.

I was recently given a Makinon 500mm f8. My assessment would be "Not too bad". Cropped shots from my 50-135mm are possibly better but that's comparing a £640 lens with something which you could buy a new version of for £100 or so (Samyang make something which looks identical).

Incidentally, one trick I used to deal with the hunting for focus problem: Prefocus on the tarmac where you want to photograph the car, then keep the shutter button half pressed. When the car is in the right place, press the button. This should stop it hunting and get around any problems with slow AF.

I think I've tracked down an ERC for my SFX, which should protect it somewhat against the vague excuse for summer weather here. Just a couple of questions though:

The front part seems to be the short version - would this fit the standard F 35-70mm zoom?

Does the case have provision for the AA battery grip? This makes the grip side of the camera chunkier and I can't see whether the case has any way of expanding to handle it.

This any use to you? It looks in better shape than most and it's the right vintage for an ME Super.

I've had the same experience looking at LX's, I keep seeing heavily used examples going for over £100. You'd have no idea how long it would keep going for, and while I can replace manky light seals myself a proper CLA for an LX is around the £100 mark. I'm actually thinking it would be better to buy a tidy but jammed example cheaply, get it overhauled, and have a freshly serviced LX for about the same as people pay for a working example of unknown history.

I actually have an MX in that condition which I was planning to have sorted out, but this new find was cheaper than a professional service so it'll be lurking in the wardrobe for a bit longer. I'm now up to three of them - one battered but apparently working perfectly, one tidy but completely jammed, and one which looked minty in the photos and should be here in a few days!

One thing to beware of with the 28-80mm and possibly the other zoom - does the front element rotate when you focus? If so, you're going to have a hard time with ND and polarising filters as they need to be at a specific orientation to work (hence why they can be turned once attached to a lens).

If you plan to shoot mono (and I'd advise you at least try it, it's dead easy to develop at home too) then look into the effects of coloured filters.

The cable release and filters should be very simple. The P30t has a standard screw thread on the side of the lens mount for a cable release (or air release if you want to stand further away), so just have a rummage on ebay. You should be able to find one for a few pounds.

You need to look at which lenses you're using and find their filter thread sizes, then decide what filters you want. If you're planning to scan the negatives then you can still apply most effects digitally, I know I only tend to bother with contrast boosting or graduated filters on film.

Yup, saw it, couldn't afford any of it!

I'm mostly keeping my eyes open for either or both of the 135mm lenses and a 50/1.4 for my KX, although if a 200mm f4 pops up for £50 or so I'll pounce on it. Having just bought another MX (looked minty, came with original lens and a few bits and pieces including at least the back half of an ERC, £50) I'll have to avoid lens hunting for a few weeks now!