See, I actually regard the developing and scanning as part of the fun of shooting film. I use an Agfa Rondinax tank so I don't need a darkroom, and can have a film developed and scanned within a couple of hours (most of which is spent waiting for the negatives to dry so I can cut and scan them).

I'll be trying Ilford Delta 3200 on Saturday as I want to get some shots at a party without driving people mad with constant flashes. From experience my DSLR struggles in low light and produces a lot of noise when pushed to that ISO, it also tends to hunt for focus which the Super A won't (was going to use the KX, but the Super A will also handle film of that speed and the LCD is easier to read in low light than the matched needles).

I also find it much easier to go out with a fully manual camera with proper controls (the K-m's main failing is the single control dial, if it had one front and rear like the K7 it'd be much better). I regard a reliable 35mm body loaded with colour slide to be an excellent backup and also handy if you don't want to change lenses - I had an ME Super with 40mm pancake for the static exhibits and the K-m with the 100-300mm zoom for the flying displays at RIAT last year.

You need to set it to something between 28mm and 210mm - 8mm is a fisheye which would require much less effort to stabilise than a longer lens.

Pentax made a 28-200mm in the FA series (I believe it was made by Tamron who also made their own version, but the Pentax has SMC coatings and Pentax electronics) which has decent reviews, might be worth looking for one if the focal range appeals. You'll get AF and won't have to fiddle about with shake reduction that way as the lens' internal chip will tell the camera what length to set.

In all honesty you're going to be horrified by the results when you put the teleconverter into the mix. TCs in general do not have a good reputation on digital (I had one which was actually worse than cropped images taken with the same lens!)

You have to keep the pin pressed down. I've heard of people supergluing a small piece of an old CD (or similar thickness plastic) over the pin to hold it, but I've never handled this version of the Helios lens so can't offer much more help. I do have one, but it's the preset version which doesn't have a pin.

Try Amazon for film - Calumet Photographic sell via their marketplace and you can generally find Ilford HP5 10-packs for £32 or so which is the cheapest way to buy it. I'm on my second multipack in as many years and it's great stuff.

Shades of the following notice allegedly seen in a shop in Scotland:

"We would rather serve a thousand Al Quaeda members than one British soldier"




The shop? A funeral director!

I'm not sure whether the Helios lens has an auto/manual switch, but the pin will be irrelevant on digital as DSLRs lack the paddle to press it with. I know with the Takumar lenses you switch to manual and use working aperture metering. Best suggestion I've heard so far was to use the switch in the same way as the meter switch on a Spotmatic - focus with the lens set to A (open aperture), then flick to M (stopping the lens down), meter and shoot.

Unless the lens has an "A" setting on the aperture ring then you need to go into the DSLR menus and find the custom setting relating to aperture ring. Set this to "allow" (or "permitted", not 100% sure of the exact wording) and you'll be able to fire the shutter with this lens. You also need to look up how to do stop-down metering in Manual mode with your DSLR, as thanks to changes in the lens mount the camera can no longer read back the aperture by the position of the aperture ring for metering purposes.

Bear in mind that 28mm is not a wide angle lens on Pentax DSLRs due to the crop factor (the sensor is smaller than a film frame), it's roughly equivalent to a 42mm lens on a film camera when this is taken into account.

I can't really suggest what to set the shake reduction to (this is why it asks for focal length when switched on), I tend to keep my handful of manual zooms on the film bodies as the SR business makes them too fiddly on digital. I do use older primes on digital though.

If you want a really nice 28mm lens for digital (they make good standard walkabout lenses) then look for the SMC Pentax (or SMC Pentax-M) 28mm f3.5. The former is sharper at f3.5 but rarer, they're about equal when stopped down to f8. Both are manual focus and will need stop-down metering, but they're pretty much focus free at f8 or so.

If more money is available then look at the new Pentax DA 35mm f2.4, brilliant lens which takes up very little space and weighs next to nothing.

I am still waiting for this bowl to solidify!

On the plus side we have a pleasantly breezy sunny evening now, after the miserable tupperware grey earlier. Hopefully it'll continue tomorrow as I fancy doing a cross-Wales trip out to Aberaeron then back via Aberystwyth. Got 12 shots left on a roll of slide film in the minty black ME with an M 35mm f2.8 on the front, looking forward to giving it some exercise.

Sorry, I should have said the smallest aperture. This was f22 on the last lens I handled so it kind of stuck in my mind!

What happens if you set the aperture to f22 and do the same test?