Unless the K was serviced recently you may well hit shutter capping problems. My SV does it and I assume the mechanism is similar?

Mine went through eight pushrods, eight rockers, and a new cam belt kit recently. It should be cheaper than a new engine, but not sure by how much!

I think what got to me on that one were the constant references to "The People's Banquet". I just thought it an insufferably naff name which reminded me of a bit in Terry Pratchett's Interesting Times where a character points out that while a potential leader may be intent on doing everything for "the people", they hadn't actually asked any normal people what they needed/wanted...

I've used this chap before, but I've no idea how much it would cost for return postage for you. He charged me about £40 to have a Pentax-A 200mm f4 cleaned out which seemed fair to me considering the work required. His timescales were accurate and the work was carried out to a high standard, can't really ask much more than that!

Looking at the prices these lenses go for I doubt it'd be an economic loss to get it sorted out. I see anywhere between £50-£100 on a regular basis and they aren't as common as the f2.8 either.

Thing is, you could easily buy another and find it had been misused by a previous owner. What you have sounds as though it just needs a good clean and some adjustment.

From what I understand (in "The Asahi Pentax Way"), all lenses have a hyperfocal distance if you align the infinity mark with that for the aperture in use on the DOF scale. Objects between infinity and whatever distance lines up with the other aperture mark should then be in focus at that aperture. I suspect Pentax only bothered to put a specific set of orange marks on the wide angles because they thought it'd be handy for landscape shooters, whereas for normal subjects people are likely to want the increased sharpness of focusing on the subject rather than letting DOF fill the gaps.

I'd settle for an old K 300mm f4 to be honest. Only snag is they all go well above the £100 mark which is something of a cut-off for me with old lenses. I'll pay up to that for something rare or special but no more.

(says he who is going to be on the hunt for a 100/2.8 before long - first one to appear on ebay for £100 or so in decent shape after I've been refunded for that mouldy 35/2.8 will be mine!)

Looking good - it's worth tracking down the ever ready cases for them IMO. The front part might be a royal pain, but they do protect cameras from the little knocks and scrapes which are an inevitable part of use. As you've got a couple of minty examples it's worth keeping them that way.

That would be my main reason for advising newbies to read up on a few technical things, then go out and get shooting!

It seems that if you take some of the "Be a pro" courses then you just end up taking the same shots that the teacher would rather than developing your own style. I can't help thinking that this eventually causes boring images where people are frantically trying to obey all the rules of composition despite the fact that the subject matter is, well, boring.

I had a similar experience last year when I noticed that the official SeaFrance postcards of their ships were nothing like as good as the images I got from Calais breakwater with my old K 120/2.8. They'd cropped the image weirdly in one case leaving the ship apparently about to collide with the frame!

My view:

If the cathedral demands that people ask permission before selling images taken there then they clearly understand that photos have a value.

Let's just say I might be more inclined towards the "view it as a donation to a charity you support" line if they weren't looking to make money in that way. Now they might go for something like giving you permission to sell the images free of charge in return for allowing them to use the images (seems fair to me - they'd normally expect income from such a transaction and you're paying them with the right to use your work rather than cash).