My view: It's not bad, but there are better 28-80 ish lenses about. If you can get one cheaply and don't mind the plastic fantastic construction then go for it.

I'd quite like to see Pentax and Lego collaborate, although I think it'd need to be one of the compacts in order to sell. They'd probably do rather well with an Optio RZ10 or similar in a newly tooled shell with standard Lego studs moulded on providing the price was right.

It would also open the camera to all sorts of interesting experiments, as it would be very simple to temporarily fix things to it or attach it to things. Lego bricks are famously very precise in their dimensions and there's a whole range of Technic parts to choose from in building a remote controlled camera vehicle...

Some lenses operate completely differently in macro mode. The old Pentax-M 40-80mm for example gains push-pull focusing when you click the zoom ring around to macro, and won't click back to being a conventional zoom unless you pull the focus ring all the way back toward the camera and then turn the zoom ring. I'm not sure if there are any others quite like this!

I would wonder if it's a case of customer service staff who are trained to deal with problems and questions about the current range but know very little of the company history. Pentax are definitely unusual in keeping manuals for almost every camera they've ever made available as a PDF download, and that doesn't cover some of the more unusual models which I've only ever seen as photos on the K Mount Site.

The ranges offered by 3rd party manufacturers seem particularly poorly catered for by internet historians. I've searched in vain for a full listing of Tokina lenses for the Pentax K mount, for example.

I would, but my experience of M42 lenses on my K-m isn't great. I found the three I tried produced major exposure errors. I do suspect this was related to the aperture though - when I tried the 55mm f1.8 from my SV it was much better than the f3.5 lenses I'd tried before.

Prices of rarer K lenses seem to be all over the place. I get the impression that some stores just charge what they paid plus their normal markup, while others set mad BIN prices and push the market price for that particular lens up.

Lowepro's site has the dimensions of the case. Amazon had one in stock when I checked just before posting this.

I don't own the 17-50mm but they are excellent cases. I found the 1W perfect for my Samyang 85mm which is quite a chunky lens compared to the rest of my collection.

I keep being told variants of this one. All I can say is that basic lens designs haven't changed in the best part of a century. Coatings have improved and machining tolerances have been tightened but the best older glass can still compete.

I wouldn't bother with things like old non-brand zooms but SMC Pentax ("K series") lenses are still worth owning.

Telephoto always used to refer to anything longer than the 50mm standard lens, and wide angle to anything shorter.

Went for £695 in the end. I would suspect the seller's low feedback depressed the price.

It went up 1p here when the 1p duty cut was announced.

If they really want to make a difference then the cut needs to be the order of 50p/l.