You should certainly be proud of that - the photo AND the mucking about that was included!

I possibly have a duff one. Put the two side by side and the difference is immediately apparent. It stays in its case most of the time because there's not much point humping it around. I only bought it because everyone said how good they were. And, yes, I have tried various tweaks to correct the focus. It gives better results on the K3(ii) than the K1 but I learned it was designed for a crop sensor after I'd bought it. Some pictures get posted on here that have been taken with the 1.4x converter. It's not a good idea with this DA*300! I learned that after spending an afternoon shooting a pair of courting grebes. I was really disappointed and ditched the whole lot.

I'm not surprised that it sold. It beats the pants off a modern DA*300.

The clarity of the first one and the restricted colour palette make for a wonderful scene. I thought when I first saw it that it was a bit dark but studying it I came to like what the shadows were bringing to the party.

I recently acquired a Meyer Gorlitz f4.5 105mm Trioplan in a Pronto shutter. Other than being a bit dirty everything works perfectly.
I cleaned the glass and made a new mount for it so that it could be used on M42 extension tubes. Adding a 10mm focusing helicoid
provided a very versatile piece of kit.
It doesn't make Trioplan 'bubbles' like the later 1950s and 60s 100mm versions but I was quite stunned by the image quality in general.
There is very little noise, next to no CA and its resolving capability is phenomenal. The images are from its first use yesterday and I
have attempted to include a variety of situations. The weather was clear and dull. .....

1. 'Close up' (about 6feet away) and wide open



2. Into the shadier part of the tree nursery



3. And up into the light. Unshaded, the image is very hazy. Shade the lens with a table mat (long and flat) then it copes just fine. Note the lack of CA.



4. The full frame, looking at a distant neighbour's first floor flat.



5. 100% crop from it



6. And from the tree to the left of the flat



I'm really impressed with this bit of vintage Hugo Meyer. All with a K1 on a tripod and IR release. ISO 200 and, other than #1, taken
at around f8. Images processed with Faststone Image Viewer. And what did I pay for it? ............. £39.

Since it isn't moving, why not use that nice geared head and do a timed exposure using natural light? I hate flash and I avoid it like the plague. ('cos it's fiddly and I don't understand it).

@Steve - Since getting a Manfrotto geared head I will never go back to ball head. Once you get the hang of it it's quicker to use as well as being accurate and firm.

It might be expensive but it certainly delivers.

Fantastic series of contrasts, from normality to devastation, pointlessness and back to normality. Very well presented.

Thank you all for your kind comments.