I find the bodies after the A series bland or ugly.
Now that I have the chance to play with dark room, I want to shoot some film, but for that the MX is fine. By fine I mean a gorgeous piece of kit, small, sturdy and handy. The only other bodies I consider keeping would be spotmatics (cuz they are beautifull) and the LX.

Limiteds... Someday I'll get one (them ).

Done, replaced screen, gave it some vigorous puffs with the blower and its very clean now (not perfect).

So, Ilford HP5 ISO400 loaded, and Tammy 24mm on.
So from tomorrow I can start snapping film again
I noticed you can actually close down the kit lens by using the lever, which is obvious but left me surprised.
So I'm gonna get some really wide angles (with lots of vignetting).

I don't think I'll use this first roll to have my first go at dark room development. I want to check the camera is ok, not me messing up afterwards...

I too saw that 400mm, started low but in the end...

I have the feeling that the high price exceptions are becoming more and more common.

This is not good, when one is just starting lens hoarding...

Plus I'm really stingy and really like a bargain (I have yet to buy a SMC-Tak 135mm cuz I stubbornly want to buy it under £18 ).

Hi.

Hi just found another copy of this lens, so no point in keeping 2 (ah! LBA controlled )
The lens is in excellent cosmetic and mechaninal condition as you can see








and comes with both caps (original)

The glass also looks ok, but on close inspection...



There is some considerable internal dust, being a push-pull zoom this is not surprising...

I've taken photos with this lens without noticing the dust, but for your peace of mind here's a comparison:
Sky shot at 1/80, F18.
Tokina:


Kit lens:


So you can see the only spots are clearly in the sensor. Those buggers are hard to clean...

Price is £25 shipped within UK, or trade for Tamron 52A.

Update on the cleaning.

I've used cotton q-tips covered with a cheap glasses cleaning wipes and very gently cleared the debris and stains from the mirror.
Its not pristine, but its very good now.
However, looking from underneath, I now clearly see that some of the spots on the focus screen aren't really spots... It seems the screen has been damaged somehow. It doesn't really imped operation, and they aren't very noticeable, but it doesn't look that great.


*The grey "stain" bellow the splitscreen*

Fortunately the MX I'm keeping for myself is pretty good.



The screen on the MX I'll keep for parts is dirty but doesn't look damaged.



The mirror though is pretty dirty. If you focus a bit back you'll get the mirror surface and this is how it looks like...





So I'll use the screen from the parts MX to replace the other one.

I still want to clean the screens, but thats gonna be very tricky...

Of spending too much time in the forums, of LBA.


How did I get so many bodies? I really just want one film body... (the third MX from foreground).

Looks like people aren't enthusiastic about the idea...
Pitty.

Now sold.

Yes.
The Kata 3N1 range (...-10 -20 -30)
Its a backpack plus slingshot, can be configure for left or right hand sided use. Straps can be tucked away, you can top load it for long lenses, rain cover of course... It shows I desperately want one doesn't it?

Pricy

Update...

Just done new seals on one of the MXs (the one on the left), and gave a bit of a cleaning.
It really is a pitty about the brassing. You can't really see it with the bright lights but its got a fair amount of scuffs around the body... Still much better than some stuff I've seen on the bay...
I'd like to clean some persistent speks of dust on the focus screen and marks on the mirror (crud for the seals), but I'm a little hesitant in touching those.
Gonna research it a bit.