Who on here gets to see the Northern Lights then? Any good photos to share?

I'd much prefer being called an artisan to being called a professional, but I'm unlikely to be called either as I'm very firmly (and happily!) amateur, thereby providing an answer to:

I think the answer to that is a pretty definitive "no".

Some stunning panoramas on there!

Try Micro-Tools in future. I've bought ball bearings (and many other bits!) for lens repairs from there in the past and the postal delivery from Germany is usually within 72 hours.

All Pentax digital SLR's (and their Samsung clones) can use Pentax lenses from the 1950's onwards, so that certainly covers any you may have used with your ME.

You will notice that the field of view changes as the digital sensor is smaller than a 35mm film frame (so a 50mm lens on digital will look like a 75mm lens did on film, etc). The lens in use will also determine in which modes the camera can be used. For example; a lens that is entirely manual (like a Pentax M-series) will require you to operate the camera manually (stop down metering, manual focus, etc) so generally more modern lenses are more convenient. Old prime lenses rarely give anything away in terms of image quality though.

Yes and no; yes it's comparatively slow but no, it does feature an "A" setting (well the SL version does anyway). It's a little brother to your new 125mm macro Clarky - same build and similar IQ.

No, Zeiss design the lenses for Cosina to manufacture, but Cosina designed the current Zeiss Ikon rangefinder (which they also make and which is an extensive reworking of their Voigtlander Bessa bodies). As far as I'm aware the Voigtlander lenses are entirely a Cosina product from design to distribution. The whole camera industry is very incestuous!

If you keep the photos you post here under 800 pixels wide/long then I can't imagine anybody wanting to steal them - they won't be much use to them.

I'm willing to bet that the number of 85's Zeiss sell in the UK per annum in K mount could be comfortably counted on your fingers - hence why you won't find that many stockists...

I have handled Nikon versions of the 50mm Planar and 25mm Distagon and I'd say build was roughly on par with a Pentax-A series; in other words better than anything else on the market today but not quite as nice as the Taks, K's and M's (I leave out the Limiteds as they're AF so they're obviously not as nicely damped as a true MF lens). From what I've seen online the IQ looks excellent but not significantly better than some of Pentax's own offerings (like the FA77 or FA*85). Just my $0.02

By the way, Zeiss are a cracking lens maker but these aren't made by Zeiss, they're made by Cosina in Japan. Not that that's neccessarily a bad thing but don't forget Cosina also produce the Voigtlander lenses (a brand name that they own rather than licence) and these tend to look like better bargains. If you can get hold of the 90mm APO Lanthar (currently out of production but rumoured to be making a comeback) you may find that hits your 85mm spot rather nicely and for far less ££££!

I imagine the aperture ring has been dropped due to the added complexity of sealing it - shame! No mention of AF so I assume it's screw-driven like the Limiteds.

Very nice; but as the weight and size savings over the current model are negligible, and the optical formula the same, I won't be upgrading just yet...