It's never a mistake to give a thorough description!

I've bought near-mint items on eBay really cheap because they've been poorly described with blurry photos - it puts most buyers off.

On the other hand, I've sold damaged goods where I've shown nothing but the bad parts and received better than average prices for them.

If people can't be there to handle the goods then they want to know *exactly* what they're getting - warts and all! eBay is one of the few places where honesty still pays...

I think your listing's a good one and you should find a buyer. One tip though; in the "Item Specifics" box choose "Other" as well as "Pentax" and add in "Ricoh, Chinon, Samsung" as these will all be taken into account in searches, whereas the body text of your description isn't.

Hi there and welcome to the forum

Check out his listings tomorrow night then - I have it on good authority there's a:

Mint MZ5 with data back
F28-70/4
F70-210 (yet another!)
Vivitar TX 400/5.6 (with K mount)
Pentax Slide Copier (boxed / unused)
SMC Tak 135/3.5 with original hood and caps

and - drum roll - this week's star item...

Samsung D-Xenon 100/2.8 Macro (that's the D-FA 100 to you and me)

I always have started my auctions at 99p/NR regardless of the value I'm expecting - it gets folks interested. I've had a couple of disappointments but not many.

Cars can be a bit of a worry, especially if they still owe me four-figure sums with only minutes to go. Last minute bidders have always done me proud though.

I've bought some complete rubbish on eBay over the years but on balance I think I've done quite well out of my purchases - if I can keep the ratio 5:1 (good:rubbish) going then I reckon I'm ahead overall.

There's a seller on there called hefty2002 who has some lovely Pentax stuff from time-to-time and you can buy from him with confidence...

I had a good chuckle over that one too

He did actually describe it as "working" so if I was being pedantic I could have marked him down on feedback, but I was already feeling like I'd robbed the poor chap so I didn't...

If anybody wants a dead SFx for the price of postage let me know. It's nice cosmetically and the thumb grip / battery holder / eye cup / etc are all present and correct, but the mirror's stuck up and it makes a horrible squealing noise when you put a battery in it. Not really my cup of tea so I won't be fixing it myself.

I only won the parts just over a week ago: Link

But isn't that the fun of eBay? Buy some old rubbish cheap, keep the bits you want and clean the rest up to sell on. You effectively get what you want free.

By the way, I was after a cheap tripod for a friend so I bought this for 26 quid: link

My mate was happy with the tripod, the camera was bin-fodder, I've pressed the bag into service and you may recognise the two lenses from this week's auctions - which I'm off to watch the end of now...

What's your record for an F70-210 then?

At the time of writing my latest one has half an hour to go but I'm quite pleased so far!

Link

Even better, I picked up another one yesterday which'll be getting listed tomorrow.

Lenses prior to the A series (M42, K, M) have no electronic connection and so the camera can't adjust the aperture from the body - this will restrict you to using them in either Manual or Aperture Priority modes.

Lenses prior to the F series (M42, K, M, A) are manual focus and will still be manual focus on a digital body.

All other lenses (F, FA-J, FA, DA, D-FA) will give all functions with the K-m or K200D.

So yes, AF will still work with your FA series lenses.

Welcome to the forum

The Pentax K-mount dates back to the mid-1970's and has been used by several manufacturers. As well as lenses made by Pentax themselves (and third parties like Sigma, Tamron, Vivitar, Zeiss, Voigtlander, etc, etc) you can also use lenses made for Chinon, Samsung and Ricoh SLR systems - although be careful with some Ricoh lenses as they have an extra pin that can interfere with the AF screw and should be removed before placing on a Pentax camera. Additionaly, pre-AI Nikkor lenses will work on a K-mount but won't lock on properly, making them useable but awkward.

Pentax also make genuine K->M42 adapters allowing you to use M42 lenses dating back to the 50's. There are some wonderful M42 lenses out there including Pentax's own Takumars as well as lenses from Japan, Germany and Russia. Some of these M42 lenses are very rare and desireable but most are plentiful and good value for money. For less than £100 you could pick up a 3 lens prime set that will rival some of the best glass available new today - on a tight budget I'd buy a Pentax Takumar 35mm f/3.5, a KMZ Helios 44 (58mm f/2) and a Carl Zeiss Sonnar 135mm f/3.5 and be happy that I had three exceptional lenses without breaking the bank. All with focus confirmation, metering and shake reduction of course!

The features of each lens will be limited to the features offered at the time the lens was new; in other words a lens that was sold as manual focus won't suddenly become AF by placing it on the K20D. Later lenses (Pentax A series from the 1980's onwards) have electrical contacts that "talk" to the camera and allow for the aperture to be set by the body - it is only these lenses that can take advantage of modes such as Program and Shutter Priority; older lenses (and M42 lenses) will restrict you to Manual and Aperture Priority modes only. Depending on your shooting style this may or may not be a problem.

With the Pentax K-mount you probably have a wider selection of useable lenses than all the other systems combined. Of course some of them are very poor (I had a Prinzflex 100-200mm f/5.6 zoom from the 70's that was little better than holding a milk bottle in front of the camera, but then it only cost me £1 so it was worth trying) but generally anything that was actually made by Pentax themselves will be in the good to outstanding range.

I haven't used the 17-70 as it's a relatively new lens but others on here have and the reports are all pretty positive. The 18-55 has some weaknesses (some barrel distortion at 18mm, some softness wide open, comparatively slow) but for the money is hard to beat! If you close it down to around f/8 it will produce wonderful images (Gallery Link) and will also focus quite close - not true macro but around 1:3 which makes it a very useful all-rounder.

If you like wide angles then the Pentax DA12-24 is probably the most prime-like zoom I've ever used and is almost without fault - a fantastic lens. In fact, I don't think there's a single "bad" lens in the Pentax line-up, whichever you choose should serve you well.

Hi Jamal, welcome to the forum