Yes. And I'm currently selling one of them on eBay: Link

Still got a bidder though!

Generally most primes from most manufacturers range from OK (Meyer, Sigma, Vivitar) through good (Pentacon, Fuji) to excellent (Pentax, Zeiss, Mamiya/Sekor, Rollei, Voigtlander, Angineux); but I'd avoid zooms from that period as they tend to be heavy, slow and of woeful quality.

There are exceptions to all these of course but that's a pretty good rule of thumb.

The better (and rarer) the lenses are the more they fetch - expect to pay four-figure sums for Angineux; several hundred pounds for Rolleis, Voigtlanders and West German Zeiss; less for Mamiya, Zeiss Jena and Pentax (which makes these hit the sweet spot of cost vs. performance); pocket money prices for the rest. Pentacons (especially the 50/1.8 ) have 95% of the performance of Pentax or Zeiss for a fraction of the money - making them the bargain basement champions.

Japanese lenses from Pentax and Mamiya/Sekor are in a league above *all* the others in terms of build (if not always optical) quality.

Happy hunting!

PS. Sonnars like mine usually go for around £70. By finding one that was mis-labelled, in the wrong section and finishing on a Sunday lunchtime (with UK shipping only) I was able to bag my minter for just £26 - there are bargains out there to be had!

Carl Zeiss Sonnar 135/3.5

I've bought and sold a lot of M42 lenses lately and it's the only one to take up permanent residence in my kit bag. A truly stellar lens!

I've also got the Zeiss Flektogon 35, Zeiss Pancolar 50 and Zeiss Tessar 50. All nice lenses but nowhere near as impressive as the Sonnar.

In fact, I'd go as far as to say I think of the Sonnar as an extension of my FA Limiteds - it's in the same league optically.

Hi Andy, welcome to the forum.

The basics of photography are the same whatever camera you use so I'd suggest your local camera club or college would be a good place to start. Don't worry if everyone else has a Nikon or Canon or whatever, your K10D will be just as capable.

Only one pic in the Pentax Photo Gallery: Link

Looks OK though!

Hello and welcome to the forum

Or the Pentax DA 14mm if you prefer primes...

A 50mm lens on a 645 camera would be a wide angle, the same lens on a 67 camera (larger image area) would be an ultra-wide angle. On a 35mm camera it would be "normal" and on digital it's a short telephoto.

It will always be a 50mm lens regardless, all that changes is the size of the image area behind it.

The original Carl Zeiss "Olympic" Sonnar (180mm f/2.8 ) was sold throughout its life (around 60 years' production) with different mounts to enable it to be used on 35mm and Medium Format cameras - during all that time I doubt the question of "35mm equivalence" came up once...

I'm watching a fungus-y one on evilBay at the moment but thought someone here might have something lurking somewhere. If I don't get any joy then I'll probably try your suggestion ta

What lenses have you got and how much do you want for them?

I've got a minty fresh M42 Zeiss Tessar 50mm sat in my spares box 'cos the spring that operates the aperture blades has snapped. I've searched high and low for a replacement but failed spectacularly to find another that fits properly.

If anyone out there has a tatty / scratched / fungus ridden example that they want to sell (assuming the iris opens and closes) then I'd be willing to give you a few quid for it. I'm hoping someone's got some scrap out there for me to butcher!