Great minds think alike Stefan! Your fingers are quicker than mine though...

Check out whelmed's advert in the classifieds - looks like quite a little bargain to me.

Correct. Don't forget that most commercial portrait photographers did/do have to work in the confines of a relatively small studio and so very long focal lengths simply wouldn't be practical. An 85mm lens on a 35mm camera gives you a nice natural working distance - the same sort of distance you'd have if you were chatting normally to somebody anyway. So the reason the 85mm is a popular choice is because it's a practical one as much as anything else.

Nice to hear a good news story now and again - congratulations and I hope photography brings you many more happy years.

I don't know the camera but is there a button marked "Info" on the back? If so, try pressing that as you play the pictures back and it should scroll through your display options.

I would happily recommend the scanner to anyone. It's not as convenient as a dedicated film scanner (a bit more long winded to set up) but dedicated film scanners for anything other than 35mm are few and far between (not to mention ££££££'s). I wouldn't want to scan a backlog stretching back years but doing each film as it comes back from the lab is quite painless and the quality's great.

As for the 645, I think it'd suit your projects down to the ground. It's hard to judge from the samples I've posted here but trust me, there's enough detail in those negatives to make some seriously large prints if you ever get an exhibition together. There doesn't seem to be much love for the original 645 out there either - everyone wants the 645N or the 645Nii - hence you can pick up complete kits very cheap. I paid £200 for the full outfit in pretty minty condition and it even had the original manuals, etc thrown in. When you think how much a similar outfit from Hasselblad would cost (even one twice the age that looked like it'd been kicked from here to the moon and back) it really does seem a bargain!

Actually most of the DSLR's were Canon and Nikon although I spotted quite a few Oly/Panasonic 4/3's bodies this time out too. But I did spot one other Pentax DSLR, a Pentax K1000 and an ME Super in use - perhaps it's classic Pentax users that also favour classic cars?

Good choice! It was the best lens when it was nearly twice the price of the others, now they're all roughly the same it's a no-brainer IMHO.

Well there are no zooms that go down to 16mm other than those designed for APS-C sensors (so they will vignette at the wider end), however, there's the Pentax FAJ 18-35/4-5.6 AL which is a "full frame" model designed for film cameras. Apparently this lens is still in production but to get a new one you'd have to make a special order from Japan (no idea how much that would cost), alternatively they're plentiful on the second hand market and a quick search on eBay (UK) turns up seven of them with prices from £96 - £185 all on Buy-It-Now.

Another one to consider is the Cosina 19-35/3.5-4.5 (sold under various brand names) which is also quite plentiful and around the same sort of price. SRS currently have one in stock for £129 and they'll give you free UK postage if you mention you're a forum member. Actually they've also got the Pentax lens I mentioned above for £99 - bargain!

If you're after a 16mm prime lens then there are more choices around that focal length, but none of them are cheap (other than the Zenitar fish eye) and I doubt they'd get under your £300 budget.

So assuming you get the 18-35 from SRS at £99 that leaves you £200 for a 50/1.4, which happens to be about the going rate for the current model Pentax FA 50/1.4. At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, SRS also happen to have one of those for £229 so you might be able to haggle them down to £300 for the pair...

If you'd rather not spend quite so much on the 50 then consider moving back a couple of generations. The "A" series lenses are manual focus but retain communication with the camera to allow you to use it's program modes (shutter priority, etc) and the f/1.7 versions only give up half a stop of speed yet are still excellent lenses in their own right. Guess who happens to have an A 50/1.7 in stock for £89 right now?

Happy shopping!

You don't want an Alpine, you want a Tiger! That lovely body shape *and* a V8 under the bonnet - gorgeous