I'm quite happy for you to show that as an example...

PM replied to

I've had this one from new (around 3 years now) and it's had very little use, hence it's in mint- condition with all the original packaging (even the Tamron sachet of silica gel). Also included is a Hoya 62mm UV filter that's never been used (I was given it free when I bought the lens). I don't use long lenses very much and now I have the Pentax 50-200WR this is surplus to requirements - it's not as good as a DA*60-250 but for a budget lens it's not too bad either.

Some pictures of the lens:

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/01-3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/02-3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/03-3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/04-3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/05-2.jpg[/IMG]

Now I paid £120 for this when it was new and the prices have fluctuated quite a bit since; it seems the current going rate for a new one is around £140 so I'm asking for just £80 to try and get a quick-ish sale. It's pretty much as-new and it's still a current model after all...

I'm happy to take cash, cheques and PayPal - postage and packaging will be at cost and will depend on where you are and what method of delivery is used.

I bought this one recently to get hold of the lens it was carrying but I've already got too many bodies so this is surplus to requirements. It's an early model S1a (green "R" on the rewind crank / early style iris pin actuator / door latch on door rather than body) and comes complete with a clip on meter (Meter II actually) and a case designed to carry the camera with meter in place.

General condition is good with just a few signs of use (see pictures) and the meter works perfectly. But there are a couple of caveats...

I ran a roll of film through it last week to test it and the first four pictures from the roll came out like this:

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/07.jpg[/IMG]

As you can see there was a problem with the shutter closing on the first three which clears by shot #4 (ignore the little white dots - that's just dust from my careless scanning). Now the rest of the film (another 32 exposures) went through without any problems so I'm guessing the fault was due to the camera having been unused for some while and that it's now cleared itself, however, for this reason I don't warrant the performance of the camera so look at this as a meter for sale with a free spares camera thrown in - then you won't be disappointed.

The other caveat concerns the meter; it requires a PX625 battery to operate and the only one I had available for testing was in my Exacta - to where it has now returned. The Wein Cell equivalent is MRB625 and you'll need one of these to make it work as there isn't one included in this sale.

Some pictures of the items:

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/01.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/02.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/03.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/04.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/05.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/06.jpg[/IMG]

The meter will also fit the Pentax SV and is marked up to a top speed of 1/1000 (the S1a is marked up to 1/500 but has the extra "invisible" notch to give it that higher speed).

I'm looking for just £25 (plus p&p at cost depending on location and method) for this lot and I'm happy to take cash, cheque or PayPal.

A nice example of this popular lens for sale, complete with caps (rear generic but front genuine) and dedicated hood.

Condition is above average with some signs of wear but not excessive. Optically the glass is pretty clean with the exception of a very small scuff on the front element that doesn't appear to have any bearing on pictures taken. There's no fungus, haze, etc - just some microscopic dust particles inside as you'd expect to find on a lens of this vintage. Aperture is snappy and oil free and mechanically the lens works perfectly.

Pictures of the lens:

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/01-2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/02-2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/03-2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/04-2.jpg[/IMG]

I'm looking for a mere £25 for this one plus p&p at cost (depending on your location and method of delivery). Happy to take cash, cheque or PayPal.

As the title suggests I'm selling a Pentax M series 100mm f/4 Macro lens.

Condition is very near mint with just a few microscopic dust particles inside (nothing that will show up in pictures) and it comes with caps, dedicated hood and hard case (not quite as mint as the lens itself, but better to have a scruffy case and a minty lens than vice-versa). Also included is the Hoya Skylight filter that it has worn from new.

Even Ken Rockwell likes this one and he's not exactly known for his pro-Pentax views!

Pictures of the lens:

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/01-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/02-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/03-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/04-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/05-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/06-1.jpg[/IMG]

Pictures taken with the lens (hand held on my K10D) - the first is wide open at f/4, the second a 100% crop of same, the third stopped down to f/8, the fourth a 100% crop of same:

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/April%2010%20M%20samples/100-4-full.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/April%2010%20M%20samples/100-4-100.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/April%2010%20M%20samples/100-8-full.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd37/hefty1969/stuff%20for%20sale/April%2010%20M%20samples/100-8-100.jpg[/IMG]

I'm looking for £100 plus postage at cost (depends on method and your location). I'll take cash, cheque or PayPal.

Dear Santa, I've been a very good boy this year...

It's not the results that count for me (I could have got much the same with digital), it's the pleasure of using nice equipment. When I go out with a digital camera I'm guilty of taking shot after shot with little thought given, safe in the knowledge some will come out OK (I took over 350 with the K10D at the rally today). With film the restrictions imposed mean that I take my time and spend more effort on actually taking good pictures - meaning a much higher pro rata hit rate.

Ages!

There will be a market for 120 film for a long, long time yet. In fact there are even new emulsions being launched and old ones being resurrected. Somebody's got to feed all those Hasselblads, Rolleis, Bronicas, Mamiyas, etc and that's before you take into account the seemingly unstoppable rise of Holgas and Lomos...

That's a big improvement indeed! The next step is to try and get the point of focus on the eyes - it's tricky as the depth-of-field is so tiny but it makes a big difference.

I think Kris has summed it up nicely - print film does have a visibly greater dynamic range to digital, and once you've scanned it then it's not really any different to work on than a native digital file. If you're going to shoot colour film (and I do as you can see) then it's worth sticking to the better emulsions / brands - Fuji Reala 100 is a particular favourite of mine (but nowhere around here stocks it so I had to make do with whatever my local Boots had in).

I'm not sure there's really that much of an advantage to shooting 35mm film in terms of detail though; even with a really good scanner you'd be lucky to extract any more information from a 35mm negative than you'd have in an image straight from your K20D. That's where medium format comes in - once you see a good scan from those (comparatively) huge negatives your jaw will drop. It's like having a 40/50MP digital camera in your pocket.

I took the 645 to a vintage car rally today and ran off a couple of rolls so once I get them back (and assuming the camera actually works - it made the right noises but that's no guarantee!) I'll scan them in and post some of them here for all to see.