Cheers for that John - mystery solved then.

I have to say, for a promotional goodie it's actually one of the nicest soft cases I've come across - better than the genuine Pentax ones if truth be told.

And does the logo on your mug match the one on my case? Just trying to establish if this *was* from the same Pentax Club.

And soft cases by the look of it...

Nice detective work Robbie - you got further than I did!

So this was probably available from the magazine back in the day - any older subscribers who remember them being offered?

Nobody knows?

OK, let's make the question simpler: What is Pentax Club? Does it still exist? Where can I find out more?

Unless of course the first rule of Pentax Club is to not speak of Pentax Club...

No it's not correct, and it's quite mind-boggling that members of staff in any photo shop (even Jessops) should think they would.

As long as the lens is set to "A" then you shouldn't get any worse exposure problems than you do with regular lenses, however, I think that the metering is confined to centre-weighted when used with pre-F series lenses (regardless of where the switch is set to) which would explain the shot above.

It looks like the camera has metered for the central area (which looks about right exposure-wise) while ignoring the rest of the scene - just like film cameras used to! You just need to be a little more careful with old lenses; metering off the ground and locking the exposure is a common way of working, but with digital you can always bracket your exposures and just choose the best one.

I think it's actually a mark of me getting old that I read 1337 just like reading English - and there was me thinking it died out in around 1996...

...and here's a tip - never pay the marked price, always haggle.

I go to Beaconsfield a lot - usually some good bargains to be had. There used to be one near Leeds but I've never personally been there.

Best place to check is Amateur Photographer magazine - you'll find the coming week's fairs listed about 2-3 pages in from the back as a rule.