One thing to be wary of with 3rd party batteries = a "tendancy" for some to swell after a year or two. If you are not observant, they can swell enough to be difficult to slide into the battery compartment - and then even more difficult (if not impossible!) to later remove!

OTOH, 2-3 yrs ago, we were sitting in the lounge and heard a bang from the kitchen, went out there but could see nothing that would have accounted for it.

Couple of weeks later I was looking for something in a kitchen cupboard, and noticed some brown stains on the inside walls thereof, and tracked the source down to a small can of Tesco own-brand baked beans. Turned out that it had had a pinprick hole in one end, and, as a result, the contents had rotted and caused a build-up of gas inside the can. The pressure from that eventually led to part of the end opening "explosively" and the rotted beans to "vacate the premises" very rapidly. Took a LOT of time to clean the cupboard, and I never really got rid of every stain.

Took the can, in a plastic bag!, back to Tesco customer services but the assistant was not all "impressed" by the sight or smell in the bag - we then got a quite generous TESCO Gift voucher and a couple of other freebies, but that didn't totally compensate for all that cleaning work

Decades ago, I left a tin of baked beans heating in a pan of water but forgot what I had done - took quite a time to clean the beans off the kitchen ceiling

Evening all

As above and in stock: https://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/dpt/cameras/pentax-k-70-camera-body__3314?mc_c...

IMHO that's a better deal than a K-F (and only about £100 more than I paid them for one in late 2019 - and it should have the very latest solenoid, so the possibiliity of ABF should be very remote)

NB: quoting your PentaxUser forum name should hopefully also get you free P&P on this or any other Pentax product!

As above - see here

If you have a/c data stored on that site, you'd better log in and download it; also, if you have any "loyalty points" you'll lose them if not used by 5th Sept.

TBH, this doesn't surprise me at all after the "change of direction" strategy announced by Ricoh in Japan earlier this year!

Almost the same for me as far as lenses are concerned - but with the 55-300 PLM instead of the Tammy (and the cost was also just shy of £600).

Lot's of websites like the one to which the OP apparently referred but did not actually provide a link - always look for reviews of the site in question!

Depends on its "Commodity Code" and its "Country of Origin" as well as its value - see sites like this https://www.chambercustoms.co.uk/ukimporttaxcalculator

For example, I recently bought a specialist satellite receiver from Spain for around 79 Euros - but paid no extra import duty or VAT.

It appears that Ricoh have now, finally,found and, are supplying , a new version of the K-30 /K-50 / K-70 solenoid which seems to be "better" even than the old "white" one - see post #75 of this thread on the US forum from photogem who has done a lot of research on the subject and has repaired many of these bodies that had aperture block failures.

From this it appears that you may be able to buy these new solenoids from Ricoh's official UK repairer , John Pye Technical Services, but I cannot personally confirm that. If true then that looks like a much easier and quicker route to getting the required component (and possibly a lot cheaper!) than taking one out of an old body.

Apologies but not now interested in this lens because, it seems, it is not Internal Focus (IF) and does extend a long way - and thus, if my past experience with the 150-500 is anything to go by, will probably focus more slowly than I would want.