I grew up with film and still prefer it for lots of reasons (although I only B&W film now - and not for a while). I have developed my own film in the past but not printed it (limited space, time, equipment and not enough motivation!).

I have used Ilford processing & scanning (not printing) and found it the most convenient way for me shoot film). The advantage of film, is that you can't delete them by mistake or have to back-up the drive you stored them on (duplicated on-site/off-site backups etc...) easily worth the 20-30 pence per shot in my opinion.

As for those new to film, it's not as difficult as many believe. Your exposure has to be really far out with negative film to not get anything at all. B&W film is extremely forgiving on exposure (same with developing). Composition is far more important as you can't immediately see what you've got and every shot counts.

But shooting film will improve your understanding of photography and improve your digital photography enormously (unless you're already an expert).

Regards,

John.

This is a tough one to call, virtually all the MF bodies have their share of weaknesses (yep even the LX!). I would narrow it down to one of the following:

SP, SP1000, SPII, K1000, MX, ME-Super/MEF, Super-A, P30n/P30T, P50, LX, MZ-M

The MZ-M is included above because it has full finder info in all modes (the only MF Pentax to do so), but I would be mindful that the motorised film advance might be troublesome today.

There are a lot of other bodies that are missing features covered by the above (making them less interesting as shooters) including:

ME, MG, MV, P30, SP500, A3 & Program-A

I've not mentioned the other K's because I think they're rare and/or more likely to be troublesome.

Personally I'd go for a K1000 (or better still two K1000's) unless you'll will be using it a lot in low-light, really need a selftimer or Depth of field preview - if so then get an MX.

I have bought lots of the above (many cheap off ebay) and it's the electronic ones that fail the most. K1000s are built like tanks (even the plastic ones), are plentiful and low-risk cameras (my MX feels like exquisite precision machinery and far to delicate to carry around).

The PZ functionality didn't offer too much additional functionality and drained the Z-1(p)'s 2CR5 battery too much to be of any real use. I used mine almost exclusively in manual zoom at the time.

The Z-1(p) doesn't know anything about SDM lenses and doesn't have the logic to focus them using the SDM system (then again it was released almost 20yrs before SDM!).

The K-5 will power-zoom the PZ lenses although without the special zoom modes of the Z-1(p) (it still doesn't really offer anything but drains the battery less).

If the price is 'reasonable enough' you could try a 200 with and without a 1.4x teleconvertor...

I haven't been on a safari trip but my guess is that a prime is going to limit you somewhat given that you (or your guide) may not be able to control the distance to (or the size of) the animal in question. I'd look for an xx-300 zoom to suit your budget which I think is as long as you'd want to go for the environment I can envisage on a safari (probably in a vehicle without decent tripod support and surrounded by others jostling to get the same shot).

Interesting discussion. My ME-F came with a case which I assumed to be a standard ME-Super one (I don't have it to hand to check for 'ME-F' stamped in the base).

Loads of manufacturers made K or KA mounts, either as 'own brand' lenses or as 'independent' lens manufacturers. As stated most of the independent 'KA' lenses also included the Ricoh pin. I've used these lenses on and off for years on Pentax AF film bodies without any problems but when I bought my K-5 I removed all the Ricoh pins as per the instructions on this site: link. This was purely because the cost of the K-5 made this a sensible precaution (and because I found the site above and found it to be an easy procedure).

Note: Some of the independent lenses have a longer baffle around the aperture simulator lever which fouls the powerzoom/SDM power contacts (approx. 5 o'clock on the mount from the front) and prevents the lens from mounting.

The short list is:
Chinon, Cosina, Centon, Ricoh, Sigma, Tamron Adaptall, Tokina, Vivitar but I'm sure there are many more (I think Practika & Zenit even made K mount bodies?).

As I've only recently 'gone digital' all my lenses apart from my 17-70 are M42, K, KA, F or FA's. The 17-70 was bought purely to give me a 28mm ish equivalent (which I have in abundance anyway).

I bought one a few months ago because I wanted a camera I could take anywhere without having to worry about it. I also wanted something to take the load off my MX. Have to say both of mine (I bought another later) are good 'uns and I now prefer them to the MX (which is suddenly too small!).

womble has previously posted a photo link. Seeing my MEF drive mine to a perfect split-image alignment is quite strange in such an old school body.