Were they handheld? The general advice for fireworks (at lest for film) was to use a tripod & long exposure (several seconds or B) and use a piece of black card in front of the lens as a 'manual shutter'. This allows you to get several different bursts on the same frame should you desire it.

It is possible (on the K-5 at least) to see the effect of SR in Live View. The system damps high fequency vibration most obviously, so if you shake the camera quickly (and gently!), you can see the image float around slowly rather than shake. As expected this is more obvious with longer lenses.

Completely agree fatspider,

The last few bodies I've used most have been S1a, K1000, SP1000, SPII, SP (see my flickr stream for the first rolls through them). Somewhere I have an OM1n with a dead meter I want to dig out...

What Olympus got right was the marketing/styling, the OMD-xxxxx (the rest of the name nobody seems to be able to remember) will sell in droves, but the EVF in a fake pentaprism is a big turn-off for me. The lag when panning the camera is ridiculous if other Oly EVFs are anything to go by.

My wish in the '90s was something as capable as my Z-1 but built like an LX, the K-5 is a digital equivalent of that. I can still use my old lenses K, KA, F & FA and old flashes and pretty much everything else.

The K-01 is a quirky camera intended for the Ipod generation, there are plenty of sensible mirrorless cameras out there and being different is definitely a USP in my opinion.

Shooting the K-5 in manual (really Hyper-manual) is a joy and the mode I use most. If you want the program line just press the green button, AE lock will hold the EV value as you change aperture or shutter speed and the finder bar-graph shows you where you are. Absolutely brilliant.

A couple of accidental birding shots taken with a Spotmatic, SMC-Takumar 135mm f/3.5 & 2x TC on Kentmere 100 (both full frame):



Wading bird by John Halliwell, on Flickr



On the edge by John Halliwell, on Flickr

For sale: Jessops Winder MEII clone with intervalometer and locking remote release.

This was an independent winder distributed by Jessops for Pentax film cameras, similar to the MEII winder but with a built in intervalometer (5 sec, 30 sec, 60 sec & 5 mins). It comes with a locking electronic remote release (approx. 1m), this looks like it uses a fairly standard jack socket.

It has Single, Continuous & Timer (intervalometer) modes and also has the Auto/125 switch and runs off 4x AA batteries. Good condition and working fine.

Boxed with instructions, £20 including UK delivery.

John.

Bump

Thanks John.

Yes, the f/22 one has the half stop.

Hi All,

I've acquired two Super-Takumar 35mm f/3.5 lenses, one with a minimum aperture of f/16 with what people seem to call 'coarse' milling of the aperture ring and one with a minimum of f/22 and 'fine' milling.

Apart from the minimum aperture, are there any differences?

John.

I'm posting this here as I'm aiming at those who are most interested in the MEF.

A few months ago I set out to acquire a working MEF & 35-70 AF lens combination. It took a bit of searching and buying, but I eventually got hold of a working body and a working lens. Unfortunately it has left me with a small problem in the form of a spare, working 35-70 AF lens (and not the recent one on ebay)

Whilst I'm happy to keep it, it deserves more than sitting on a shelf gathering dust, so I'm looking for a good home for it. I'm not in a rush and don't want to ebay it, but I am interested in knowing how much it is worth. Any suggestions?

I would consider swapping it for a non-working example and cash adjustment.

Regards,

John.