Re-listing this as recent purchases mean I can't justify keeping it.

£45 posted to the UK with generic caps.

John.

PM Sent.

Anybody know if these are generally available and how much they run at? Prices on the web seem to be all over the place.

Any info would be gratefully received.

John.

Lens received yesterday and in great condition.

Thanks.

John.

Has anybody compared the F50/1.7 & FA50/1.4? I'm thinking about upgrading my F 1.7 to the FA 1.4 and wondering if there's a difference in AF speeds.

I've notice my newly acquired FA28/2.8 is much better damped for manual focusing than the F50/1.7 - almost to the point where I could potentially relinquish some of my M & A lenses.

John.

I don't understand why FF is so important. Yes I want an affordable FF option, but that's so that my existing lens collection can be used at their 'native' focal lengths and become interchangeable across film & digital bodies. An expensive FF body might be a top-of-the-range jewel in the crown - but how many of us would pay £2k for it? It would be more expensive than an equivalent Canikon simply because they don't have in-body SR and the R&D would be more expensive due to the smaller initial production numbers. Ricoh shouldn't be looking at FF as a 'me too' product simply because others do it and it's seen as some kind of holy grail.

The 135 format was never about top-quality IQ or super shallow DoF, the film/developer you used defined your spacial resolution and grain (I guess that's noise in DSLR terms). It was about being the smallest/most portable format that would provide acceptable/good results for general photography. If you wanted more than that then you could use medium or larger formats.

I'm sure that 24mp APS-C is going to better most (if not all 135 film) from a practical shooting point of view. I'm going to guess that most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a 24mp APS-C image and a 24mp FF image. To better it you probably need a very expensive 36mp FF body (or two if you want the option of AA/non-AA filters).

The biggest difference for me is that my wide-angles become wide-angles again (and I don't have to buy more lenses) and my tele-photos become much shorter (and I've never wished that). With the launch of the K-3, I'm thinking the previously unthinkable and considering selling a lot of my 135 format glass to help fund a set of DA Limiteds.

As I see it, the DSLR is dropping back into it's photo enthusiast roots instead of the techno-geek gadgetry position they've had for the last few years. When DSLRs started to become widespread, they appeared in all manor of techno media places and suddenly became a 'must-have' gadget. The lenses too (now they've got serious technology inside - and a dozen buttons on the outside) were worshiped as well.

I know many people who (not having much interest in photography) went out and bought serious DSLRs and high end zooms because they could (they're changing their iPhones & iPads every six months too).

For this group of people there are now newer and sexier options - it's all about 'form factor' (usually brushed aluminium or retro designs) and increasing MP counts. For them, DSLRs are looking old hat and they're more interesed in something running Android or similar.

DSLR sales will probably fall, but this will mostly be those who are not photo enthusiasts finding different (sexier/smaller) products which take the pictures they want more conveniently than a DSLR would manange. I don't think Pentax is likely to suffer as much as most as I feel their user base is more aligned with the enthusiasts anyway.

Received the Super-A & AF280T as described and very well packed.

Thanks,

John.

Have to got the 'More ways to share' icon under the image to the right hand side (arrow coming out of the screen)? If so clicking that takes to the HTML/BBCode for the image and you can select different sixes from the drop down.

The bubble canopy gives it away but a bit of googling was needed to determine it's a MkXVI (from the BBMF website - so they should know!).