If we had a bowl of petunias handy, it might be thinking, "Oh no, not again..."

As the firmware updates are provided by Pentax to solve problems, there won't be any warranty issues. Just make sure the battery is fully charged when you do it and that you follow the instructions.

Needless to say it would be easier to put the lens on a Sony body, but if you are determined to modify a Pentax one I guess you'll do it.

Thank you gentlemen, you've covered it for me.

It's not a matter of blame, it's a matter of elimination of possibilities.

Let's see picture 2 and we can progress an investigation in a rational manner.

Yes please, let's see the correctly exposed version. As things stand, 1/8s, f3.5 and ISO560 would imply quite dark conditions.

My first thought is improper connection between lens and body, causing the lens to operate at maximum aperture. This would be possibly cured by cleaning lens and body electronic contacts (wipe with dry microfibre cloth) and making sure the lens was seated securely and firmly clicked into place.

However, let's wait for picture 2 and see where it takes us.

Hi and welcome!

Many thanks for the HSE link, very useful information.

I've just looked into this on another forum and, apart from the usual flippant replies and those who don't care about danger, the general consensus seems to be that we should be very careful not to disturb anything, especially pipe lagging, as all buildings prior to 2000 will contain asbestos. We don't want to breathe it in.

Paper masks seem to need to be p3 type, whatever that is, but to be absolutely sure would need a full respirator, which is unrealistic.

So wear a good mask, don't kick up loads of dust, don't disturb anything, presumably move through the building ninja-like.

Hope that helps, but remember I'm not an expert on this so please investigate it for yourselves before putting yourselves in danger.

Good question Gareth. I suspect many never even think about it. These buildings may be riddled with asbestos in uncontrolled decay and it can be deadly.

I have a friend who works in asbestos removal and it's an expensive business hiring him.

Wearing a msak would help, but it would need a good quality mask I think and not one that was constantly reused.

One wouldn't presume to judge Mark, but have a good day at work!