There was no problem before. In fact, so far I haven't had a body or lens that has been a problem.

At the end of December my K10D developed a stop down fault, so I contacted JP Service Solutions. They replied to me e-mail within 24 hours and I was given the address to send it in.

It was packaged up for sending 4th January 2011 and I stressed in the covering letter that the camera was in pristine condition. I didn't want a Techguys treatment like the one my laptop received!

The quote arrived by post (e-mail would have been better) and after I'd hurried it up by e-mail. So I ended up with a hard copy and an e-mailed copy. The quote was a very reasonable £60+VAT which included a firmware upgrade and recalibration.

The camera has been received back today. Not quick, but to be fair, with all those K-5's being dealt with maybe not too bad.

However, the camera is fine. Repaired, upgraded, clean and without a marki upon it, just as it was sent. So good work has been done, albeit it slower than optimum.

Quality of handling & repair: 10/10
Speed of same: 6/10
Communication: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10

The majot improvement I would like to see is quote by e-mail and electronic web payment. Sending cheques is so old fashioned...and slow.

I'd have to check to make 100% sure, but I think ehwn zooms came in and took over the F series may have only had a 135mm.

The lens we're talking about isn't a macro lens but a standard 100mm. It's light, compact and excellent and perfect for a variety of subjects from portraits to landscapes.

Yes, the SMC Pentax-M 100mm f2.8 is one of my favourites as well. It's unfortunate that the A version is relatively rare and goes for very high prices, as we can see!

The second flower should have had the same exposure as the first, but for some reason the shutter speed was dropped by the camera. This implies something was knocked accidentally. Exposure compensation set in error? Mode dial nudged off Av? Camera briefly pointed elsewhere and the exposure accidentally locked?

The duplicated thread has been deleted. No 4 is considerably over-exposed, and the exposure data suggests this is what we should expect. Nos 1 and 2 are exposing for the foreground, so the sky will be over-exposed and no detail shown.

Nos 3 and 5 are "average" subjects for exposure pruposes, so are reproduced properly.

What exposure measureement did you use - matrix, centre-weighted or spot?

I see that SRS have now added a full range of 645 lenses to their website. 400mm f5.6 anyone? There are plenty of long lenses, all we need is an Adapter to use them on DSLRs.

The adapter isn't cheap, but it is a solution to those who wanted longer lenses.

Hmm, an unknown item of unspecified function is arriving at an unknown future time.

Well, forewarned is forearmed.

They won't help the AF system much, but are an aid for manual focusing. It's a personal choice whether your eyes suit split image or microprism aids, or indeed no aids at all, so having a look at some film cameras from the 1970s or 1980s might be a good idea.

Microprisms appear to shimmer when not in focus, but personally I find a plain screen better.