I'm not sure that the 150mm lens mentioned wasn't the f4 version, but I'd have to wade through a decade of "Photography" to check.

One of the problems with rules and regulations is that the only ones who take any notice are the conscientious people who would behave anyway.

The villains will ignore it all and carry on regardless.

The workflow you outline Dogpaws is fine.

We don't all do the same thingbut there are some good general principles. You have correctly identified that saving as a TIFF retains all the image data as this is a lossless save.

However, this is already changing and I mentioned elsewhere that fotoLibra are now insisting on JPEGs as that is what the book and magazine publishers who buy from them want.

Just do what you do and I'm sure it will work for you, but as mentioned above think about using Adobe's built in RAW converter.

Welcome, and we'll look forward to meeting you next week.

Keen novices are the future experts!

No, it wouldn't be a problem. If you mount a lens with no A setting and don't activate the use of the aperture ring the lens will operate at full aperture all the time.

If there is an A setting just use that and the lens will behave like any of the current range with no aperture ring.

Nice image though. Try to focus critically on the eyes. With any portrait the phrase "the eyes have it" is well worth remembering.

So he has an artistic temperament already?

There's nothing wrong with a 135mm f2.8 being 4 elements. A good design will give excellent results. Some of the F3.5 Pentax designs were 5 elements, but were redesigned to 4, so Asahi must have been happy with the performance. Fewer elements does mean higher contrast, even with multi-coating.

The best of the 100-200mm telephotos though is reputed to be the 150mm, which is reported as having superb resolition and contrast from wide open all the way through the range. In this instance the aperture has no effect on quality, only on DOF. High praise indeed. (Source: Kevin MacDonnell)

Try www.pricerunner.co.uk

It's a pity the video maker (lens basher?) hadn't got all the tools of his trade to hand - that poor lens must have been shuddering in horror as it heard drawers being opened and searched.

By the way, that's not the recommended way to clean a Pentax lens!

Still, I wonder if it was on ebay later that day? "Mint, one careful owner."

Coatings are effective at reducing flare, but may well be softer than the glass itself.

Lenses should be cleaned only when necessary and then very carefully.