My fault, Don, please accept my apologies, something went awry yesterday and I reposted a new thread, deleting the old one. Unfortunately your reply came in just as I was doing that...

The light today was terrific, so Sue and I went down to Lyme Park and she shot some digital and I shot some film.

I was trying out some K series cameras and lenses and finished off some Velvia and also some colour negative stock (very unusual for me)

The cameras today were the KM and K2 and the lenses were the SMC Pentax 55mm f1.8, SMC Pentax Macro 50mm f4 and SMC Pentax 24mm f2.8. So far so good, and I'm feeling quite an affinity with the KM, which is basically a Spotmatic F with bayonet mount. The K2 is also very fine, but I'm not sure yet about the needle readout of shutter speeds. I think I might prefeer the LEDs of the M Series. We'll see....

So what did everyone else do today?

If you are testing gear, using E6-process slide film is not only the cheapest way to do it, but also probably the best. You will instantly see whether the cameras are under or over exposing, you will not lose any special effects or filter effects you apply because there is no automatic printing machine trying its best to remove anything non-standard.

In addition, if you take a stunning slide you will have just about the highest quality original you can get.

Apart from the fact that cameras are just gorgeous pieces of engineering and an absolute joy in themselves?

Well, I think the idea comes first, the wish to produce an image that is trying to express a feeling. So, like the quote from Ansel Adams, i would aspire to make photographs as opposed to take photographs. The implication is that photography is art, and artistic inspiration is a part of the makeup of mankind.

Of course there are also happy snaps to be taken, but in the right context the basically technique-free snap has also been presented as art. It's just a diferent form of craetivity, and just as valid as piles of bricks and unmade beds....

The answer to the original question is that I am inspired by the inner feelings that I express through my photography.

Unless the shutter speed was too slow and there was camera shake, then the only other thing I could think to check would be the focusing. I don't know how experienced a photographer you are, so forgive me if this is pitched at too low a level, but don't forget that as you zoom out to longer focal lengths you will need faster shutter speeds to counteract camera movement.

The traditional guideline is that a 50mm lens should have at least 1/60 sec if hand held, a 100mm would be 1/125 sec (you can see these are rounded up). Using a 28-80mm zoom and having a shutter speed of say 1/30 sec would be OK maybe at 28mm, but a bit doubtful at 80mm.

A good fast standard lens (50mm f2 or faster) is always useful in low light.

If you are not sure which settings have been altered, you could always reset the factory defaults and start again. I have all my sharpness, saturation, etc., at the mid point in my *istDS.

Starting with a fairly softish image is probably a good thing, because the camera sharpening is not as effective as PS.

To tackle the problem you are getting, I would suggest starting off with an image you know has no camera shake or focusing error - something stationary in bright sunlight would be a good place to start.

The best sharpening tool will be Unsharp Mask, and personally I don't use more than 50% these days, which sharpens enough for me without introducing haloes and other artifacts into the images.

There are other techniques as well, but this is a good place to start. If it solves the problem, then my guess would be the soft images you have been getting could be because of focusing problems, or camera or subject movement.

Also, the bayonet Takumar version was simplified to 4 elements in 4 groups, and even this lens is very acceptable, although not up to the critical standards of the others.

Just a bit more info. The optical design of the Super Takumar and Super-Multi-Coated takumar 135mm f2.5 lenses is the same (5 elements/4 groups) but there is also an improved Super-Multi-Coated Takumar (Model II) (6 elements/6 groups) only differentaited by its slightly longer length ( 85mm instead of 80mm) and slightly increased weight (470g as opposed to 455g).

I took this info from the "Asahi Pentax Screw Mount guide" by Oosten, which I would thoroughly recommend to anyone interested in screw mount cameras and lenses.

Can't win them all, Mac....

As regards the 135mm lenses, I have used a bayonet version of the f2.5 but there have been a few design changes, so comparisons may not be valid. I would expect it to be an excellent lens, but hefty compared to the f3.5 version.

Personally, I much prefer the 100mm/105mm lenses, finding the 135mm a little too long.

Hope you get lots of good pictures with your "new" kit!

The 35mm lens you were disappointed with was probably untypical. Sometimes there are below par examples, or sometimes of course used lenses can be damaged in some way. The only answer is to move on to another lens, as you have done.

I have only ever been really unhappy with two Pentax lenses, the 85mm f2 M lens that never really seemed as crisp as i would have liked, and the 50mm f1.4 M lens that just doesn't have the balance of optical properties that I like.

Any way, have fun and reassure thw wife that you can never have too much Pentax kit....