It's huge compared to a modern lens, and I nearly won one on eBay once....

So I have no direct experience, but I would guess that it would produce good results. The downside of that is that the lens is big, unwieldy and very expensive to keep in filters!

However, if I ever found one at a reasonable price i would buy it...

There are so many superb lenses to choose from, but how about the following:

SMC Pentax-A 24-50mm f4
SMC Pentax-FA 24-90mm


These will give excellent results.

No shame at all, the Pentax compacts are excellent and we get good results in A3 prints from a 5MP Optio S5i. There are even better results to be had from the 750Z that I also use, and in fact I have been very, very impressed by its quality.

But there is a catch. The smaller sensor is definitely more susceptible to noise, so although sharpness is not an issue noise will be if you up the ISO rating. I would recommend using these cameras at their lowest ISO, and not allowing any auto-ISO function to operate.

Gradation in smooth areas of tone will also be not quite as smooth, another by-product of the smaller sensor, but there is no escaping that.

Having said that, you would only notice these effects if you do indeed make A3 prints. If you only make A4 prints or only upload to the web, then there will IMHO be no problem.

Personally I am very pleased with my personal choice of the 750Z. Sue is delighted with her S5i, but I find it too small.

Super lens, should do very nicely.

And seeing I replied first, you don't even need any justification!

It would be a good idea to send the camera for an overhaul, and all those problems could be professionally dealt with. DIY repairs are I think outside the remit of most of us!

I would first try new batteries, and then think about sending the cameras for an overhaul.

I don't meddle inside cameras, I leave it to those who know what they are doing....

The viewfinder image is an image of the ground glass screen, which via the eyepiece optics has an apparent distance of around 1 metre. If you can see things clearly at this distance, you will be able to focus properly. The camera lens is actually projecting its image onto the ground glass.

If you need correction to see the image clearly there are a range of dioptre adjustment lenses available that will correct the image so you can focus your eye in the right place. Your optician will be able to tell you what value you need. I think they are available from -5 to +2.

For most of these cameras I find that wearing the glasses I use for the computer screen enables me to focus with ease.

More modern cameras have a built in dioptre adjustment on the eyepiece, which is very useful.

Yes, but there are three other K mount bodies that appeared a year before the K1000. These are the KM, Kx and K2!

But, apart from me being over-predantic, you are absolutely right and all K mount bodies can use the adapter.

It extends the life of your screw thread lenses enormously.

There's little point IMHO is looking at something apart from Photoshop just for the sake of it - the full program is after all the one most of us use. There has to be a good reason for that!

I use Photoshop 7, but am about to upgrade to CS2. There are some very useful features that are not in Elelments, but having said that Elements is considerably less expensive and does an excellent job.

Maybe someone else has a favourite alternative?

If you needed to make a 200mm lens out of a 100mm, for example, you might well get better esults by using a tripod and fine-grained film and enlarging the centre of the 100mm shot.

Personally, I have never been happy with the results from teleconverters, although I do agree that they can have their uses.