It is indeed a trap, and I've fallen foul of it too, although as I wanted the goods I had little choice!

I'm glad that at least the lens was a good one - better than paying £60 for one that turns out to be disappointing?

Tungsten light lies outside the range of colour temperature that the AWB can handle.

It's worth mentioning that the new electronic shutter in the ME and variants set new standards of accuracy, and 1/2000 second could for the first time be reliably expected to give a run time of 0.5ms, or exactly 1/2000 sec.

For this reason (and probably the expense of doing it) modern camera testers rarely bother to test the shutter speeds of new cameras....In fact, come to think of it they don'y test much really, most tests reading more as reviews. A long way from the USA magazines of yesteryear which even partly dimantled cameras to check on the construction and design quality!

Firstly, there is absolutely no difference in quality of results from the two cameras. Both have the same type of silver-coated pentaprism for brighter viewing. The ME is auto-only (Seiko MFC vertical metal shutter) and the MX is manual only (conventional but compact horizontal run rubberised silk shutter) Both use the new GPD cells for exposure measurement.

When first introduced, the ME was often coupled with the SMC Pentax-M 40mm f2.8 at, I think, £199.95. The MX was usually with the SMC Pentax-M 50mm f1.7 at I think £219.95. Black finish added perhaps another £10 to either. There was also £10 difference with the two lenses.

The ME was not so much dropped as it evolved into the ME Super. In fact the ME/ME Super variants well outsold the MX.

The first charge should be a long one, but after that shorter charge times may be OK. Just wait for the light to go out/change colour as is the case. The batteries won't have optimum performance at first, but after a few use/recharge cycles their performance should soon come up to spec.

Eventually (maybe 500 to 1000 cycles) they will be ready for replacement. I wasn't being flippant, because seriously most answers will be found in the manuals. Expanation of the answers may well then be helpful, as some of the language is a bit obscure.

As you have used pentax cameras already, a remarkable amount of operational features will be logical and conisitent with what you are already familiar with.

Enjoy the new journey of discovery!

Charge the batteries as per the instruction leaflet, and when the camera arrives take the time to read the instruction book before you do anything else.

The first time the camera is switched on it will prompt you to set the date and time. If it doesn't, it's been switched on before...

After that, with the manual to hand you should find the whole camera to be intuitive and very straightforward to use.

Filmware? I thought the *istD only took CF and microdrive....

Sue and I were at Coven today at the camera fair, where we saw a very off Honeywell Pentax SP1000, or at least that's what the top plate said it was. However, it had a self timer....

We suspected that an SP1000 top plate had been fitted to a Spotmatic, unless someone can tell us differently....

We also saw a SMC Pentax 28mm f3.5 in nice condition, but unfortunately with a very sluggish diaphragm.

There were other items too, and plenty in very nice condition, so it looks like there is plenty to buy if you want to find these sort of things.

The "Ghostless" filter not only had a curved surface, but a curve that matched the curve of the fron element of the Taakumar series 50mm/55mm lenses.

This may or may not have worked, but as later standard lenses have different cirves to the front elements, it's sort of obsolete for these anyway. To be of any use, the idea would presumably have to have been extended to every filter in every size, with different curvatures for different lenses.......

Perhaps this explains why it never caught on!

I can see that this is going to be the start of a beautiful frienship....