I'm glad the three Limited lenses have been mentioned. I had all three for a while, 31mm, 43mm and 77mm. I tested them for EPZ and the figures are there to see.

The worst one technically is the 43mm, but that's the one I kept. The reason is that it's the lens that, for me, has that magical unique look to its images. It's something that we only come to appreciate by using a lens for a while, it can be subtle, but it's there.

Trying out lenses is wonderful fun! Every lens has its own characteristics, and lens tests only show (only can show) a small part of it. The rest is a question of whether or not the quirks of a particular lens suit the photographer's needs.

It's a fair point. Wide angles are generally used stopped down, so fast speeds are not needed. As we can increase the ISO as well, there seems even less need for a fast wideangle.

I doubt very much that anyone will be able to tell the difference. There may be slight batch variations, but it should be very slight with lenses of this quality.

We all know that Chris has special Pentax days and weekends, with full support from Pentax. He tells us about them at regular intervals!

You've started something there Vic!


Sue looking out at the Ribbleshead Viaduct, armed with her Pentax.

Funnily enough, I have seen a Leica shop, there's one just off St Ann's Square in Manchester. If I wanted Nikon then we've all heard of Gray's of Westminster. If I want Pentax then SRS Microsystems has the works for me, followed by Park Cameras and then a few other independents.

Much of Pentax's activity has been in non-photographic media, such as outdoor events, climbing, walking, wilderness trekking, all that sort of stuff. This is new territory and gives the impression they are looking to broaden the appeal beyond the traditional camera club member.

In the wider world, Pentax are actually quite busy, and their general profile is much higher than say five years ago. They are selling themselves on high quality at a reasonable price, presumably at a level that generates profit, and slowly growing from a solid base. Thus we see new product arriving, in fact almost all the things we have ever asked for.

I too found wider lenses meant being too close to the subject. The 06 lens is ideal and gets very close, although I was able to use a couple of the tubes. This set up is for really very, very close macro work.

Hoe did you get on with using AF?

To attach the adapter, first attach it to a lens. Then bayonet it onto your camera. After that, just screw lenses on and off in the usual way, you have effectively converted your bayonet camera into a screw thread one.

So just one adapter is all you need.

To remove, hold the camera mount down, release the spring catch with a mini screwdriver or something similar, and rotate the adapter until it falls out into your hand.

SMC Takumar lenses are superb and I would have thought dead easy to use on a Spotmatic, which is where I started some little while ago. Other marques from the same era are generally clunky and awkward, but the Asahi Pentax range was beautifully elegant.