This is from a lower cost range introduced by Pentax alongside the SMC Pentax-A lenses. The Takumar-A lenses generally have fewer elements and do not have the SMC coatings.

Having said that, they perform pretty well anyway.

To take your last point first, I doubt if many working examples of current camera will be useable in 20 years time. I've just bouight another Spotmatic that was probably made around 1966 and it is fully functional, and even a 1959 Voigtlander Bessamatic that is in superb condition.

But digital photography does have its place and I fully intend to go for the *istD very soon. Hope you enjoy yours!

Digital or film?

If digital, the *istD.

If film, my preference is for the MZ5, MZ5n or MZ3. Very versatile, but fully manual in the original Spotmatic sense if and when required.

With an educated guess, considering that any converter will magnify the abberations in any lens, that they are designed for 35mm format preferably telephoto designs and that they don't work very well with zooms I would think most could be downright horrible!

As the *istD increases the focal length anyway I would suggest a longer zoom would give much better results.

Hi Malcolm

You wouldn't happen to be the Malcolm Riches I've just bought a 18-35mm lens off on eBay would you?

If so, it's a smaller world by the minute!

Before I put it on eBay, if anyone is interested I have my mint Pentax 645n with 75mm lens and 120 insert, boxed, for sale at £850 + Postage. It's absolutely pristine and fully functional in every respect. If you are interested, please send me a private message.

I think from that it is clearly a body problem, especially if it happens with more than one lens. An A lens will not help.

It's always worth trying new batteries.

If it comes to a repair, it might be worth considering buying a replacement, perhaps on eBay, which could well cost you less.

Using M lenses on the P30T you should be able to meter properly in aperture priority and manual. If you can't, something is amiss. Try reseating the lens, making sure it clicks home properly.

However, you will not be able to set the shutter speed and expect the camera to set the lens aperture (shutter priority) as the necessary contacts are not present on M lenses. You need A lenses or later for that.

What you are describing with film is "Reciprocity Failure". Normally, 1/1000sec at f11 would be the same exposure as 1/500 sec at f16 and so on. However, at exposures longer than maybe 1/2 second (depending on the film) this relationship breaks down and film needs much more exposure than indicated. So, if you do not compensate for this effect you will notice under-exposure or increased colour saturation as you describe.

This is not the same with digital sensors, but what the effect of very low light levels is I have no experience of. I would expect an increase of digital noise, notwithstanding noise reduction systems.

As a general principle, if you start the lens at a low price it can encourage people to start bidding. Then you sit back and hope! If you want to, you could just start off at your minimum price or alternatively have a reserve price. eBay does have quite a lively sale of lenses so you should be OK. As for the price, this should be related to the condition of the item and to the "going rate" so do check out similar sales first to get a feel for demand. Good luck!