The pricing of lenses in some AP adverts is, in my opinion, totally unrealistic! (Do they ever sell and SMC Pentax-M 85mm f2 lenses at £279?).

Why not try Jessops, who buy and sell their second hand stock quite cheaply.

Or just keep an eye open every time you pass a camera shop - I recently picked up a SMC Pentax-M 100mm f2.8 at just £49 in mint condition, and that is a very low price. Some AP adverts offer those for £165.

Finally, what about on-line auctions such as eBay?

I understand that the new Photoshop CS will handle RAW files without the need of additional software. Earlier versions will need conversion software.

The FA-J lenses were designed for *ist cameras in that they do not have aperture rings, and this is the way the *ist and *istD work by default.

However, you are quite right that there will shortly be some specific digital lenses designed to cover the smaller format (FA-D?) but I didn't want to over-complicate the post.

First, forget the 645 and 67 lenses, which are intended for medium format.

The ideal lenses for the *istD will be marked FA-J. These have no aperture rings and are designed specifically for the *ist cameras.

In addition, any FA designated lenses will be fully useable and retain autofocus.

Any A series lenses will be useable but are manual focus.

Eerlier lenses can be fitted, with limited functionality.

Hope that helps a little...

Although we all want to get a good price for any purchase, the really important thing is value. I really believe that there is good value in being confident in good after sales service - if something does go wrong it needs to be addressed without fuss. So, we often do not buy at the cheapest price, but we buy from suppliers we can trust. This is, I believe, worth a little extra cash!

How much extra it is worth, of course, becomes a personal thing.....

It is possible to get insects inside cameras that live of scraps og gelatin (film) and the like, but you're pretty unlucky to find one in a new camera. I agree with what you say - take it back and get an uninfested replacement!

Cameras can be fumigated, but I'm not sure how exactly one would go about it. After fumigation I would guess that it would need "airing" for some time to avoid affecting the film.

The Tv setting is shutter priority auto exposure, which means you set the shutter speed and the camera sets the aperture on the lens. It can only do this with an A series or later lens with the appropriate electronic contacts in the lens mount.

Your T mount lens is totally manual and you can only hope to use it in the manual settings or in the Av programme, where you set the aperture and the camera sets the appropriate shutter speed. The *ist might be able to do this as well as the other bodies - have a go and see if it works, but do change the custom function to allow use of apertures on a lens.

Sure, but I do think that the *ist is more logically used with the appropriate lenses. The other Pentax camera bodies arguably are more versatile with a wider variety of older lenses.

Are there any electrical contacts on the mount of the lens? If this is a very old manual focus lens perhaps it is just not compatible, although I can't see why there would be a problem with any of the more conventional Pentax bodies. The *ist is, of course, different in that it uses lenses without an aperture ring.

The *ist is intended to work with lenses of the "A" series and later, and only when set on "A". This is because on the *ist the camera controls the aperture, not the lens.

There is a custom function that allows use of aperture rings - have a go at enabling this function and it might be OK.