I've asked various people to explain this and never got a straight answer. So, my best guess is that, given we have lenses with variable apertures, the f stop is what we set and the aperture value is the actual open aperture value at that setting. One does seem to relate to the potential largest aperture at the focal length selected.

It's a bit irrelevant really, and the EXIF on ePHOTOzine just shows the aperture. As the team cure the EXIF anomalies on PU no doubt that will be simplified.

You're still with it, right here.

The Pentax Club ran along under Ron Splillman, then Peter Cox Associates and finally with Peter Bargh and Magezine Publishing. Thus from that came this website and eventually the actual printed magazine became uneconomic to continue. So here we all are, web only, but where The Pentax Club exists, now as Pentax User.

It's not about price, it's about value. The price we pay is one part, but also the time we have the product and enjoy its advantages, the service we receive, in other words its total value to us.

So, fair enough we assess the best way to buy a product when we want it, but after that I don't watch prices any more. If it costs me £100 more than a year later would have, I've enjoyed it for a year and that in itself has a value.

If you need or just want one, at that price there is no reason not to buy......

For £25, I'll take that please Matt.

I don't think quality manufacturers like Pentax ever make a really bad lens, but there are lenses that don't fulfill what we want because of their design choices.

So, for example, I don't like the SMC Pentax-M 85mm f/2 or the SMC Pentax-M 120mm f/2.8. They might suit you or someone else though.

Hi Gareth, welcome!

You can get a feel for that by comparing the results of reviews from the same source, using the same test techniques. So check out Gary's reviews on PU/EPZ and I'm pretty sure he's tested all three, so you should be able to draw some conclusions.

I've put the comment back as without it none of this thread makes any sense.

I don't think we could expect a precision device like a DSLR to be user repairable. Equipment is needed to calibrate properly and this no doubt runs into thousands of pounds to set up.

It sounds to me that what you need is a Ricoh WG-4, compact and shockproof. You can drop that and it's designed to survive.