I expect that we don't welcome strangers wandering through our gardens though, but if some bizarre individual turned up and asked if they could then maybe we'd be agreeable, maybe we wouldn't.

Wandering over somebody else's property is pretty much the same I would have thought. Asking is a good thing to do and taking no for an answer is also a good thing to do. Why create a problem?

Farmers have happily allowed me to wander on their property before now, because there's been a reasonable reason to do so and it's been put in a reasonable way.

If in doubt I would ask and avoid unnecessary conflict.

Batteries do need proper care and charging routines, but it isn't necessary to let Lithium cells run down completely.

Maybe there's a charger fault, it does happen, but maybe the battery has reached the end of its life. I understand 1000 charging cycles might be expected. Towards the end of that efficiency will tail off gradually.

How to find out is perhaps to buy a new battery or try charging your own battery in another copy of the charger unit. Maybe the shop would let you use a charger? Or send it to someone to charge for you? Anyone near Salisbury who would give AuraTodd's battery a charge to check it out?

You could always leave a message through the technical help section of their website.

You can't really go wrong with that. The quality of a 67 transparency is just amazing.

And thus arguments escalate. Please remember the forum guidelines - attack the argument, not the person.

Not visible in the UK unfortunately Gwyn. What's the gist of it?

I think operating manuals tell us how to do things, but not why we would want to do them.

That latter part is the learning curve of photography.

There used to be very useful books that went way beyond the basic manuals, such as the long series "The Asahi Pentax Way", but there are so many models these days and such short production life that I suppose it can't be kept up.

The original Spotmatic lasted from 1964 to 1971 until it became the Spotmatic II.....

Thanks for that link Bjorn, those images are seriously impressive.

It's a good lens, if a little heavy compared to the digital equivalents currently in the range. However, it will be good for your film cameras as well.

As for price, I'd check eBay and dealers to get an idea.

I would do exactly the same. 55mm is a bit close IMHO.

I'll bet the 45mm lens is stunning.