These all look good, Peter - amazing for such a wide aperture. I love the 55mm Takumars, I should use mine more.

Nadeem - Fuji Acros (as Peter has used here) is wonderful stuff, but oh so expensive these days. I'd recommend Ilford FP4+ as an alternative, also a really great B&W 100-ish ISO film.

Agfa Vista Plus 200 is OK but nothing special. I'd recommend Kodak Gold 200 or Portra 160 for a better film around the same speed. Fuji Pro 400H is also fantastic but, Like Acros, has gone up in price recently.

Ffordes up north also stock Pentax.

I remember when Jessops and Jacobs were right next to each other at the West End - Jacobs was clearly better though both were much more expensive than buying online and I didn't have much cash back then for spending on photography gear. Hang on, I still don't

In case you don't find an original one, Op-Tech (a US company) make one with the correct clasps to attach it to a 645 camera. I have one and it's pretty good, it was also cheaper getting one of them new than a used original 645 one.

Wow, very nice - those are all excellent lenses (I have all three, assuming the 35mm is the f/3.5 version).

None of that looks like firm evidence to me but they mention only the P30T, not the other P models. I think I do have a T in my parents' house but haven't used it or even given it much of a look over, so I'll admit that model could be the exception. It has puzzled me why there is an N and a T when they are functionally identical, so it could be that the T was a later model farmed out to a third-party manufacturer, or just a more cheaply-built one still manufactured by Pentax.

I've handled some Cosina cameras and they felt very light and cheap. The P30 and P30N most certainly don't, they're Pentax through-and-through.

Absolute nonsense, I'm afraid.

The P series cameras are much more solid than they look, more so than the M series (MX aside, obviously).

Yes, the P30N does have depth of field preview.

SP1000s are very old now - I have two and neither works very well, despite paying 60 quid for a supposedly professional CLA a few years back. I also have an SP500 that works fine, and they are very enjoyable cameras to use.

Buying online can be very tricky as you never know what you'll get but establish the price for a good CLA for models you're interested in before you buy. That way you'll know the likely true cost of the camera. Trying to buy a fully functional forty-plus-year-old camera on e-bay for a tenner is not likely to go well.

Some dealers sell online and you can check with them beforehand to make sure that what you're getting is a confirmed working item with a guarantee. You'll pay more but get peace of mind. The biggest is probably Ffordes, but I've had with them exactly the kind of problems you're trying to avoid (faulty goods sold as working and refunds not provided) so I'd avoid them. Have a search online and check reviews. Many places that sell new gear also sell used stuff.

If I had to recommend a good, reliable and solid K-mount SLR that's likely to still be working well I'd say the P30N. Not the prettiest to look at, battery reliant, no ISO over-ride and unpleasant shutter sound, but the vast majority of the P series cameras I've come across were still working well. They were the last series of Pentax non-AF film SLRs that were made before the build quality went out of the window.

Is the Sigma the UC version with AF?

I imagine this year's deals will be similar plus 20% Brexit tax.