I'll take this one off your hands if it's still available. I sold off my older version 50/1.4 years ago in preference to the 55/1.8 but I've just sold my other M42 f/1.4 (a Revuenon) as it wasn't a great performer and I wouldn't mind trying a newer version of the Takumar.

If I didn't already have a Vivitar branded version of this lens I'd snap this up. Excellent price for a very good lens.

Newer K70s use a non-defective solenoid and if that's the one LCE have fitted then it should be fine. If they've fitted a new copy of the dodgy one then expect it to fail again in the future. Might be worth asking them what they use (really this should be done before any repair is carried out).

Also gives you somewhere to sit and have a hot cuppa while you're there

There is a new version of the 100/2.8 coming. Apparently the old one has horrible purple fringing, though I don't remember anyone ever mentioning it.

I too thought the 14/2.8 was discontinued years ago since it always played second fiddle to the 15/4 and never got great reviews.

Hopefully the 200/2.8 and 60-250 are being replaced by versions with upgraded focus motors that are far more resistant to failure.

The K 200/4 is a fine lens, significantly better than the more common M version which suffers from colour fringing.

Mostly I meant images where colour and contrast are boosted too far or HDR is too liberally applied leading to a flat image with no contrast. Of course substituting skies or other elements I'd also count as fake.

Looks good to me Peter.

You're right - pictures need to be photoshopped to death to make a mark these days and they end up looking fake and all the same.

The K5 is still a good camera and many swear by the image quality from that 16MP sensor. The only thing I'd mention is that I believe the K-5 does not have focus peaking, whereby the areas with highest contrast (and therefore most in focus) are highlighted in a specific colour in live-view. For that you'd need to spend a bit more for a K-3, but if you only plan to use the optical viewfinder then it won't matter.

For full-frame on a limited budget you could look for a used Canon 6D or Sony A7, they're the cheapest FF options and both would work with M42 lenses.

It's a re-branded Samyang lens from back when Samyang made the worst of the worst. I tried one out on my K200D many years ago and it was horrible.

Compatibility is not the problem, the problem is that it's an extremely poor quality lens.