I got a faster 128GB SD card as I got a bit tired of waiting for the camera to write when shooting in burst mode, which I do more these days.

I've had a very similar experience with the 50mm f/1.7s of the M and A series and the only conclusion I can reach is more precise manufacturing in the A series. However, I have several Ms and have sold all the As I've bought because of the poor quality of the aperture rings in the A 50/1.7, though that's not the case for all A series lenses.

Yes, completely different lens.

Good price for the M.

The Segovia balloon festival was a disappointing affair this year since a very slight wind and a heatwave made flying more difficult than is ideal. I was only able to attend on the Friday (again) - there are usually more balloons on the Saturday and Sunday and the flying conditions meant there were fewer balloons and take-off times were staggered, so no shots of dozens of balloons hanging in the beautiful morning light.

Pentax is no longer my main photography system but I enjoy using old lenses, most of which are Pentax, on my new Lumix S5. I had a number of old primes to use (the K 28mm f/2, M 50mm f/1.4 and M 120mm f/2. but the S5 doesn't write the focal length to the EXIF, which is very annoying, so I know I used a manual lens if the focal length is missing but I mostly don't know which one. I need to work out a system to fix this. I did take the K-3 and 16-85mm as I know from experience that it's a good combination for image quality and range.

You can see the photos taken only with L-mount gear on my Flickr.

Firstly, the S5 coupled with manual lenses.


Segovia II by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


White balloon by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


Red balloon aloft by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


Sunrise over the balloon field by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

And shots with the K-3 & 16-85mm


IMG_5716 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


IMG_5709 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


IMG_5710 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


IMG_5714 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


IMG_5715 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


IMG_5712 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

Me too. Not sure if data privacy law would allow the transfer without your explicit permission.

Yeah, I know. I'm not in the UK but I had a look at one of the online film suppliers a couple of days ago and maybe two thirds of the films on their website are out of stock. The demand for film has increased in the last few years but supply has dropped off massively, which is presumably the cause of the massive price increases. Between the difficulty in getting the film you want and the cost I wouldn't be surprised if many people are being forced to use digital when they want to use film.

PM sent

Film and film cameras, especially the ones regarded as better, have rocketed in price in the last two or three years. They were going up for some time before that but it's getting really silly.

I have applied some rules to LBA:

1. Buy anything that appears to be seriously under-priced because the user doesn't know it's true worth. Can be sold later at no loss or a profit (thereby generating more funds for lens purchases). I have paid for a large part of my photography gear this way.

2. Buy used but check thoroughly, that way selling on will involve minimal or no loss.

3. Anything that's below a certain threshold is too cheap to pass up: buy it and if it's rubbish then sell it on or dump it.

4. Try to save for something better, resist the smaller unnecessary purchases that whittle away the lens funds.

5. Accumulate and then, when the time is right, launch a massive sell-off to generate funds for an overall system upgrade (I did this second part three months ago and it took me twelve years to get there).