Well it made it to Ohio...



New toy par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity[/quote]I know the feeling. I have quite a few things waiting for me at my parents' house in Edinburgh. Now with Brexit I have to be careful what they send over in order not to get lumbered with extra charges when it arrives in Spain.

Something I got a couple of days ago - a very nice M42 set consisting of an ES and 35mm, 55mm and 135mm Takumars, all in close to mint condition and for just €40. The ES case is in lovely condition too.



Pentax ES plus Takumars 35/3.5, 55/2 & 135/3.5 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

Welcome to the forum.

Wow, you're right. It should be on the bottom right of the mount as you look at it, as shown in this image: https://images.app.goo.gl/tCem5oTBVKp21RR89

Do you mean a K series 500mm lens or a K500 DSLR?

That's only Canon, Nikon, Sony... Panasonic, Sigma........ and Pentax's latest copycat lenses, the DFA* series.

I think the FA Limiteds could have benefited from a bit more modernisation without compromising their design philosophy or optics.

I've never seen a P30 without the socket for a standard cable release. I've seen a few locked up P30s in my day but far fewer than, for example, ME Supers, which are almost always broken. The P30 series are for more reliable. I prefer the T or N over the standard P30, not as pretty but much easier to use with Av mode.

The reliance on DX code can be gotten around using either bought stickers or DIY ones made with paper, glue and tin foil.

From what I can tell the only differences (apart from possibly price) are a change to HD coatings and rounded aperture blades. I would have thought that at the very least they'd add quick-shift if not WR and an in-lens focus motor, to bring these classics up to modern standards.

A P30N or P30T is always what I recommend for a cheap, capable and reliable K-mount SLR. They're the best value available in MF 35mm SLRs.

It sounded like data being corrupted but if other cards also fail to work then it's either that the camera is corrupting the data itself or, as others suggest, a shutter problem.

Go into the menu and set the camera to operate without a lens (if not already set to do so), take the lens off and set the camera to a bulb (B mode) exposure. Press the shutter button and keep it down and look down into the mount to see if the shutter is moving.

A K-x is unlikely to be worthwhile repairing, you could find another used one for less than the cost of the repair. It was a decent camera in it's day and I'm sure you can find a replacement or even a newer model for very little.

Oh dear, I've shot a couple of rolls of this and have a few more, but not tried to scan anything yet. It's very nice to be able to shoot at fairly wide apertures in summer sun on a manual camera that maxes out at 1/1000s.