There are a few lenses with unusual designs like that. The M 75-150mm f/4, while it doesn't get any longer or shorter when zooming as the zoom ring moves along the barrel, is at 150mm with the zoom ring closest to the camera. This seems to me to be good design as it adds stability when the lens is at it's longer focal length, which is where it's most needed.

I remember being surprised to find that, while the lens lengthens when focusing closer to the subject, the rear element of the DA 35mm limited stays in the same place always and doesn't move with the rest of the lens elements.

As far as I'm aware this was not a * lens and was discontinued a couple of years ago.

Osaka castle is very nice, though I didn't go in when I was there (was only in Osaka for a day and had other things to see). The Dotombori district was the highlight and good for photography, especially with a wide-angle lens like a 14mm .

I have to say that's an excellent price, though I mainly use 64gb cards these days. Note that despite the headline numbers, the 80MB/s Sandisk cards perform notably worse (in terms of speed) than the 90MB/s ones.

Those look very good. I sold mine due to the nasty fringing and later picked up the earlier K version which performs much better. If you like a manual lens of that focal length then you may well like the K more than the M.

Alkaline batteries are by far the most common but they don't maintain their voltage over their lifespan - voltage decreases steadily (which is why alkaline AAs are poor in the older Pentax DSLRs which can take AAs). Silver oxides are harder to find and much more expensive, but work far better.

The only thing I can suggest is to try cleaning the card slot. Start with an air blower and move on to inserting something if that doesn't work. As the camera is unusable as it is, you have nothing to lose.

Very nice images. You don't shoot film any more?

Welcome to the forum, it's always good to have interesting new people around.

I know this is what the lens was designed for, but I think it's a really horrible effect and can't see how anyone ever thought it was a good idea.

A lot of care has to be taken when buying scanners - many are for old operating systems, or connect through old hardware ports, and have not been updated. Some third party software is available to make some of them workable but there's no guarantee and it's an extra cost to consider which may impact how much of a bargain you're getting.