There's quite a bit about Zeiss at photodo.com

http://www.photodo.com/nav/artindex.html

Scroll down to Lens Performance.

I once paid £40 for a second-hand MV body, from a shop in Cambridge.

Mind you, it wasn't all that old at the time, eBay didn't exist and I don't think CDs did either, let alone digital cameras (circa 1984).

Although it was extremely basic, I quite liked it but I couldn't figure out why every film came out fogged along one edge - the light seals all looked ok!
Neadless to say I soon traded it in for a lens or some other accessory for my pristine ME Super

My advice is to go round your local second-hand shops (not photo specialists), I'm sure many of them are not aware of the true value of such items. Also, consider carefully the cameras with lenses and/or complete kits. Often the bodies themselves maybe of little monetary value but there could well be a gem or two among the accessories

I think 50euros might be just a tad steep but it's an excellent lens and if it's in really good condition then I think you'll feel that it was worth every penny - or should that be cent?

Because of their compatibility with the *istD range and their superb performance, the Pentax 50s are fetching higher prices than many other makes.

Excellent news Fernando - good find!

The Super Program has various auto and manual exposure modes ie. you set the aperture ring on the lens to A, and the camera selects the best combination of aperture and shutter speed for the available light or you can select either the aperture or shutter speed yourself - depending on the effect you wish to achieve.
The MG is also a very good camera but is auto-exposure only and requires you to select the appropriate aperture. The camera was designed to use the M series lenses (no A setting) but again, the A series lenses work perfectly.
You'll be able to switch lenses between the two camera bodies and if you wish, you could take both cameras out with you and use different types of film - colour / mono or slide.

Most other accessories are interchangeable too ie. flashguns, motor winders and cable releases etc. So it's quite likely that you father will have everything you could possibly need.

May I firstly welcome you to the forum and offer my sincere condolences for the loss of your father - I'm sure he will be honoured that you wish to follow his hobby.

You have inherited a fine camera and no doubt some other accessories, let us know what you have and we'll make a few recommendations.
The camera uses K-mount manual-focus lenses and to take full advantage of the camera's program functions, you should be looking for lenses designated KA-mount (K-mount with added electronic connections).

There are many makes and models of lenses that are suitable for your camera and that is one of the great strengths of the Pentax K-mount system but your best bet is to look for original SMC Pentax KA lenses

Also, if you don't already have one, see if you can get hold of a user manual.

Not personally!

I do have a number of Tamron lenses though and like them a lot.
The SP (Super Performance) lenses are particularly good and if you're thinking of buying one of these, I'm sure you'll not be disappointed.
Do bear in mind however that while 24-135mm is tremendously versatile, it's an ambitious range and a number of compromises will have been made.
That having been said, if you want a lens with a serious zoom range, this is one of the best.

Although I haven't used it on my DL yet, I've tried an Ohnar zoom zlide copier on my old SFX. The results were reasonable but not brilliant (I was using off-camera flash as the light source) and of course the SFX has average metering only - I should perhaps have bracketed the exposures!

If you can get hold of a KA type T-mount, then I imagine that you'd have the choice of metering modes and you could at least see the results immediately on your DS - worth a go I would think

I'm not sure if KA T-mounts exist but I think I saw them listed somewhere

Apologies to Rowdy for hijacking the thread, sounds like you've got yourself a nice lens there!

niblue, how would you rate your Phoenix 19-35?

I have been looking for a general purpose lens such as this, for use primarily on my DL and occasionally my Z1-P.
Initially I considered the FAJ 18-35 but the lack of aperture ring and the price have put me off somewhat, esp. as the performance is generally considered to be OK but not exactly stunning.
The Phoenix / Cosina / Tokina etc. is considerably cheaper and perhaps performs as well, I've seen the Cosina available new for around £90.
I've heard that the lens is quite soft wide open (it would have to be a darned good zoom lens at sub 20mm not to be!) and I suppose this is improved by the digital sensor but I guess what I'm asking is this:
given your experience with the lens, if you didn't already own one, would you buy one now?