Hi Oggy,

I grew up in Handcross, just down the road from Gatwick. Now back in the 1970's when I was a lad a weather balloon landed (perhaps crashed would be a better word ?) on some waste ground where we kids use to play. The authorities took away the instrument package, but left behind the balloon and the radar reflector. The balloon was coated in a highly reflective white substance which came off all over our clothes. I ended up taking the radar reflector home to my father, who soon put the aluminium tubing to good use in one of his various garage projects.

This was the sort of thing we saw. link

Anyway up, that particular incident might have been 30 odd years before you took you photo, but it does confirm weather balloons have been spotted in Gatwick airspace in the past.

Cheers,

/Ian - a plane spotter

There is a CIA photostream on Flickr with some interesting spy camera stuff.
I liked this one. The pigeon camera. link

Cheers,

/Ian

And now some indication of the RRP from a German site: link

3180 euros for just the lens. Then add 340 for the 500mm Pentax mount.

Out of my league.

Cheers,

/Ian

I've got a collection of nice primes and I really do enjoy using them, but the 16-45 is the default lens on my K10D and gets used most of the time.

I was a great fan of the kit 18-55, but the extra 2mm at the wide end made such a difference, so now my poor old 18-55 never sees the light day.

So zooms for me then.

Cheers,

/Ian

Here are a few shots taken with it. link

Cheers,

/Ian

I wonder if this idea of a modular lens / scope system will catch on.
link
I guess it will depend on the price and quality. Interesting idea.

Cheers,

/Ian

The Rectaflex Rotor. link

I know, its not a Pentax so why am I posting this here? Well it is just such a mad piece of engineering and I've fallen in love with it. There is actually one for sale on eBay link but its way beyond the limitations of my wallet. The seller has a few other oddball things for sale. The aspherical 15mm Takumar in a Nikon mount and the Ultra-Achromatic Takumar 300/5.6.

Not in anyway intended to be spam. I have no connection with the seller.

Anyway, now off to the shed to make a turret mount for my K10 !

Cheers,

/Ian

That brings back memories. Back then, where I was working we used to call the magazine "Amateur Pornography". Almost every week a feature about photographing scantily clad models.

Fond memories.

/Ian

The M* 300 works just fine with the x1.7 converter.
I remembered this thread where one of the forum users put his up for sale.
link
there are some example shots of the M* 300 & x1.7 converter.

Cheers,

/Ian

If you are after a manual 300mm lens this one might interest you.
link

It looks a bit tatty, but the optics are clean. Both the M and A versions of this lens are held in very high regard within Pentax circles.

Best Regards,

/Ian