John: Thanks for your comments; I can use your argument if the wife finds out ! ANYWAY, today I processed a short bit of film with shots on it from the 1963 SV and the 35mm f2 Super-Takumar. The first few were almost blank due to the shutter not travelling correctly at 1/1000 and 1/500th sec. The ones with the 35mm came out OK as I was using slower speeds. I took some shots in Thurrock Lakeside, available light,one at f2 and others at f2.8 and they are SHARP ! Much better than the other later 35mm f2 I had with the smaller front element! As usual, it must have been a 'Friday Afternoon' job in the factory. It was NEW, imported from Hong Kong by David Leung dealer from Goodmayes before it was on the UK market. The other lens I got him to get was the 200mm SMC Takumar f4; THAT was ALSO poor until I had it serviced at Pentax and they said they had done the stiff focussing and 're-focussed' the lens alignment. The focussing is STILL stiff !

Well, I just Friday got a Pentax SV outfit with 55mm,135mm Super Taks. a 300mm Tamron f5.6, copypod,small flash, Komura doubler and an f2 35mm Super-Takumar with a HUGE front element and 70mm filter thread all for £25 (don't tell the WIFE! She keeps telling me I've got ENOUGH PENTAX's!). I was coming on here to find out about the 35mm lens and found the link to the Pentax expert, and found the lens was the second in line from the f2.3 design before they changed it to the f2 with 49mm thread. I had one of those 35mm Super-Taks. £60 from David Leung,but it was VERY POOR;no real resolution at all. I sold it for £35;lucky to get that ! I will do some tests on my latest 35mm f2 and see if it's any good.

Well, I'm waiting until the tie-up with Samsung then Pentax may bring out a full-frame digital! Until then my Spotmatic 1, MX, ME supers, LX's,6x7's will serve me well with good old FILLUM!

When TTL metering first came in it said it was the answer to all metering problems! No more calculating exposure factors for bellows extension etc. ;well, the first time I used bellows on flowers the pics were very UNDEREXPOSED ! The Pentax sellers did not remind people you still had to be careful about the TONES you were photographing ie if you were taking a white flower you need MORE, a dark flower or subject you need LESS exposure, just as in normal photography.

I don't know the answer to your query, but I got three MX's, the last one was the last body in Comet Discount for £65 I remember, Romford, Essex. When wife No.2 went off she took one with her (and my lovely 120mm f2.8 SMC Pentax lens !)

I was on a another forum and there came up the news that PENTAX UK is making all it's reps. redundant and is closing. Anyone know anything here?

Well, I went out on the job with small piece of kitchen foil under the black battery cover to press down on the batteries and get on the job,and flash then NO FLASH again ! It seemed to be intermittent. I HAVE paid to have the camera serviced and new seals put in at great expense, but it's just using it with the TTL Flash metering that I have the trouble. I will use it with ordinary Metz lead ie NOT the TTL Flash module and see what happens,otherwise it's back to using the ME Supers !!

Fed up with my best LX as every time I go out on a job it lets me down ! Last time I used the Metz 45 CL3 with Pentax TTL module I tested it indoors - flashed perfectly - when I got to the job, 32 schoolkids with teachers and lady presenting certificate it wouldn't FLASH and the LED lights wouldn't come up ! Tried taking out the batteries,cleaned and put back - still no flash. Suddenly had the idea to press hard on the battery cover in base of camera - result - FLASH !! Had to get someone to hold Metz with bounce board while I pressed in battery cover hard and pressed shutter release and wound on. Maybe the batteries ( Panasonic SR44 1.5V ) were not thick enough ? Now I have put some kitchen foil on top of the black battery cover to press in the batteries and am going out to use it again; WISH ME LUCK FOLKS !!

Hi, I went to Japan in 1973 (the year wife No.1 went back to Mum) and bought a Japanese home-market camera the 'Electro-Spotmatic'. Can't remember how many Yen I paid but it was much cheaper than UK price even when I was stung by Customs for Purchase Tax and Import Duty at Heathrow;HOWEVER, I soon found it was not reliable; sometimes when I was out on a job taking pics in quick sucession the first frame might be OK but the others would be heavily over-exposed. I sent some samples to the Pentax Club and Peter Cox replied that due to the CdS meter in it there was a 'memory' effect which led to a build up of light somehow resulting in a slower shutter speed and over-exposure. I was offered £85 for it by a camera club member as it had the original box and instructions which I quickly accepted!

You lot are lucky to get the SUN all the time - what happens if it's CLOUDY ? ( Only joking,I SHOULD know the answer ! )