Unlike lots of clubs Brentwood & District Photographic Club for which I hold office as Vice-President is like the Windmill Theatre " We never close " even during the Blitz ! If you are in Essex you can come to Friends' Meeting House Shenfield 200 yds from the station any Friday from 7.45pm !

Hi everyone; I have mentioned on the Poll site my favourite Pentax is the ME Super but I have for some time found that if I haven't used them for a while the metering seems to go haywire, ie gives stupid readouts such as 1/2000th sec at f11 when I know it should be about 1/125th..good job I got my trusty Weston Master V still ! Anyway, a mate said try turning the ring of the exposure factor setting ( on LEFT of camera body) backwards and forwards quickly and it will clear it. I have use that method and it seems to work but would like to know from all you EXPERTS out there why I have to do it in the first place!

I have a 6x7 Mk 1 and a mk2 body; the mk1 is a real PIG to load quickly. Terence Donovan once said that is why he employs assistants, to load his 6x7! Makes you wonder how people like Larry Burrows and other war photogs managed to load their Leicas while in a trench being shot at seeing as the Leica loads through the base plate. The new Fuji 'easy load' films are easier for the Pentax as they have a little peg thing which catches in a hole in the backing paper.

Hi Greg, well, I'm a new computer user and I have been disappointed there is NO easy way to post photos on Pentax User site; there is some 'GEN' around which tells you the pics have to be 'hosted by another site' but I can't understand what it means. Some Japanese member has shown some photos but of course they are ALL EXPERTS at computers!
I have joined e-PHOTOzine to do it, and have found out how to 'upload'.
It WAS FREE but I got in just in time as three days later they put a membership charge on it !

Wonderful!! I had a look too; that's what a photo club site should be like (if you know how to do it !) Our one at www.brentwoodcameraclub.co.uk definitely needs an update but we haven't the EXPERTS who know what to do; I could provide all the PR photos but don't know all the computer tricks to do same as Norwich PS
Congratulations!

Not only in reviews but also in Camera Clubs members seem to be against Pentax. When a judge says " That's good and sharp" I pipe up with "Must have been a PENTAX then " and the members groan and say "Rubbish, Canon rules".

Hear, Hear! I too am waiting for developments to see if Mighty Pentax brings out a full-frame Digital Pentax before taking the plunge; at the moment, I have loads of film in the fridge 120 and 35mm and will be using that!

Now here's a bit of FUN: an article I wrote for the Brentwood Photographic Club magazine:

For many members the annual 'Glamour Night' practical session is both eagerly anticipated and feared; pleasure at the thought of seeing some nubile young females showing little bits of all sorts of unmentionable areas,feared because the thought of 'taking a turn' at the lights in front of the leering crowd turns strong mens' legs to jelly, thereby losing the carefully-cultivated 'Macho Image' just at the wrong moment!

I remember when I 'discovered GIRLS' at about 13 years old I hadn't started photography,(until I was 15 years). I was at an all-boys school and we couldn't find out about girls very easily, so I was very shy and used to make a fool of myself in front of them. It was only once I had a CAMERA in my hands that I felt at ease; I studied the photos in ' Health and Efficiency' magazine (price 1/6d ) - no 'Page Three of the Sun then! When I joined my first adult photographic club at 16 years the 'South Essex Camera Club' I saw my first NUDES and when that club broke up I joined Barking PS where I discovered there were such things as ' Glamour and Portrait Nights'.

When I finally attended a night where 'all was bared' I found I was one of the leaders to take any pictures at all,most of the others held back ,cowering in the semi-darkness, legs shaking! I could talk to the girl, ask her to move into different positions, change the light and so on; what a sense of POWER!

It is true that many professional models hold amateur photographer to ridicule during the session; the girls sense that the snappers are plainly SCARED; no sound is heard, only the sound of motorwinds relentlessly burning up the film - nobody SAYS anything!

If a 'Girl Next Door ' is booked then everybody is scared! The girl shakes with fear at the thought of posing on front of cameras, the snappers are scared just because it's a GIRL!

I notice the glamour night is the one occasion where many cameras develop faults or the film is not loaded properly; the number of frames exposed to the number of results seen is in direct ratio to the attractiveness of the sitter - the sexier the sitter, the FEWER the good results!

Amazingly, at Brentwood Club the ladies group have had a few ' alternative glamour nights' with MALE models and produce wonderful results! I get knocked out of the way as soon as the guy gets into his jock-strap; no shyness among the ladies!

There really is no problem to joining in a group session; one should SPEAK to the model, don't be afraid to ask a change in pose and crack some jokes; remember, amateur models are just as shy as you; enjoy the session BOTH WAYS!

I went on the Sunday with a crowd from Brentwood Photo Club on David Leung's Coach from Goodmayes and I tried to find ONE Pentax *ist D to look at but NO LUCK! There was a BOX for one in a glass case but NO PENTAX! I haven't ' Held a Pentax *ist D yet' ! Oh well,back to my Spotmatic and M series,they're REAL Pentaxes!

Kim C is not the only one whose wife complains! I went to a fair last Sunday with a crowd from Brentwood Photo Club and when I got home I said in a loud voice "Can you give me a hand with all this stuff I bought,Dear?" You should have seen her face! " Don't say your'e bringing in another lot of other people's RUBBISH" she shouted down the stairs - "Well, here it is Dear",and I pulled out of my pocket a £3 dioptre correction lens in a little box! Talk about a 'let-off'!