Interesting article here

'The online photographer' Mike Johnson's take on the subject.
Neither Canon or Nikon are on the short list so it's not just swayed by advertising revenue.

As Archie says cheap P-TTL cables are redily available, in several lengths. I find mine is ideal for off-camera macro work. I brought two so I can link them to get extra reach without always carrying a long cable in my bag. So far I've never needed the extra one.

I love the DA55-300 but my teleconverters don't work well with it. But the reach is not signifigcantly different to your 18-270.
The Bigmos (Sigma 150-500, the 'Bigma' is the 50-500) is also brilliant but as others have said not compact or light weight. Fortunatly my muscles are used to carrying to much weight, so I can cope with using it handheld for about half an hour at a time, but it doesn't come out with me very often, while the 55-300 lives in my camera bag (it's significantly lighter than my old F100-300).
I've also tried mirror lenses, which are much lighter, but a pain to focus and lacking in contrast. Since getting the K7 cropping the DA55-300 gives better results than using the mirror, so perhaps it's time I sold it.

Much of the decision will come down to can you manage the weight of the Bigma/Bigmos (or afford them). Try carrying a couple of kilos of sugar/pasta or simialr with you on some typical trips to see how the weight feels.

The M42 aperture pin is AFAIK not used by any of the adapters on the market. Though some will ensure it is pressed in permanantly. It's a refinement of the original M42 mount allowing cameras to stop automatically down when taking a photo. If it's stick just make sure it sticks in, otherwise the lens will remain wide open whatever you do to the aperture ring.
I wouldn't think its worth repairing as being sticky will not affect it's use on modern lenses - certainly not something to discard the lens for!!!!

Brian, I've yet to see s digitally processed visible light shot that looks truely convincing as IR. It similar to taking the RED channel & processing it to give you a full colour image.
The skies in your Pseudo infrared images are all very pale - typically IR skies are dark with highly contrasting clouds.

Go ahead & get a filter, they're available very cheap these days, and if you don't mind long exposures you should be able to capture real IR images. I suspect the K10d will have similar IR sensitivity to the K100d which can be handheld for IR on hot days with a fast lens.

If it doesn't show barrel creep then I suspect the problen is with the prvious user. Though it could be a back/front focusing issue with their particular camera.

Certainly looks like you got a bargain.

Out of the members of our Photography club that I've seen this year (~30 total) 3 others shoot Pentax, out numbering the Nikon shooters 2:1!

In recent years at motor racing events I've seen three (one a pro.), but I've generally been too busy to look much.

Yes the model look is intentional, but not helped by the mistiness.
I have done other shots where the tilt has been used to boost the effective DOF of close up shots, but the effect is not obvious (I could have used a tripod and closed the aperture for f1.4)
I've also got several where the middle portion is in focus from the fore ground to the horizon yet both sides are out of focus...

My adapter does tilt but not shift, so perspective control will need either my monorail camera and chemical processing or a different adapter. there is one on the market that does shift without tilt but it's CaNikon only and currently lacks affordable Chinese rip-offs.

Ken your Kodak mounting sounds a little Heath Robinson, but still probably works better than my bellows/body cap mount for my 1930's Anastigmat. Do you have any photos using it to share?

I'm not fully happy with mine, but have been finding it fun to play with.
I've had issues with the mounting being very difficult to get off the camera, which seems to be getting worse in use. I think there may have been a few screws that have worked loose...
The one I got was from Roxen on e-bay, but as far as I could see all the chinese models on e-bay look to be the same.

I've recently been tempted by a bargain non-Pentax camera specifically to use with my Pentax lenses.
I know it may sound a bit like madness, but there is some logic to it...
With the short rear flange distance of the micro 4/3 there is room for some interesting adapters, the one I got allows my Pentax lenses to be tilted.
I can't afford a decent tilt lens for my DSLRs but for just over £100 I've now got a whole selection
So far I've only played with the M50mm/1.4, but it should also work with all my old full frame lenses. (the lenses needs an aperture ring, and DA lenses will generally have issues with coverage when tilted)



No doubt a similar adapter can be made for the Q mount but I've not seen them, and I suspect the crop factor is somewhat excessive, as I want to be able to use wide angles. (As it is my 28mm only gives me 56mm equivalent on the Panny - I'm going to want some old ultra-wides)