Thanks Kris, I'm inclined to get it serviced and see if the screen will clean up at all. I like the colour rendition in that photo, even allowing it's basic Kodak 200 film.

Stan

Sorry, link didn't work:


https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/dillington-house-24639/large

I've finally returned to the world of film with an ME Super, £24 on Ebay + £4 for batteries. Great little camera, very intuitive (apart from the white button on the mode dial) and makes a satisfying noise when the shutter's released! All in working order and just got my first film back: example below taken with Pentax-M 50mm f/2. It's a bit of fun really, though I might put it on the tripod to do a B&W series of local historic buildings.




The camera doesn't have any light leakage or shutter problems but the seals are pretty gungy and it could probably do with an overhaul. It's one obvious fault is a dirty focusing screen, not enough to affect composition or focusing but it has several noticeable grey streaks across it. I gather the focusing screen is a major job to replace, so probably not worth the effort, but the question is, do I send it off to Harrow Technical for a service (£56), or just keep using it until something goes wrong?

I've had the 16-45mm for about a year, 24-90mm for slightly longer, and 18-55mm came with my K20D early 2009. My brief observations are that the 16-45mm is the sharpest of the three (24-90 almost as good), but the 24-90 gives a slightly richer colour. The 18-55 is not a bad lens at all, but compared with the 16-45 it can be slightly softer around the edges and occasionally suffers from flare at wide apertures; mine's now basically redundant. On balance the 16-45 gets most use as my city walkabout where the extra width comes in handy, 24-90 for country and coast (unless I'm looking for wider shots in mountains when it's the 16-45). Both the latter seem a bit flimsy (e.g. movement in barrel when fully extended) but not to the point of affecting image quality. I'd recommend the 16-45; if I hadn't already bought the 24-90 I might have gone for a 17-70 instead, but the two lenses seem to complement each other quite well.

I agree, I'm not complaining, just aware that the auctions aren't always the cheapest place to buy. Two of my manual lenses were picked up quite cheap in auctions, one of them a very good 28mm f/3.5. I tend to check out 2-3 Pentax dealers on the Web and do a general search for auction and BIN items at the same time - takes 10-15 mins and for popular items gives a quick reference-point for price. Incidentally I've not tried 'sniping' though obviously it won't help if someone's already set a bid limit higher than I want to go.

Stan

I've just bought another lens (Pentax-A 24mm 2.8 ) and also looking to replace my M 50mm 2.0 with an A 50mm 1.7.

I've followed a few auctions on Ebay and bid on three of them, but I'm noticing that the lenses on auction can be bid up past the price of apparently equivalent-condition items available through retailers or buy-it-now - e.g. two 24mm 2.8s went for over £150 on auction, while mine was £149 from Ffordes. No advantage on P&P either. Similar observations with the 50mm 1.7.

My logic is that given similar condition lenses, auction items without guarantees should go for less than the equivalent dealer or buy-it-now items with for instance a 3 month guarantee. The final auction price represents say £2-£5 above what the second-highest bidder is prepared to pay. I don't use ebay that much but when I do, I set the maximum price I'm prepared to pay, put the bid in, and wait.

I wonder how many bidders get caught up with the escalating bids and pay more than what they would otherwise think the item is worth?

K-5 now has more votes than the EOS60D and D7000 combined. Trouble is, I like the big chunky body of my K20.

Not sure - I have the same issue with my M 50mm f/2 and 28mm f/3.5 and neither have noticeably sticky blades, though the overexposure at low light levels is more pronounced with the 28. It also seems quite a widely-reported problem. Would be interesting to test the same lenses on a camera with a 'non-crippled' K-mount for comparison.

Like the green button in principle and it does let me use Pentax-M lenses, but it's a bit out at small apertures or lowish light. A mechanical aperture connection would be much better.

Hmm, (1) ergonomics, (2) image quality per £, (3) backwards lens compatibility, (4) weather sealing for those that have it.

The K20D handled well & I liked the balance and particularly the shutter & aperture wheels. EOS40/50, D90 & D300 didn't feel right in comparison.