Hi,

Kim is spot on with his advice and on my LXs I generally use the NiCd packs. However on occaision (in really cold weather) I have used the AA battery pack and the power lead 'm' to connect this to the drive rather than bolting onto the bottom of the drive. This way you can keep the battery pack seperate from the camera (and more importantly warm!). So if you can't find a NiCd pack (in good condition or needing a refurb) don't discount the AA pack as a method of supplying power to the drive.

Some good points here. It is a pain to find cross postings, particularly for adverts, however as has been intimated an area where 'sales / wants' could be posted should go some way to reducing the problem. Forum users could choose to visit or ignore the area - it may also get over Kevin's frustration about the time delay in an advert appearing in the classifieds.

I can understand that Peter may not wish to introduce such a section as he has already provided the facility within the classifieds area, but it may reduce the moderation tasks required if users are not to get frustrated by the 'fly posting' of adds randomly over the forums.

Just a small correction - the LX NiCd pack does fit the MX drive, it is a little longer than the MX drive so protrudes a few millimeters at each end but doesn't look too ungainly. I find that the handling of the MX, particularly with longer lenses fitted (I use it with the 300mm M*) is greatly improved when using the drive.

Another interesting differnce on the MX drive is the shot counter. This will allow you to set a maximum number of shots, which when reached the drive stops. In practice I have found this frustrating so tend to set it the 36exp setting.

I would go with John on this, I have used the Pentax-A 35-70 zoom on my Super A and P50 cameras for years and it is an excellent all rounder.

Hi Jamie, you are right about the lens mount for your camera it is a KA mount. Lenses with the 'A' setting found on the KA mount are the best match for your camera - it allows full use of the program mode. You can use a 'K' mount lens (one with no 'A' setting), this will only give you metered manual mode, i.e. you select both aperture and shutter speed. Pentax fit autofocus lenses will operate perfectly well with your camera, they are just a bit fiddly to focus (the manual focus ring on most AF lenses are a bit on the small side when compared to thier manual focus cousins).

If you look on the web / ebay / camera press you will find plenty of secondhand KA mount optics around - mostly at very good prices, so you should have no trouble finding what you are after

If Ebay does not prove fruitful I have found Camera Direct, Brighton to be very helpful. They are a specialist Nikon / Pentax shop and the owner regularly makes trips to Japan and can pick up most of your requirements. I have found them brilliant at sourcing those hard to find extras. http://www.camera-direct.com/default.asp

I have avoided posting to this thread until now - mainly because I could not honestly say that any one lens leapt to mind - I can find good reasons to list a number of optics here. While I have always really appreciated the prime lenses in my collection, particularly the 50mm F1.4 'm', 100mm F2.8 'm' and a particular favourite the 300mm 'm *' , it is to 3 zooms that I have narrowed my choice. The wide angle 24-35mm 'm' , the 75-150mm 'm' and the 80-200mm 'm'. In terms of usage the 75-150 probably comes out on top - its relatively small and light, balances perfectly on the M series and LX bodies and is a joy to use - overall it probably edges out the 80-200. The 24-35 however is a great little lens to have on the camera for both townscapes, landscapes or interiors so if reaaly pushed this would most likely take my vote (although in this debate I prefer fence sitting!).

The main thing that struck me is that when compiling this list it was my 'M' series optics which topped the list - this may change soon though with the recent arrival of the 45-85 FA zoom for my 645n, which appears to be absolutely top class - just waiting for the first set of films to come back to confirm my feelings about it.

Hi Molo,

I assume from your post that the lens is on the camera when you have been changing the aperture. To give the brightest possible image in the viewfinder the lens is designed to remain open at full aperture until the shutter is fired, at which point it shuts down to the selected aperture for the duration of the exposure. You can check this is working correctly in a number of ways but the simplest way would be to do the following:

1. set the camera to a slow shutter speed (or even the bulb setting)
2. Select a small aperture to start with (F16)
3. Fire the shutter and observe the lens iris - it should close to the selected stop and immediately the shutter has fired return to full aperture

Best wishes

Hi Pete,

I have just bought a FA24-90 lens. There is some play in the barrel at the 90mm end (as Joshua has said) but this doesn't seem to be a problem. Out of interest the 28-80 FAJ lens displays a similar amount of movement at the 80mm end of the zoom as did a 28-105 Canon USM lens that I used recently.

Hi Kim,

I would be interested in the companies you have found. I have an old K mount SMC85-210, in perfect condition with dedicated hood and case which has just started to show signs of some fungus. Its a bit of a monster of a lens by current standards but is not that common so I would like to do what I can to save it as a working part of my collection rather than an ornament!

Regards