A bit of lead pencil on the hood connector, may do the trick.

I had alkalines as spares, sometimes and they would last for about an hour. High end rechargeables lasted for 300 - 400 pictures.

I liked the *ist DS, because of the fact that you could have lots of spare rechargeables on hand. Plus I liked it as a camera, pity the MP's are so low.

Have tried it out handheld so far. A little soft, but understandably so due to hand held mode. Depth of focus is so very small that it takes some work to focus just right. Waiting for a really fine sumnny day to attach to the tripod.

I get the same "F---" on my mirror lens which is fixed at F8. It is attached to the camera by a T mount, which does not have any contacts at all. Therefore it would seem logical that the message is not getting through from the lens to the camera, either due to (a) poor conduction through the contacts, (b) the contacts not meeting due to wear on the mount (not likely) or (c) Problems with the aperture setting on the lens. In relation to the aperture setting on the lens, I had a similar problem with a F901 once where the "A" did not quite click and was reading nothing.

Electronics are now so complicated that when something goes wrong, there are a myriad of things that could have happened. Dont you miss the days when everything was mechanical on the SLR. I had a car once that when the fanbelt broke, I stopped the car and borrowed my girlfriends panty hose to replace it until I got to the next service station.

Now if you can even find the fanbelt it is a miracle, but if it breaks while you are driving the whole engine blows up.

Have received the Samyang 500mm, today. Good fast delivery from Poland to New Zealand. Looks like a half decent lens. Am looking forward to trying it out over the next week.

Will report back on how it goes.

Did you get it back together, and working?

Should have read the reviews on the Samyang first before presssing the button. Bit of a cheap lens it appears. Nevertheless, a bit of fun, may work out a use for it, or sell at a loss again. Live and Learn.

My wife wont be happy. While I was looking for a telescope, I came across a 500mm Mirror lens, (Samyang) selling new from Poland 90 UK Pounds, with free shipping. Probably not very good quality, but still worth a try and a bit of fun.

Anyone had any experience of these?

I bought a t2 adapter on E-Bay for NZ$9.00.

Now looking for a suitable telescope to mount on it.

Any suggestions. Cheapest possible, dont wnt to start an astronomical black hole of cash outgoings.

May have been cheaper to get a 1000mm cheap lens.

I see petrochemist has used a telescope, to attach to his camera. Just how do you do that. Where do you buy an adapter to attach such a thing to the camera.