I think you'll get on fine with the P30T, it added a lot of functionality to the P30, it was on my want list some long time ago. I don't think you can do anything with the mould, it's already damaged the optical characteristics, even if you can stop it's growth, you can't polish out the damage.

I agree with Kimbo that you should try for a second hand KA lens, or even an FA lens, but they'll be more expensive (autofocus). It won't of course autofocus on your P30T, but if you move on to a newer Pentax, you may need it. However, I would either look in Amateur Photography where there are loads of dealers in SH equipment, and it's all rated (Mint, Excellent, Good), or look on the web. Most of these dealers have web sites, and on the Jessops one, you can find what branch has a lens you could be interested in. I wouldn't worry about buying by phone, web or post from a reputable dealer, but if you need to try the lens first, you'll have to find a friendly local Pentax nut with one or a comparable one.

Thanks for the information on the rechargeables. I'll definitely try them on my MZ6, and if that's happy, I'll probably try them on the *ist. I'm fairly happy that they'll come to no harm on the rechargeables as they give a lower starting voltage than the Alkalines. I'm not going to try the Lithium technology batteries, unless somebody can assure me that they've used them, as their starting voltage is a bit highe than the alkalines.
Incidentally, the latest issue of "Which Camera" magazine had a good comparative test of AA batteries, where these Lithium cells came out as very good value for money, with a very good life. However, they did mention that not all digital cameras were compatible.
Pentax were very non-comittal in their reply to me on this subject, just a bland statement that only the alkalines should be used. I wonder if they've ever checked them out.

Cheers

Taliety

There are now a number of different AA size batteries, but the BG20 booklet says, "Use 4 1.5 AA size alkaline batteries only".

Other batteries can give better performance, Lithium technology AA cells, Titanium technology, and of couse NiMH and NiCd rechargeables. All give slightly different voltages, and I am concerned that some may damage the camera.

4 Alkaline cells give 6.0 to 6.5 Volts, depending on manufacturer.
4 Titanium Alkalines give about 6.3 Volts
4 Lithium cells give 7.16 Volts
4 NiMH rechargeables give 5.23 Volts
4 NiCd recharegeables give 5.1 Volts

This will obviously depend on the state of exhaustion of the batteries, but these Voltages were all measured for new, or fully charged cells.

I'm sure the battery grip Fg for the MZ6 says specifically "Do not use rechargeables", they also have a very low Voltage, and very low internal resistance, either of which could be a problem for a camera. I'm also quite concerned about the high voltage of the Lithium cells. I'm pretty sure the Titanium cells would be OK.

Has anybody got a more informed opinion on this? If possible I would like to be able to use the Lithium cells, as they supposedly give about 4-5 times better life than straight Alkaline cells.

Hi Kevin. The 360 will only offer P-TTL and SB when the camera is in Programme, Tv or Av. If you put the *ist into M mode, you should then be able to select the Auto and Manual flash modes. However, as soon as you put the flash into rear curtain sync mode, it goes into P-TTL mode. I don't think you can kill the preflash on the 360. I think you can probably, happily use the AF500 in TTL mode with rear curtain sync, without any preflash. perhaps you can borrow an AF500 to try this out.

I've spent half an hour hunting the *ist, the MZ-6 and the AF360FGZ manuals, and playing with the cameras/flash, and eventually decided you are in the proverbial. It won't work with the 360.

If you find out different, I'll be most interested, but I don't expect I'll need that feature for a while.

Thanks for that endorsement, George. I always thought I was bucking a trend in liking small and perfectly formed cameras.

Also re-read my previous posting, and before everybody thinks I must be talking tosh, I hit the wrong number and my Pentax FA f1.4 lens turned into an f1.5.

Sorry about that

I would go for the *ist, as opposed to the MZ3 or MZS or the MZ5n. They are all good cameras, and I have the MZ6 and *ist. Usually, I use the MZ6, and my wife uses the *ist, but I'm quite happy using either. Yes, it is very small, and that is why my wife likes it so much, but I don't have a problem with it, even though my hands are a good size (medium-large). I think this need for a chunky camera is a psychological coupling which goes "if its bigger and heavier, there must be more to it, and you're getting more for your money". I think this is a falacy, and a short time with a *ist will see you revising your assessment.

I have just bought the battery grip, but haven't actually used it yet.

There are a number of functions which only the MZ6, *ist and MZS have when used with the AT360FGZ, that the other cameras don't have, such as P-TTL and High Speed Sync. Both the MZ3 and MZ5n are a previous generation, and the MZS doesn't seem to give that much over the *ist. Maybe it'll be able to use Infrared film, though, I don't know.

My normal lenses are; a Tamron 28-135 Zoom, a Pentax 80-320, and a Tokina 18-35. I also have the Pentax 28-80 FA-J, but I don't particularly like it, it doesn't operate like the Tamron, and the focus is particulary loose in operation. The Pentax 50mm f1.5 AF lens is a beaut. I picked one up on ebay, sometime ago, the images are superb, however, for the photography I do, this lens doesn't see a lot of service.

I don't have a true macro lens, although I do use some autofocus tubes, which serve quite well, and a 49mm reversing mount, which can give quite spectacular macro close ups. A Macro lens is on the wish list.

For the longer focal lengths I have a Centon Miror 500m lens, which has been the subject of debate in another posting, but is not very useable with the *ist. If you're in to wildlife or sports photography, then something like the Tamron 170-500, or maybe the Sigma 200-500 which is about to be released, should be on the list.

I should think that the lenses for this camera are the 42mm Pentax Screw system, used on all Pentax prior to about 1978. Anything before the K and M series cameras K1000 MX, MV and ME, such as the Spotmatics will use this lens. It could be used with an adapter, on most recent manual focus cameras, or even, with manual focus, on AutoFocus cameras, except for the *ist and *istD.

Hi, Jenny. You don't seem to have had many replies to this, and I expect you have now got a flash fro your *ist.

I have a *ist and an MZ-6, and have been using Centon flash guns, Fh85 and FH95 with the Centon dedicated module PX. They have been very succesful. They work in TTL mode on both those cameras.

I have now bought the AF360FGZ, but haven't fired it in anger yet, so can't comment on it's comparative virtues. It does offer many more functions, including P-TTL, and Rear Curtain Sync.

There are lesser Pentax dedicated flash, such as the AF220T (£100), AF 280TTL (£160), or independents like the Sigma EF500DG Super (£114)Sunpak G5400DX(£185), Metz44MZ-2 (£180), Metz 54MZ-3 (£250).

These are just a few available, and the price spread is enormous. Only the AF360FGZ offers P-TTL and High speed sync, but the rest offer various features, the Metz, Sunpak, and I think, the Sigma offer trailing/second curtain/shutter sync (sorry, same as Rear Curtain sync).

Hope you find what you want, but I found myself torn between the different models, as they all offer a different set of facilities, from bounce, tilt, swivel, external power source, off camera use, wireless operation, high speed sync, rear curtail, P-TTL, TTL, Auto, Manual and so on. Incidentally, you'll need auto if you have an old camera which doesn't do TTL, it's fairly recent with Pentax.

I think they cannot be used on the *ist.

The *ist and the *istD are different.

The *ist cannot determine the aperture setting of a K or PK lens. The *ist can only work with lenses that have the electrical contacts and the Auto Aperture (Green A) setting. It uses totally the wrong exposure with other lenses.

The *istD with the latest firmware (downloadable from the Pentax site) can use these lenses.

Why the *ist cannot have this firmware upgrade defeats me, but that is the situation.

Taliety

The *ist does not work with the M series lenses. Although function 17 allows the shutter to be fired when the aperture ring is not set to "A", it doesn't actually read the aperture, and set the correct exposure. I can't see the purpose of this function.

I've had my *ist since last July, and it is a superb camera. It is well built, even though mostly plastic, very light, and small.

Fortunately, I have sufficient PKA and later lenses, not to be overly bothered by the misfunction with M series lenses. If I do need to use an incompatible lens, then I can always use my MZ6 or MZ-M cameras.

Cheers

Taliety