You're not wrong. My dbase is almost all Pentax stuff with a few random other things I have toyed with buying like the Tamron SP500mm mirror lens.

Having seen very little on ebay that I have wanted (omitting silly things like FA* 200mm macro lenses), there is a whole slew of stuff coming up this weekend... owch. One nice success, however, was the SPII I bought recently. Apart from gooey foam it is in lovely nick and works fine. The SMC Takumar lens on it goes much better with the ES and the Super Takumar lens that came with the ES goes much better on the SPII. Nice result. I now have an Interslice kit to sort out the gooey seals and then I am away.

Best wishes, Kris.

If you can find someone nearby who stocks them (or can make the pilgrimage to Watford), my advice is go and try them on your camera. Everyone is different and has slightly difference preferences. For example, I don't mind lugging a heavy camera around all day, others hate it. I chop and change lenses quite a bit (usually between the 12-24mm and the 50-135mm), others prefer to have one lens and stick to it. You may find that your mind is made up quite quickly when you actually handle one. I went to SRS planning to replace my kit lens with one of these and walked out with the 12-24mm instead

BTW another consideration is filter size/cost. The 16-50 takes 77mm filters which are pricey,the 16-45 and 17-70 take 67mm.

As to extracting money, I doubt many people would keep more than one of these options but they might add primes to complement the zoom, e.g. a 43mm Ltd...

Good luck with the choice, Kris.

Of the lenses I have, I'd probably keep the 12-24mm zoom as much of what I like to photograph requires wide angle (buildings, churches, landscapes...) but I would really miss macro, and I love my 50-135mm. Having seen some lovely photos taken with the 43mm Ltd, and liking to use my film cameras too, I might be tempted to agree with Hefty but as I don't have one yet it would be cheating

Best wishes, Kris.

I doubt you'll have any problems on the Normandy beaches. The Gare du Nord maybe, but not there.

Have fun. I'd like to go and visit one day too, I envy you the trip.

Best wishes, Kris.

When does this competition close?

Thanks, Kris.

Yup, the highest price I have out of 24 sales. What with that and the 200mm last time round Hefty is doing well

Probably end up for sale at twice the price...

Sold too

Too late. Sold I wonder if it is anyone we know.... :

Or Harrow Technical who have done a brilliant job on my ME-F and LX. (By the way, apart from specialist repairers like Asahi Photo and Harrow Technical, other repairers will always say that as they don't keep boxes of old cameras for spares!)