Well, I did it: I've bought another K2 body, this one with a 50mm f/1.2 lens.
I've turned the body straight over to be serviced: the foam in the back cover
needs replacing and the "automatic" setting seems to need adjustment as it
fires about two stops slower than the speed indicated by the meter.
The price was NZ$700 for both the body and the lens, which translates
roughly to US$315 (I can hear you all gnashing your teeth now:). I'm not
sure how much the repairs will cost but I'm getting an estimate before they
proceed.
And now the bad news, I traded two of my other K2's to buy it :( So at the
moment the only 35mm bodies I have are a single K2 and a Z-1p so now I
can only run two types of film at a time! I'm going to miss those other
bodies, but I just didn't have much use for four bodies, let alone five.
Because the 50/1.4 which came with one of the bodies was in pretty shabby
condition I looked around all the secondhand shops in the city to find a
replacement lens. Only two shops had any 50mm lenses; both were 1.7's.
One of them had a sticky aperture, and the other one was selling for about
double what I thought it was worth. So I put on my *only* zoom lens (which I
never use), a Soligor 35-70/2.5-3.5.
Since then I've decided to have the 50/1.4 repaired (it only needs a new face-
plate and the ring that holds it). If I remember right, the 1.4 is considered the
best of the 50mm lenses so it's well worth keeping.
BTW, the f/1.2 lens is beautiful; it looks as if it was made yesterday. The
rear element is _huge_: it's as big as the mount will physically allow. Both
the front and rear elements are massive even compared to my 55/1.8. I can't
wait to go out and try some "available dark" shooting.
Cheers,
- Dave
David A. Mann, B.E.
email [EMAIL PROTECTED] * http://www.digistar.com/~dmann/
"Why is it that if an adult behaves like a child they lock him up,
while children are allowed to run free on the streets?" -- Garfield
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