Well, first I'd like to say hello to everyone here on the list! I'm in my third month as a Pentax user, and I've got a few questions ;)
So far I've accumulated a few pieces of Penatx gear (enough to get a good start in photography, anyway): Pentax P30t body & 35-80mm f/4-5.6 lens - $62 shipped (excellent condition) Pentax 50mm f/2, Focal 28mm f/2.8, Focal 80-200 f/4.5 lenses - $36 shipped (good-excellent condition) Pentax AF200T flash - $30 shipped (like new, with manual and leather pouch!) Pentax MX - $50 The P30t, lenses, and flash are all in good shape, although I don't know about the quality of the Focal zoom (seems a little soft at times) it's good for me to start with. My plan is to get a good bag to put all this stuff in, a decent tripod, and milk if for all it's worth until I am technically proficient and know what I want in a new camera. The MX needs to have the mirror foam replaced, and there are a few bits of the foam already collected on the mirror surface. Also, there is a dark smudge on the focusing screen when looking through the viewfinder - nothing major, but a little bit annoying. Looking at the screen itself it looks like someone might have tried to clean it and damaged it, or maybe smudged it with some kind of cleaner. Whats the best do it yourself way to replace that little piece of foam? How to safely clean the mirror/focusing screen? The shutter speeds and meter seem fine, mechanically the camera is in excellent condition, so a full CLA seems a little overboard. Also, its got a couple small dents on the bottom from someone overzealously screwing in a tripod, and the hot shoe sits a little crooked from a small dent (hence the price). My plan was to use the MX for wide field astrophotography during the winter, so I didn't need a 100% perfect specimine, and I would rather give a slighlty worn camera a good home ;) Thanks in advance for your suggestions, -Andrew
