Dave Wrenn wrote: [...]
Thanks to all for your input. I rang Asahiphoto (the one's who advetise on the Pentax User site) and spoke to someone there who is familar with all the Limited lenses. His opinion was the the looseness of the aperture ring is common. Now I'm even more confused, the sloppy aperture ring doesn't sit very well with the overall Limited build quality, but on the other hand, Asahiphoto presumably know what they're talking about ( and also turned down a possible repair job on the lens because it was just 'normal') The play (hard to judge how much - say, between 0.35 - 0.5 of a millmetre?) is certainly noticeable - yet the stops are positive and the lens appears to give excellent results. Do I worry for nothing?
Loose screws have no mechanism for restraint, so they continue to loosen with reversing (back and forth) forces. You could likely use that lens for some time, infrequently, without diminishing the ability to change the aperture setting.
But some day you'll feel a little hitch, and that will be one of the screws falling out of place, and perhaps tying things up!
Me? I'd spend $45 and get it fixed... keith whaley
