This has been troubling me for a few weeks. I have used my 43mm f1.9 limited in some pretty harsh locales, such as at a rocky shore and in the snow. I've gotten some salt spray on the front element (quickly wiped off, then at home I cleaned the front element w/ distilled water) and the lens has dipped into snow accidentally before (quickly brushed off again, and cleaned once more when I got home). It's taken nothing but fantastic pictures, but I'm a little concerned about the slight abuse its been through. I'm mostly worried about if the coating has been worn thin. I can't see any smudge marks on the lens and I have cleaned it with Kodak lens tissue and the front element and rear elements look pretty clean.
However I took this shot this morning just to finish the roll of film I have and I noticed what appears to be flare. Check it out. http://www.wuken.com/scans/flare.jpg (scan from the negative) Is it? It was taken at 11 a.m. facing south; the sun should have been overhead at this time. I think my settings were 1/250 at f16 with Ilford XP2 Super at ISO 400. Should I be concerned with this? None of the other shots on the roll seem to exhibit this, and I have shot straight into lights with absolutely no flare at all before. I thought this lens was highly resistant to flare. I live relatively close to an authorized Pentax camera repair facility so I can bring the lens to them to have them take a look but I'm not sure if it will be worth the cost of the repair, if it needs any. I'll be bringing my ZX-5n to them anyway since the viewfinder, focusing screen, and mirror are filthy and I'd like to have them tune it up. Your thoughts on what I should expect from this lens are appreciated. Sherwin Abesamis mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
