[Gary H Perth]

Written off - my Tamron Adaptall 2 SP 35-80mm, due to an oily smear on the inside of front element and some patchy surface blemishes on the curved element visible from the front. It's a shame, this is a really good travel lens on my K70 for when wide is not needed (it is sharp, light, easy to focus manually and has a good macro). I am now testing my overlapping lenses to see which is the best alternatives, and here are my first observations:
Pentax M 40-80mm - really good at close distances and in its "macro mode" but not really sharp at infinity focus
Pentax A 35-70 F4 constant - looks and feels great, handles flare well but not extremely sharp
Pentax F 35-70 - small, sharp, good colours, so far seems the best, 49mm filter thread, same as all my Limiteds
Pentax F 35-105 - not quite as sharp as the F35-70 but still impressive
Pentax FA 35-80 - ugly and feels cheap, but very good optics, 49mm thread
Tokina 28-70 SD - slightly wider, feels very nice and is quite sharp with good colours, crisp images at infinity, 52mm thread same as my M200mm and DAL 55-200mm
Sigma 28-90 Aspherical - feels really cheap, but easy to use and the macro is quite sharp.

If I am really honest, none of these comes close to my HD DA zooms (the 18-135 and the 16-85mm) but these zooms are long and very expensive. All I really want is a cheap, physically-short walkaround lightweight zoom for when I want a light setup for opportunistic photos. So far I think the F35-70 is the best choice, and it is the smallest. It is the only one of all these with its own fan page. I still love the Tamron more.

[Jonathan Mac]

I just sold my Vivitar 105mm f/2.8 lens which I acquired last year but I found it was a poorer performer than my 105mm Tak and the manual stop-down switch on it has to be held to keep the aperture closed down, which is a pain in use.

[Marcus Rowland]

My office chair - started to sag sideways and I suspect will collapse sooner or later, so I've ditched it. Farewell 20-odd years of comfort, just hoping I can find one as good at an affordable price.

later - looks like I will also be dumping my rechargeable CR2 batteries, they don't hold a charge any more.

[Canada_Rockies]

Two land line phones to the Thrift Shop. We have had to add a LifeLine to our system, and it doesn't like anything else on the line.

[steamloco76]

Talk about losing money! Just sold my 7,000 actuations K-30 body with a dead aperture block for $75 shipped. $11.20 shipping and $4 PayPal fees, I’ll net $60.80. I was using it with older K and KA mount lenses, but it’s a pain to not be able to use any of my sharp, newer Pentax AF lenses. Pretty sure the new owner plans on putting a new solenoid in the K-30. I can’t Make the repairs due to diabetic neuropathy in my fingers. Dealing with tiny little parts is very trying and often ends in disaster.

[Gary H Perth]

Written off - my Tamron Adaptall 2 SP 35-80mm, due to an oily smear on the inside of front element and some patchy surface blemishes on the curved element visible from the front. It's a shame, this is a really good travel lens on my K70 for when wide is not needed (it is sharp, light, easy to focus manually and has a good macro). I am now testing my overlapping lenses to see which is the best alternatives, and here are my first observations:
Pentax M 40-80mm - really good at close distances and in its "macro mode" but not really sharp at infinity focus
Pentax A 35-70 F4 constant - looks and feels great, handles flare well but not extremely sharp
Pentax F 35-70 - small, sharp, good colours, so far seems the best, 49mm filter thread, same as all my Limiteds
Pentax F 35-105 - not quite as sharp as the F35-70 but still impressive
Pentax FA 35-80 - ugly and feels cheap, but very good optics, 49mm thread
Tokina 28-70 SD - slightly wider, feels very nice and is quite sharp with good colours, crisp images at infinity, 52mm thread same as my M200mm and DAL 55-200mm
Sigma 28-90 Aspherical - feels really cheap, but easy to use and the macro is quite sharp.

If I am really honest, none of these comes close to my HD DA zooms (the 18-135 and the 16-85mm) but these zooms are long and very expensive. All I really want is a cheap, physically-short walkaround lightweight zoom for when I want a light setup for opportunistic photos. So far I think the F35-70 is the best choice, and it is the smallest. It is the only one of all these with its own fan page. I still love the Tamron more.

Just to demonstrate that I want something small - here is a shot of all the above mentioned lenses minus the M 40-80mm (which I think is fungus infected so I am keeping it away from the useful lenses) but adding the recently-acquired Sigma EX DG 24-60mm and the Tokina 35-200mm. Two pics here, each with a calibration stack of 5 Tim Tams (Australian AMU), accompanied by the DA16-85mm. First is the suite of lenses at minimum length, second all at maximum length. The deceased Tamron is close to the size of the A35-70, so way smaller than the 16-85 but not as much range, of course.

The next step is that I will get rid of a few that are not really good enough to match the F35-70 and the Sigma 24-60mm: probably the A35-70mm, Sigma 28-90mm, M40-80mm, maybe the FA 35-80mm and the Tokina 28-70mm

[c.a.m]

Sold locally - Super-Takumar 135/3.5 and S-M-C Takumar 35/3.5 to a young photographer (and university student) shooting with a Nikon D90 he recently acquired. His adapter doesn't allow infinity focus, but he loves the Taks. He inherited several from a family member, including a 105/2.8.

I found that the S-M-C 35/3.5 renders very nicely and is a sweet compact lens. This one was in excellent condition, near mint. However, I have other good lenses in the 30-35mm ballpark, so it was time to let it go to another appreciative enthusiast.

- Craig

[Arjay Bee]

Yesterday I sold my last Takumar. At the high tide of acquisition I had 15 - they started to just sit on the shelf and so first went the teles then the so-so then all the rest over a period of years including the macros which I enjoyed using very much.

Non use was a side effect of dealing with the swapping of mount adapters, carrying light gear loads etc. The ex film collection has shifted from Spottie centric to MX centric and now I have a range of manual M and A series lenses.

At the high point:



And as far as bodies are concerned all these have moved on too:



And then there were all the interesting non Takumar M42 lenses also passed on:

[aslyfox]

not photography related but still fun:

my wife and I went on a " Cubs Destination " trip to Denver Monday and Tuesday.

[ you get tickets to 2 games, " goody " bags and on the second day a private tour of the stadium, lunch and a meet/greet and autograph session [ one item only ] with a member of the Cubs, in this case, Kyle Ryan a left handed reliever. ]

the " goody bag is a nice " baseball style with stitching " back pack containing an official MLB baseball, display stand, a Cubs adjustable cap and a " Go Cubs Go " picture frame

since it was our second time we had done such a trip, we decided to give away the back packs

when we were on our " private " tour, we passed an public one ( we were assured we went places that one didn't ) and I saw two young boys wearing Cub jerseys and presented the back packs to them.

they were very happy and so were their parents

[ no other children were in that group ]



_________________________

during the game, two other young boys in Cub attire were sitting in front of us.

a woman who was part of our group, sitting behind me knocked her purse over. She did not realize that a base ball she had fell out.

the youngest boy, an inning or two later, looked under his seat, found it and announced he had found a base ball . The woman realized it was hers and asked for it back

the young child, around 6 years old, without a word, handed it over but his face showed his disappointment

I decided to present to him the autographed MLB baseball I had as a reward since he had given up the other ball

my wife then decided to give his slightly older brother ( about 10 ) the one she had

just to be fair.

as I said, it just felt right

[Racer X 69]

not photography related but still fun:

my wife and I went on a " Cubs Destination " trip to Denver Monday and Tuesday.

[ you get tickets to 2 games, " goody " bags and on the second day a private tour of the stadium, lunch and a meet/greet and autograph session [ one item only ] with a member of the Cubs, in this case, Kyle Ryan a left handed reliever. ]

the " goody bag is a nice " baseball style with stitching " back pack containing an official MLB baseball, display stand, a Cubs adjustable cap and a " Go Cubs Go " picture frame

since it was our second time we had done such a trip, we decided to give away the back packs

when we were on our " private " tour, we passed an public one ( we were assured we went places that one didn't ) and I saw two young boys wearing Cub jerseys and presented the back packs to them.

they were very happy and so were their parents

[ no other children were in that group ]



_________________________

during the game, two other young boys in Cub attire were sitting in front of us.

a woman who was part of our group, sitting behind me knocked her purse over. She did not realize that a base ball she had fell out.

the youngest boy, an inning or two later, looked under his seat, found it and announced he had found a base ball . The woman realized it was hers and asked for it back

the young child, around 6 years old, without a word, handed it over but his face showed his disappointment

I decided to present to him the autographed MLB baseball I had as a reward since he had given up the other ball

my wife then decided to give his slightly older brother ( about 10 ) the one she had

just to be fair.

as I said, it just felt right

Altruism wins every time, Allen.

[aslyfox]

Altruism wins every time, Allen.

well;

to be honest

I have to admit I am hoping for good karma

In 2017 I took photos of Rizzo, Javy and Heywood at the Cubs vs. Cardinals Mother's Day game in St. Louis.

I was able to convince Ryan to take several sets of those photos to the club house with cover letters asking each player to keep one set of photos while signing the extra copies and returning them to me via the prepaid self addressed envelopes provided.

It's is a long shot but I am hoping they will do so.

if so, the autographed photos will join my autographed photo of Walter Payton of the Bears when he raced at Road America.in the Trans Am Series

[pepperberry farm]

FA43 Limited...

[monochrome]

FA43 Limited...

Sacrilege!

[steamloco76]

Now that I have fully functioning Pentax camera bodies (K-3, K-5iis, K-s2) the older 1980’s manual focus lenses purchased to go with my K-30 with aperture block failure (also sold) are being sold off. Gone through eBay and Forum
Tokina ATX-SD 300mm f2.8 IF MF, KA Mount
Pentax 400mm f5.6 A, KA mount
Sigma 400mm f5.6 MC (non APO) KA Mount
Super Cosina 100-500mm f5.6-8 K mount
Vivitar Series One 28-90mm f2.8-3.5 KA Mount, sticky iris.
Sears 135mm f2.5 Macro Zone KA mount
All were very good lenses. Since I found a pristine Pentax 300mm F4.5.5 F* and a decent Sigma 170-500mm f5-6.3 APO AF none of the other telephoto lenses were ever going to be used again. The Super Cosina was a surprisingly good lens, had it been KA, not just K mount, I’d have kept it. The big Tokina lens was fantastic! I had used it for thousands of sports photos over my career and it was still basically new. Superb build quality. Too heavy and bulky for my use these days. I hated to sell it.

[pepperberry farm]

Sacrilege!

yep - caused a ruckus in the FA Limited lens club thread, too...


(: