[Nesster]

Yep, pasipasi, that was exactly my thought process. Except for the 16-45, I only go to 28mm with Pentax, K or screw. Mine's also an Ai'd 24, though mine's just a N and the Ai'ing is after market.

I think there are a couple of things going on in the Nikkor world to keep prices moderate, in addition to what you mention. One, the mount/metering compatibility issues to Nikon dSLRs - unlike with Pentax, the lower end models ain't. Two, there were so damn many Nikkors made, then and now, that it's rare to have a rare lens. Whereas with Pentax much of the supply doesn't match the demand.

I recommend the FE by the way, as it can use pre-Ai as well as Ai. The view finder's got the best features of a KX, the operation is silky, and it truly is equally good as a manual exposure camera as it is as an Av one.

[EyeSpy]

They can be OK. If I'm looking at the right listing, that one may be somewhat harshed-on, but does still have the hood. They were really actually fairly nice back in their day, if a bit chunky by modern standards: it sounds like a lot of them didn't necessarily survive, (They do tend to suck in all kinds of dust and stuff, it seems: look closely at the pictures around the zoom ring) so it may take a few tries to get a good one.

I think that lens may be the only Kiron that ever came in a KA-mount version, though, so the factory hood alone might be worth the price of admission if it turns out the lens itself is no good.

Thanks Ratmagiclady. I went back to the listing to see what u were takling about and yeah it's not the newest kid on the block. I was intrigued with "macro lock". The bid is over $10 w/ shipping $14.00. I have a Quantaray macro auto zoom 85-210mm fL3.8(it came with a Ricoh XR-2). So I'll pass for now. I need to get my CBA/LBA under control. Thanks again.

[irishwhite]

Just got back from a little CBA/LBA shopping. $100 bought me some *mint* 28mm F/3.5, 135mm F/3.5, and 200mm F/4 lenses along with a 50mm F/1.4 lens on a spotmatic that looks damn clean (but the mirror is locked up and even with some gentle tugging won't come down), sweet old tripod, filters, Asahi Pentax branded close up lens (filter of some sort...had not seen this mentioned on the forums before) a flash and a sweet case. All of the lenses are really prestine except for the 50mm which i'd grade as great shape. They also came with their original cases and hoods. a couple of them were still in their Asahi Pentax branded plastic bags inside their cases. the 28mm looks like it's never even been mounted before.

Pics to come later. I'm so excited about this find, even though I've actually already got all of the lenses that i bought today except the 28mm, but last week was given a 24mm pentax lens for free. Guess i'll just have to sell them :-)

[titrisol]

The 200/4 is a great lens, highly underrated.

Now to reset your spotmatic you need not apply any force, but open the bottom and play with the cams until they are free.
Search in the internet Spotmatic Seized or something like that

If that does not work, it needs to be sent to Eric for another 25 years of pleasure

Just got back from a little CBA/LBA shopping. $100 bought me some *mint* 28mm F/3.5, 135mm F/3.5, and 200mm F/4 lenses along with a 50mm F/1.4 lens on a spotmatic that looks damn clean (but the mirror is locked up and even with some gentle tugging won't come down), sweet old tripod, filters, Asahi Pentax branded close up lens (filter of some sort...had not seen this mentioned on the forums before) a flash and a sweet case. All of the lenses are really prestine except for the 50mm which i'd grade as great shape. They also came with their original cases and hoods. a couple of them were still in their Asahi Pentax branded plastic bags inside their cases. the 28mm looks like it's never even been mounted before.

Pics to come later. I'm so excited about this find, even though I've actually already got all of the lenses that i bought today except the 28mm, but last week was given a 24mm pentax lens for free. Guess i'll just have to sell them :-)

[irishwhite]

The 200/4 is a great lens, highly underrated.

Now to reset your spotmatic you need not apply any force, but open the bottom and play with the cams until they are free.
Search in the internet Spotmatic Seized or something like that

If that does not work, it needs to be sent to Eric for another 25 years of pleasure

Thanks! I will give your suggestion a try. I've got 4 spotmatics at the moment, and am thinking about sending one of them over to Eric soon.