[Arjay Bee]

I'd be interested to know as to what extent they tend to be amenable to "bargaining" on prices and so on?

They do drop their prices in Australia in my experience- lenses often sit in their cabinets for a long time so they are happy to move them on and drop 15-20% off their prices if I ask nicely. Sometimes the young attendants are bemused by the fact that someone even wants to buy the old junk - after all why not just use your phone's camera?

[Marcus Rowland]

I agree - but sometimes they simply have no idea what they have or mess up and you can get a bargain. In the last year I've got a Nikon EF with 50mm series E lens for £25, an SMC Takumar/6x7 55/3.5 which I think was also £25, and this. And if I knew someone in the London area who was using a 6x6 Kiev I'd be pointing them at the 300mm Tair lens that their Camden branch has had in stock for the last year or so.

I forgot to add that their web site is HORRIBLE - you can't search it properly, or apply filters like date listed, price, etc. - it used to be OK but they modified it last year and ruined it.

[tim60]

Sunday was mostly disappointing, though I did get a Canon Eos 300 35mm body for £3 and a 62mm skylight filter for 50p

Yesterday was hopefully better, though it didn't seem that way at first - I went looking for a Cash Converters shop that had advertised a Micro Nikkor lens on their web site, but had a lot of trouble finding the place - and when I got there it turned out that they'd sold it over the weekend. But fortunately they did have some other lenses etc., and I ended up buying a really nice SMC Takumar 200mm f4 with skylight filter and original caps for £15. It's very clean, there are a couple of tiny scuffs and wear to the paint but that's about it. The only problem I have with it is that the open aperture metering gear can get in the way when using it with a lens adapter unless you're extra careful putting the adapter on, it's slightly trickier than the usual M42 lens, but that's probably just the converter I'm using rather than a generic flaw. It's a very nice lens, and should make me some money.

Not a problem with the Pentax OEM adapter.

[Jonathan Mac]

I had been saving up some cash with the aim of buying an 18-135mm so that I'd have something with weather resistance better than the 18-55mm, even though super-zooms are not my thing (I much prefer primes and fast zooms), but there's no denying the usefulness of such a lens. Yesterday I met up with a nice chap and blew all that cash on a Sigma EX APO 70-200mm f/2.8, Sigma's original version of the 70-200/2.8. So now I'm back to having zero in my photography fund and still no decent WR lens.

The 70-200mm seems pretty nice though - it weighs a ton and the only fault with it is that the hood doesn't lock into place properly. Still, it's probably the cheapest 70-200/2.8 I've ever seen up for sale (hence why I couldn't resist) and being the old version it's compatible with all K-mount film cameras. The first shots, though taken at high ISO, show that it's sharp enough wide open to be useable. I'll post them in the Sigma thread.

[Canada_Rockies]

So now I'm back to having zero in my photography fund and still no decent WR lens.

Although WR is nice to have, my K 55/1.8 survived a whale tail splash at Sea World in Victoria BC Canada. The whale carefully aimed and soaked me and the KX with lens thoroughly, no doubt laughing its head off at the stupid photog who didn't have his camera in an underwater case.

To the immense amusement of my wife and teenagers, I retired rapidly to the nearest fountain and using my wet handkerchief wiped everything down throughly. The lens was still good quite a few years later and the camera also. Did I mention that this was salt water?

[WPRESTO]

Did I mention that this was salt water?

Salt water on camera and lens - shiver . Scarier, walking along the wet zone of a beach and having your camera drop into the wet sand just as another surge of swash comes up from the breakers. No, it has not happened to me, but the possibility has made me grip a camera tightly on such a stroll.

[eddie1960]

Well I thought today I would have a nice 120cm octabox with grid for a shoot, but yesterday Purolator driver decided the address must be wrong since it wasn't a house (but he made no attempt to actually pull into the lot and check with reception where I work) , Amazon is trying to force a before 4 pm delivery today so I have it in time, and they have extended my prime membership. I can rent but the rent is almost the cost of the one I bought (though Amazon did suggest they would offset/cover it ) ...I can probably borrow one , it's more the running around factor for the rental or the borrow
or i can use my regular softbox and get the lizard eye effect lol

Well, i decded Purolator's screw up was unacceptable so I got on to Amazon. at 9 am, they addresssed it with purolator...it showed up at 10:30 am...from a sorting center about 55 minutes away at that time of day. Wow... so took it home did a couple of quick tests and it's a great modifier (not the fastest assembly at about 15- 20 minutes first time.) If I had a permanent studio I would leave these things all assembled and only break down when going on location.... no model so a couple of selfiess ...SOOC in this case Fuji monochrome w green filter . I'm a lousy model but the Octabox is great . shoot pics for a friend not available

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[Marcus Rowland]

A power supply for the Mac Mini I got a couple of weeks ago, didn't get around to buying it until Tuesday and it arrived today which is pretty good - it cost £15 including the postage, so the computer has now cost me £30 (ignoring keyboard, mouse, cables etc. since I already have some acquired at car boot prices). Now wiping the hard drive and installing Snow Leopard, which I think is the latest version this one will run. I think this is going to end up going to someone in my family, not sure who yet, but I think youngest niece is a Mac user and only has a laptop so it may end up being her.

[jtkratzer]

I live in Pennsylvania and a 67 55mm/4 lens showed up from Japan faster than a camera bag from Virginia. Camera bag purchased Sunday around 5pm EST and the lens at 3:17 pm on Monday. Still waiting on the right-hand grip that was dropped off at the post office in Thailand on 11 April.

[boriscleto]

Konica C35 MF (1982). Successor to the C35 AF (first 35mm AF P&S). Largely the same but with motor drive.

[SSGGeezer]

A new 77mm clear Nano-coated B+W filter for my Sigma APO 120-400 HSM OS. The lens hood is sturdy and deep but the glass is pristine and I would like to keep it that way! (And she weighs nearly 4 pounds so every bit of extra protection is a good thing if I get a case of the Oopsies!)

[pepperberry farm]

new keyboard; working at home at least one day per week necessitated a change...

previous keyboard had no numeral pad, which is a huge hindrance in my line of work.. so a new Das Keyboard Prime 13 arrived today...

anybody want a slightly-used Das Keyboard without the numeral pad?

[jtkratzer]

Can't believe how big the SMC 67 55/4 lens is. It's bigger than a beer can in a coozy. It dwarfs my K mount primes. Feels like it should have a part in the new Rampage movie.

[ivanvernon]

Can't believe how big the SMC 67 55/4 lens is. It's bigger than a beer can in a coozy. It dwarfs my K mount primes. Feels like it should have a part in the new Rampage movie.

The 67/55mm is like having an old fashioned syrup bucket on my K-1, but it sure takes nice pictures and the minimum distance to target is great!

[ivanvernon]

I purchased this lens via eBay new for only $50 plus$10 freight from Kiev, Ukraine, where it is manufactured. I used a double adapter approach to get it to Pentax 645 mount so I can use it on the 645D and/or 645Z. I adapted from Kiev Arsat B to Pentacon 6, then from Pentacon 6 to Pentax 645. There are no apparent bad effects from the double adaptation--focusses to infinity, preserves minimum focal distance, etc. Well, one incongruity of using the two adapters is that the aperture/focussing scale appears about 90 degrees left of top-center rather than on top where you expect to find it, certainly a bit of an inconvenience. The eBay description indicated that this was 135 full-frame format, and I bought it with that understanding. However, it is actually a full-fledged medium format lens with no vignetting, at least not on the Pentax 645D or Z. I also "dry tested" it on the 645N, and it appears to cover the entire image circle here as well with no apparent vignetting. It focusses the Pentax way, turning all the way to the right for infinity. Lettering for aperture and focal range is engraved and painted white, not just silk screened on to the barrel. It comes with well-made front and back caps, hood, and soft case. One convenient feature is that the hood is designed so that the front cap fits securely upon the front of the hood instead of fitting only on the front of the lens barrel, neatly solving the age-old question of what to do with the front cap after mounting a lens hood! Build quality is excellent--high quality plastic with plenty of metal where needed on mount, etc. Manual focussing is simplified by a 3-4 inch long focussing grip which offers a long throw, about 180 degrees from minimum focal distance to infinity. Image quality is not bad at all, definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer but adequate for most uses, particularly for close-up portraiture. This lens does not cut any new ground in terms of image quality, but still represents a tremendous value for a medium format 250mm lens. New price is normally $129 plus freight, unusually low for a medium format lens of this build quality and focal length. I have posted some snaps over in the Medium Format photo thread.