[alex66]

At what stage does the obsession tip from being about photography to collecting?

What is wrong with both? Some cameras are quite beautiful things of themselves so on a shelf to look at is fine. People collect fine china plates (my late mother did) but still use plates on a daily basis, so if someone wanted to have a collection of all the 1960's Pentax cameras in a display case but uses only digital it seems perfectly reasonable. Besides those that collect old cameras or other things are saving them for future people to see and enjoy.

[aslyfox]

IMHO

collections are beautiful. can be knowledgeable and informative, and valuable to the collector and few others

but may hold value poorly but if you love it who cares

[ ask " old timers " about the old baseball card collections, before you could buy baseball cards by the lot, and find information on the web ]

YMMV

[3by2]

A Hoya UV filter, 77mm. I know, I know but this particular lens has quite a large, forward, front element and picks up dirt really easily, especially in my default carrying position, so I shall suck up the the slight loss of contrast and be on the lookout for backlit situations, otherwise I'll be fearfull of the amount of time I'll need to spend cleaning the front element.

[Jonathan Mac]

At what stage does the obsession tip from being about photography to collecting?

For a time I was unable to reconcile the acquisition of more gear with a photography hobby, but then I realised that I have two hobbies - photography and collecting (and using) photography gear. They are separate but related.

[D1N0]

A battery for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX07 since the battery that came with it refused to be charged. Luckily it turned out well. The camera is still working. That makes 8 out of the batch of twelve from the box of compacts, with one definitely broken, one Is a film camera which I will leave be and two still to be tested. Having spent (including shipping) €24,58 on the lot €6,49 on this battery and €19,31 om a universal battery charger. (avoided shipping costs by using the pick up point option). (Which landed me a projector lens since I passed a thrift shop on the way there )

[Fluegel]

The thing is, I have four five bags already. They're all full and there are also two drawers with lenses...

I suppose you are no longer receiving treatment. Your case is incureable.
As long as you can live with it nothing to worry about.

Reminds me of the worst gear decision I ever made although I was warned about what was going to happen.
Enjoyed the Leica M4 and a couple of Leica lenses.
The mistake was to try to make the M4 into a SLR body with a Visoflex housing.
After the adapter you end up with a bag full of rings etc.
At that moment photography gets a strong resemblance to plumbing.
I ended up selling the whole kit and buying a Hasselblad camera.

But that is another story.

[D1N0]

For 25 euro's a Tamron 28-200mm 1:3.8-5.6 (IF) AF Aspherical LD 171D A super zoom for the K-1 Ricoh does not have.

[monochrome]

Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 1:2,8 f=50mm T - 14 blades.

Inspired by a member’s posts using CZJ 58/2 Biotar I thought I would try this first, for 90 Clams (maybe a little rich), before I lay out the big bucks for the Biotar.

Missing the front cap, so I’ll be hunting one of those found one in Florida.

This lens is lost in the mail. It has visited three Post Offices within 2 miles of my house including my actual Post Office. USPS does not know where it is ATM.

[gatorguy]

This lens is lost in the mail. It has visited three Post Offices within 2 miles of my house including my actual Post Office. USPS does not know where it is ATM.

You could try posting a picture of it on telephone poles in the neighborhood, you know lost dog but instead lost lens.

[stevebrot]

This lens is lost in the mail. It has visited three Post Offices within 2 miles of my house including my actual Post Office. USPS does not know where it is ATM.

I had a delivery several months ago that went like that. It was actually scanned (either the item or the truck) at my local post office, but surfaced later the same day across the river in Portland and then later that evening in Troutdale (east of Portland) and eventually in Eugene, 120 miles to the south where it languished for a week or so. Eventually, it shuffled back and found its way to my front porch two weeks after the original "second day" delivery target.

With any luck your lens has not been liberated to a ditch somewhere deep in the hinterlands of the Midwest.


Steve

[monochrome]

I had a delivery several months ago that went like that. It was actually scanned (either the item or the truck) at my local post office, but surfaced later the same day across the river in Portland and then later that evening in Troutdale (east of Portland) and eventually in Eugene, 120 miles to the south where it languished for a week or so. Eventually, it shuffled back and found its way to my front porch two weeks after the original "second day" delivery target.

With any luck your lens has not been liberated to a ditch somewhere deep in the hinterlands of the Midwest.


Steve

Yeah, I bet some of the scans were truck scans or container scans. It arrived at and departed from my local PO 45 minutes apart then arrived at the next PO east 20 minutes later now it seems to be moving around local PO’s. Likely the package was associated with the wrong container and the actual box is on a shelf somewhere..

[Fluegel]

This lens is lost in the mail. It has visited three Post Offices within 2 miles of my house including my actual Post Office. USPS does not know where it is ATM.

If the parcel has tracking try this: Volg Bpost International pakket met Pakket app

I found a missing camera that was sent from Sweden to Austria.
Swedish post did not come with answers.
I found the camera was on its way to Australia.
Austria/Australia is too difficult for Swedish post.

The hint proved right. I got an e-mail from Customs in Sydney.
Clever guys, they send the parcel back to Austria.
The camera did 40.000 km before it reached the new owner.

[stevebrot]

It is strange how forum threads influence us. A few weeks ago, there was a marketplace listing for a Vivitar 283 flash (yes, the real deal, made in Japan workhorse from the late 1970s). I was struck be a bolt of nostalgia, based in part from knowing that I was too poor to buy one new and also a remembrance that the 283 is sort of a legend. The one on the marketplace was quickly snatched up, but I soon found a similar one at KEH for about the same money. The deed was done and another piece of somewhat needed vintage gear was headed my way.

Might I add that I took part in a discussion here on the relative merits of auto-thyristor vs. P-TTL and voiced a strong opinion that auto flash is often more reliable than P-TTL and still suitable to tasks like balancing against ambient light or even deployed off-camera for complex lighting.

That being settled, there was a help request regarding radio wireless shutter release. The use of flash triggers for this task was suggested and I remembered that my Yongnuo YN560TX II offers this feature when paired with any of several inexpensive basic TX/RX units, including the RF603 II. Keeping in mind the Vivitar 283 and a sometime need for radio remote shutter, I did some research and found that for about $30 I could provide both radio remote for the 283 and remote shutter from a packaged kit of two RF603N II. (I chose the Nikon over the Canon version because it will auto-waken if mounted to a Pentax hot shoe.)

Soooo...they both got here yesterday and today, I took their portrait. Sadly, I had no smu or amu to gauge size and also forgot to add other stuff as a measure of comparison. It is probably enough to say that the Vivitar 283 is smaller than my YN560III speedlight and and about 3/4" longer than the Pentax AF280T when both are stretched out straight.

Flash Follies



I was able to test out several configurations, including RF603NII as remote trigger for shutter release using the YN560TX II (on camera) to fire the K-3 and with both YN560III flash along with the Viv 283 synced (atop the other RF603NII) for the actual exposure. I am now looking for the variable power plug and add-on lenses for the 253 to round out that package.

Did I mention that a RF603N II can act as a safe-sync device for high voltage flash such as the 260V 283?


Steve

[Lord Lucan]

A few weeks ago, there was a marketplace listing for a Vivitar 283 flash (yes, the real deal, made in Japan workhorse from the late 1970s). ..... the 283 is sort of a legend. The one on the marketplace was quickly snatched up ....

You should have had no difficulty finding one, I believe they were the best selling flash unit of all time. I was recently looking for a flash on Ebay and it seemed that every other one was a 283. I've just done a quick Ebay search and there are nearly 500 of them or (or their accessories, manuals, leads) there at the moment, ranging in BIN prices from £7.50 to about £60 (ignoring broken ones and ones with silly postage).

You mention the Vivitar 253 as having a high trigger voltage - did you mean the 283? Actually they both do. Photo Strobe Trigger Voltages reports up to 600 volts for older 283s, more than enough to fry the electronics of a modern camera or remote trigger device.

[D1N0]

I paid 45 pounds for this one. Not very cheap but still at the lower range for what they are going for. Glass is clear and it moves smoothly and it came with a rear adaptall cap which is pretty rare. It does give you a scare though when you check out the glass because it looks like there is a giant air bubble right in the middle of the rear element. It is the center point of the transparent rear cap...)