Well; it's here. After a week of "expedited" Canada Post and hand-over to their American brothers, it showed up today. Normally, I would have gotten home well after the close of the PO and would have had to beg someone from our office to pick it up for me, but I was home early due to being on the 8th Grade Field Trip instead of teaching and driving the bus route. So, awesome for me! I was able to get down their 10 minutes before they closed and pick the thing up.
Sure enough, it has the exact problem the eBay seller described. Aaaand, just like he said, that's been the only problem I could find; well, except for the blacked out Nikon logo on the penta-prism, but I think I can get that black sharpie ink off with a little elbow grease. I mounted the repaired 18-55mm lens and it takes pictures just fine. So, now what?
I'm thinking if I can get a matching 55-200mm lens for it cheap, I can package it as a set and sell it at a good price, or keep it and use it, while.....wait for it......I sell off the D200! I've lost my cookies right? No, actually, my eBay and Craig's List watching is indicating that the price of D300s are coming down, but the price of D200s are still holding.....at this moment. Soooo, if I can get a decent price for it; like $600-700, I can probably sell the D70s/Kit all for around the price of the upgrade without spending ANY money out of pocket!
That the plan anyway. We'll see how it works out.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Target of Opportunity
I didn't have any intention of buying another DSLR, but here we, are sitting around waiting for the arrival of a Nikon D70s not quite sure what to do with it!?!
It actually started with a broken lens. What, you say? Broken lens; what does that have to do with buying another camera? Convoluted thinking and world-class rationalization, that's how! Anyway, here's what happened; our school has a Nikon D40 and they got a couple of the "kit" lenses with it. One of them (the 18-55mm) was on the camera when it took a spill. And, of course, since it was the "low-end" kit lens, it had a plastic mount instead of the brass ones Nikon puts on the more expensive lenses. The effect was that ones of the mounting lugs got sheared, and the piece that makes electrical contact with the camera lost alignment due to the mount being completely out of whack. After purchasing the newer VR version of that lens as a replacement, they were about ready throw it out.
That's where I came in. It occurred to me that they'd probably want to just throw it out, so I went and asked about it. At that point, I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do with it. In fact, I didn't have any idea of what was even possible to do with it. Of course it sat for days after I got it home, but I finally got around to looking on the internet to see what it'd take to fix it. Not surprisingly, there was a number of sites that talked about these types of lenses that needed a mount replacement. Sure enough, there was a Flickr page that detailed how to replace the mount on this exact lens. Google is my friend!!!
The next obvious step of course was to get on eBay, find a replacement mount for $9 and get it here. Then, get on the Flickr page and follow the instructions. Hold your mouth just right, and 8 screws later, I had a working lens (albiet with a weird rattle inside somewhere)!
So now, the problem is that it got my brain going and the rationalization machinery went into high gear. Now that I had a "back-up" lens, what I really needed a "back-up" camera! In my world, that means that I needed to find a compatible model at an (almost) ridiculously low price.... if it has some issues, that might even be welcome; if it's something I can live with or fix, but otherwise serves to keep the price low. This showed up in the form of a Nikon D70s that had a bad on/off switch and therefore will not turn off without removing the battery. I'm fairly certain that this "issue" kept the price below the $146 that I got it for...which is VERY low for a functioning D70, much less the later "S" version.
The upshot is that, I now have a complete and functioning D70s with a "normal" zoom for less than $165 spent. I'll probably get that switch fixed at some point, but it's certainly not a priority since the D70/D70s have amazing battery stamina and standby ability.
Now the question is; do I really want to keep it as a "backup"? The camera and lens together will easily fetch twice what I have in it at the moment. Does that mean that it's an exercise and an investment to be sold off?
It actually started with a broken lens. What, you say? Broken lens; what does that have to do with buying another camera? Convoluted thinking and world-class rationalization, that's how! Anyway, here's what happened; our school has a Nikon D40 and they got a couple of the "kit" lenses with it. One of them (the 18-55mm) was on the camera when it took a spill. And, of course, since it was the "low-end" kit lens, it had a plastic mount instead of the brass ones Nikon puts on the more expensive lenses. The effect was that ones of the mounting lugs got sheared, and the piece that makes electrical contact with the camera lost alignment due to the mount being completely out of whack. After purchasing the newer VR version of that lens as a replacement, they were about ready throw it out.
That's where I came in. It occurred to me that they'd probably want to just throw it out, so I went and asked about it. At that point, I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do with it. In fact, I didn't have any idea of what was even possible to do with it. Of course it sat for days after I got it home, but I finally got around to looking on the internet to see what it'd take to fix it. Not surprisingly, there was a number of sites that talked about these types of lenses that needed a mount replacement. Sure enough, there was a Flickr page that detailed how to replace the mount on this exact lens. Google is my friend!!!
The next obvious step of course was to get on eBay, find a replacement mount for $9 and get it here. Then, get on the Flickr page and follow the instructions. Hold your mouth just right, and 8 screws later, I had a working lens (albiet with a weird rattle inside somewhere)!
So now, the problem is that it got my brain going and the rationalization machinery went into high gear. Now that I had a "back-up" lens, what I really needed a "back-up" camera! In my world, that means that I needed to find a compatible model at an (almost) ridiculously low price.... if it has some issues, that might even be welcome; if it's something I can live with or fix, but otherwise serves to keep the price low. This showed up in the form of a Nikon D70s that had a bad on/off switch and therefore will not turn off without removing the battery. I'm fairly certain that this "issue" kept the price below the $146 that I got it for...which is VERY low for a functioning D70, much less the later "S" version.
The upshot is that, I now have a complete and functioning D70s with a "normal" zoom for less than $165 spent. I'll probably get that switch fixed at some point, but it's certainly not a priority since the D70/D70s have amazing battery stamina and standby ability.
Now the question is; do I really want to keep it as a "backup"? The camera and lens together will easily fetch twice what I have in it at the moment. Does that mean that it's an exercise and an investment to be sold off?
Monday, May 10, 2010
Little bit of a Weird Day
I'm really not sure what to call this new level of craziness.
Yesterday I drove an hour (each way) to pick up some old cameras......actually 3 old cameras that turned in to 4! The newest was a Nikon FM which is somewhere between 30 and 35 years old, then there's the Pentax Spotmatic SP1000 (Mid to Late 60's), Miranda Sensorex (Mid 60's) and a Konica Autoreflex A (Late 60's) that was thrown in, along with 2 Vivitar shoe-flashes, a bunch of filters and some other random items. It all came to $150 without counting gas. Oh yeah, the Nikon came with a 35-70mm Nikkor zoom lens as well. Yup; Craig's List can be awesome.
So what brought on this orgy of vintage camera buying? I'm glad you asked! I've been teaching a bunch of our middle schoolers photography since last year when they were 7th graders and I'm down to 4 who have not only stuck it out, but also smart and capable. Therefore I've decided to try and take them to the next level by going back to a previous era. I started teaching them about reading light and learning to deal with it via the 3 variables that they have control over (eg. film sensitivity, apeture, and shutter speed). To give them hands on practice, I'm going to make them use film....that's right; I said FILM as in 35mm film, completely manual cameras with ZERO automation. In fact, I'm going to make them use hand-held light meters as well!
What I'm trying to do is to slow them down and learn to deal with the light. I might have bitten off more than I can chew; we'll see.
The other slightly crazy thing that I think has really classified me as a super-geek. It started with me coming home after not only battling the construction, traffic and Chick-Fil-A drive-through, but after a last-minute trip to the doctor where I got a shot directly into my shoulder muscle to try and take down inflamation. So you could say that I was primed to go off. Then I walked into the house to find no one except the crazed pup had been left in by herself and had successfully gotten onto the table and not only eaten the rest of my dinner, but then knocked over a container of strawberries, then proceeded to poop on the floor....in multiple places. In the process of chasing her around and throwing her furry butt out, I also got my thumb snagged on her tooth. Did you know that thumbs bleed profusely?
Oh yeah, did I mention that the reason that the idiot dog was in the house in the first place was that part of the fence had blown down? That'll get fix tomorrow after work.
So, what do you think I did after that? As luck would have it, the new mount I ordered for a broken lens showed up in the mail today. This was the "kit" lens that came with the school's Nikon D40 DSLR that got it's mount busted when a student dropped the camera. So they bought a new one and was going to throw out the old one when I rescued it. After a little Googling, I found a site that showed how to replace that mount so I decided to give it a try. The up-shot is that I took that lens apart, replaced the mount as a destressor....and I really feel a whole bunch better now.
Weird huh?
Yesterday I drove an hour (each way) to pick up some old cameras......actually 3 old cameras that turned in to 4! The newest was a Nikon FM which is somewhere between 30 and 35 years old, then there's the Pentax Spotmatic SP1000 (Mid to Late 60's), Miranda Sensorex (Mid 60's) and a Konica Autoreflex A (Late 60's) that was thrown in, along with 2 Vivitar shoe-flashes, a bunch of filters and some other random items. It all came to $150 without counting gas. Oh yeah, the Nikon came with a 35-70mm Nikkor zoom lens as well. Yup; Craig's List can be awesome.
So what brought on this orgy of vintage camera buying? I'm glad you asked! I've been teaching a bunch of our middle schoolers photography since last year when they were 7th graders and I'm down to 4 who have not only stuck it out, but also smart and capable. Therefore I've decided to try and take them to the next level by going back to a previous era. I started teaching them about reading light and learning to deal with it via the 3 variables that they have control over (eg. film sensitivity, apeture, and shutter speed). To give them hands on practice, I'm going to make them use film....that's right; I said FILM as in 35mm film, completely manual cameras with ZERO automation. In fact, I'm going to make them use hand-held light meters as well!
What I'm trying to do is to slow them down and learn to deal with the light. I might have bitten off more than I can chew; we'll see.
The other slightly crazy thing that I think has really classified me as a super-geek. It started with me coming home after not only battling the construction, traffic and Chick-Fil-A drive-through, but after a last-minute trip to the doctor where I got a shot directly into my shoulder muscle to try and take down inflamation. So you could say that I was primed to go off. Then I walked into the house to find no one except the crazed pup had been left in by herself and had successfully gotten onto the table and not only eaten the rest of my dinner, but then knocked over a container of strawberries, then proceeded to poop on the floor....in multiple places. In the process of chasing her around and throwing her furry butt out, I also got my thumb snagged on her tooth. Did you know that thumbs bleed profusely?
Oh yeah, did I mention that the reason that the idiot dog was in the house in the first place was that part of the fence had blown down? That'll get fix tomorrow after work.
So, what do you think I did after that? As luck would have it, the new mount I ordered for a broken lens showed up in the mail today. This was the "kit" lens that came with the school's Nikon D40 DSLR that got it's mount busted when a student dropped the camera. So they bought a new one and was going to throw out the old one when I rescued it. After a little Googling, I found a site that showed how to replace that mount so I decided to give it a try. The up-shot is that I took that lens apart, replaced the mount as a destressor....and I really feel a whole bunch better now.
Weird huh?
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