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?