I’d just visited the closest Goodwill a couple of days ago and something bugged me about a thing I saw there, so I had to go back. You see, I’d seen a large gold-colored metal suitcase locked up in the glass “good stuff” case and asked the clerk what it was. “Some kinda band instrument” was the reply, and I passed on making her pull it out and open it. That was a mistake.
See, it gnawed at me, and the more I thought about it, the more it looked like one of those metal suitcases that photographers stored their really good lenses in. I had to go back, not really expecting it to still be there 2 days later. When I went in, it was *an entirely different* gold case that caught my eye, one instantly recognizable gold tweed suitcase that says “1950’s Smith-Corona”. And indeed, that’s what it was:
Types good, no stickiness, even had a good ribbon – but badly water-damaged in the back and missing the right platen knob. Not worth the $30 they wanted in that condition.
So I give the Silent a pass and move on to the glass case, where the curious *other* gold suitcase still awaited. This time I got the clerk to clear a path and haul the thing out so I could see for myself.
Imagine my surprise and delight:
A healthy mix of Nikon lenses and filters and stuff that appears to date from the 60’s-70’s. The lenses are pre-auto-anything, fully manual ones, complete with ring-set F-stops. Very exciting. This is the big, heavy, all-metal, fully manual type of glass that I remember from my High School Newspaper and Yearbook days in the early 80’s. I took a risk going for Nikon F-mount lenses, but I’d just read Streamlines Deluxe’s post where he has fun with an M42-mount lens mounted via adapter to his Canon D50, and I felt it was worth the gamble if I could find a Nikon F to Canon EF adapter. Turns out to have been a good gamble – that appears to be an easy conversion requiring a $15 bayonet adapter, and I have one already winging it’s way here.
In the photo above, note the Agfa Lucimeter-S. No, that isn’t a Satan-Detector, it’s a fantastic old light meter in perfect, still working state. There’s a pack of magnification lenses, and a Vivitar 2x Tele converter:
Vivitar 2X Tele Converter
And here’s the Lucimeter:
Nikon E-Series 75-150mm 1:3.5
Five Star 35-500mm 1:8 super-telephoto and a Vivitar 2X Macro Focusing Teleconverter. Just imagine the magnification on a DSLR – something like 1600mm, if you stack them together?
This belt-mounter rechargable battery pack for the Nikon flash unit, which I can’t use.
That’s, what – 6 lenses of various kinds in less than a week, all from local thrift stores, and at a price that just one would set me back on eBay. I wonder if my Typewriter Bone works on camera gear now too? :D
ooh nice! I have 2 nikons, and have been looking for treasures like these. My N2000 needs the flash that registers in the viewfinder. still looking.
The flash that came with this kit is a Vivitar auto thyristor 3700, obviously meant for an older Nikon. if it sounds like something you’d want, I’ll be glad to send it to you. I doubt it’ll work on anything I have. (:
very kind of you. I may already have one like that. It will flash, but there’s a certain bunch of Nikon speedlights from the 80’s I think that will show the ready light in my viewfinder.
That’s called the luck of the Irish!