I had a really, really, really good day Saturday (Jan 14, 2012)! On a trip, I visited all the pawn shops I know about in Pensacola and Ft. Walton, Florida. Pawn shops usually put high prices on not really valuable equipment. What you look for is the exception. Saturday I found one. There in the display case was a black Nikon FM2N with a Vivitar 70-150mm f3.8 lens, a Toshiba 1A filter, and a Tamrac strap. The tag on the camera said $99.95. The sign atop the display case said 25% OFF. With tax that came to $79.46. The lens shows slight brassing on the aperture ring, otherwise perfect. The camera looks mint on the top and front but has obvious brassing on the back door and bottom plate. It works perfectly.
But wait, as they say in the television commercials, that's not all. That evening I was having dinner at the home of the friend I was visiting when he whips out this camera and lens and says, "Here. This is yours". The camera body said Nikon N2000. He said it had battery corrosion and didn't work. No big loss I figured. Then I looked at the lens. Time to get excited. It said Lester A. Dine. A few of you are going to know why it's time to get excited. I got excited. For the rest of you I'll explain. Lester A. Dine makes lenses for dental photography. This lens is a 105mm f2.8 Macro 1:1 MC lens. That's life size with no extension tubes needed. The lens is mint. Then my friend says, "I have the ring light flash that goes with it packed away somewhere. When I find it I'll give it to you, too". So far the best day equipment wise in my whole life that I can remember!
