From Now on it's "Evil Nick" - I've Gone Over to the Dark Side...

I'm glad you did the right thing, Nick. You may be rewarded for your good deeds in the future, nevertheless this could be the start of a good friendship between the two of you.
 
Nick, "Great is your reward in heaven," & "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!" I'm sure those sweet nuns taught you that somwhere along the line, and they would be very proud of you I'm sure. ;>) But there are times when I would agree with you, it sometimes sucks.
 
You could have given him wholesale price for it, basically the price keh or a dealer would buy it at. The buy price from keh varies greatly by the version ($350-$1150) for an EX condition.
 
Well done Nick!

Couple of years ago, believe or not, I found a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L zoom, in its own bag, lying around on my way to the post office. I admit I had to think twice, but I took it with me after fixing a notice where I found it about the fact that I had found it together with my contact details and took it to the lost and found the next day (police).

Obviously I did take a few photos the night it was with me, just to check it worked properly :)

Well, it turns out that nobody ever got in touch with me through the notice that was where I found the lens for weeks and weeks, and three months later the lost and found got in touch with me saying that nobody has picked the lens up and now its legally mine if I paid the storage fee, which I duly did.

Really weird, but I got the lens and converted it eventually into my Rolleiflex 2.8E.

Moral of the story: sometimes good guys win.
 
The sad fact is that he'll carry it off to the next camera store which will probably give him $50...
 
I really really appreciate and admire your honesty, Nick.

With the luxury of a moment to think about it all, away from the heat of the scene, I think there are other ethical options available. The one that comes to mind is empowering the other guy. Give him the knowledge, give him the decision, give him an opportunity to come away from this with the same or even bigger confirmation of fighting-for-the-good that you experienced.

"Think you can use it?"

"Absolutely, and it's just what I've been looking for, but I could never afford one. You're known to be a generous guy sometimes, but I'm guessing you don't know the value of this lens for people who love photography. So I'm going to tell you, and let you decide. But I'm really hoping you'll score one for the little guys like me, those of us who love photography more than anything but can only drool over gear that is forever outside of our reach."
 
"Karma is like a rubber band. You can only stretch it so far until it comes back and smacks you in the face."
- unknown internet source
 
Good move Nick. And if you had done the 'dark side' thing, I'm sure it would have bothered you afterwards anyway. But the possibility of
sevo said:
The sad fact is that he'll carry it off to the next camera store which will probably give him $50...
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would worry me too.
It's not so easy if the bloke is just an acquaintance, rather than a friend, but what I did when disposing of stuff for a friend ('thrift shop' value, rather than kilobucks), was to put it on ebay on his behalf, and give him the link to the auction so that he could see that it was all above board and what the 'market' value turned out to be - especially if you were to bid and win it yourself!. (In the end the receipts got donated to a charity.)

But if the person is not auction-minded, or motivated, it could so easily end up with someone less scrupulous.
 
Justin Smith said:
Good point! I think you did the right thing; if you're like me, you would feel guilty every time you used it and, thus: would not be able to enjoy it, anyway.
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Wise words. That's just how it goes. I'm an expert by experience...

Eventually I gave 'my' lens away to somebody who tried to explain to me that it was too expensive to accept. That was my punishment, having to listen to that. I could not fake that I did not know because that would defeat the attempt to do the right thing after all, and could not say that I did know because why would I then give it away?

Oh, the agony.:bang:

I feel much better now, confessions...:)
 
The Western idea that karma means that "something will come back to you because of your actions" is completely wrong, that is not the Eastern concept of this word.

Nobody answered the other poster.....did he rush back to the estate where he got it and offer them more money?
 
I imagine your acquaintance friend was sorely disappointed in you, Nick. Now he knows your soul will cost more than a Leica Elmarit. Congratulations. :angel:
 
you never fooled me Nick, i always knew you were a stand up chap!

you wouldn't believe the things people have tried to give to me. once a fella wanted to sell me a mint rolleiflex wide for $300. i helped him sell it and put money away for the grand kids:(

i could have taken a few sleeping pills that week and gotten through.
 
What did he pay for it? Apparently not much since he was willing to give it away. I wonder what other Leica gear went cheap? You said you have been wanting a lens such as this. Perhaps it was the LORD that wanted to bless you. Now you missed out on the blessing. See, these things work both ways. It wouldn't of been wrong of you to have accepted the lens. But I still admire you for what you did because it felt right to you.
 
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