bmattock
Veteran
I *hate* it when eBay packages dont' arrive on time! It gets me thinking that I haven't been doing my part for the economy, and I end up buying *more* junk off eBay...then the packages all arrive at once, and my poor wife gets to drag all the boxes up to my apartment.
I just got home from Chicago - found 12 boxes waiting for me.
A bunch of them were new (old) lenses for my recently-acquired CV Bessa R:
Canon 85mm f1.9
Acall 135mm f3.5
Canon 50mm f1.8
Canon 35mm f2.8
The 35 has some serious scratches on the front element, we'll have to shoot that one and see how bad it really is. Doesn't look good, though. The rest are pristine. I really wanted the 50mm Canon - I've been using an Industar 50mm f3.5 that was only decent stopped way down.
The rest - I'm on a (gasp) M42 SLR kick, so I got a couple of nice prime lenses and a Fujica ST 705 and a Vivitar SL400/2. Very nice, I'll have to go shoot those today. They cleaned up great, meters even work. Man, good M42 stuff is cheap (I'm very glad about that).
However, to my tale of woe (and whoah)!
I wanted to complete (more or less) my Olympus 35 collection. I have two of the cute little RC's, two XA's, an XA-2, and I just got my RD back from the camera shop - expensive, but they did a great job fixing it up, it works just like new now. So, I was casually shopping for a 35 SP.
I found a seller on eBay who had a 'collection of junk rangefinders' for sale, and it appeared he did not know what he had. 2 Sears rangefinders, 1 Canon 35 AF, and most importantly, what appeared in the photograph to be an Olympus 35 SP in BLACK!
I put in a max bid of $175. I don't know why I did it, I don't generally pay that kind of money for classic rangefinders, but I did it. Argh.
Anyway, the bidding went to only $35 or so by the last couple of minutes of the auction. I thought I was the only one who noticed this hidden gem. In the last 10 seconds, somebody bid it up to $174. I won the auction, but by pennies. And I was on the hook for $175 plus shipping.
I paid right away (though it hurt), and yesterday the camera arrived...I was afraid it might be junk, really expensive junk.
It was dirty and ugly out of the box. Uh-oh!
I cleaned it up carefully. The lens looked like it might be all scratched up, but I've seen this before - sometimes it is the dirt layers that get scratched and they actually end up *protecting* the lens.
YES! The lens is spotless! Everything works, including the meter, the viewfinder is clear and bright, the rangefinder patch appears to be dead-on. Even the leather case is a treat - so many of the classic fixed-lens rangefinders came with ugly worthless vinyl never-ready cases, but this is a form-fitted leather case made of SOFT leather and lined with velour of some kind. The bottom half is actually useful in the field - it blocks access to nothing and protects the camera in a useful way.
So, that's the WOAH! Yes, I paid more than I felt good about, but for a change, I appear not to have gotten stung. I think I could turn around and sell the SP for at least what I paid for it, but of course I won't.
I'm going to go shoot this black beauty today...
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
I just got home from Chicago - found 12 boxes waiting for me.
A bunch of them were new (old) lenses for my recently-acquired CV Bessa R:
Canon 85mm f1.9
Acall 135mm f3.5
Canon 50mm f1.8
Canon 35mm f2.8
The 35 has some serious scratches on the front element, we'll have to shoot that one and see how bad it really is. Doesn't look good, though. The rest are pristine. I really wanted the 50mm Canon - I've been using an Industar 50mm f3.5 that was only decent stopped way down.
The rest - I'm on a (gasp) M42 SLR kick, so I got a couple of nice prime lenses and a Fujica ST 705 and a Vivitar SL400/2. Very nice, I'll have to go shoot those today. They cleaned up great, meters even work. Man, good M42 stuff is cheap (I'm very glad about that).
However, to my tale of woe (and whoah)!
I wanted to complete (more or less) my Olympus 35 collection. I have two of the cute little RC's, two XA's, an XA-2, and I just got my RD back from the camera shop - expensive, but they did a great job fixing it up, it works just like new now. So, I was casually shopping for a 35 SP.
I found a seller on eBay who had a 'collection of junk rangefinders' for sale, and it appeared he did not know what he had. 2 Sears rangefinders, 1 Canon 35 AF, and most importantly, what appeared in the photograph to be an Olympus 35 SP in BLACK!
I put in a max bid of $175. I don't know why I did it, I don't generally pay that kind of money for classic rangefinders, but I did it. Argh.
Anyway, the bidding went to only $35 or so by the last couple of minutes of the auction. I thought I was the only one who noticed this hidden gem. In the last 10 seconds, somebody bid it up to $174. I won the auction, but by pennies. And I was on the hook for $175 plus shipping.
I paid right away (though it hurt), and yesterday the camera arrived...I was afraid it might be junk, really expensive junk.
It was dirty and ugly out of the box. Uh-oh!
I cleaned it up carefully. The lens looked like it might be all scratched up, but I've seen this before - sometimes it is the dirt layers that get scratched and they actually end up *protecting* the lens.
YES! The lens is spotless! Everything works, including the meter, the viewfinder is clear and bright, the rangefinder patch appears to be dead-on. Even the leather case is a treat - so many of the classic fixed-lens rangefinders came with ugly worthless vinyl never-ready cases, but this is a form-fitted leather case made of SOFT leather and lined with velour of some kind. The bottom half is actually useful in the field - it blocks access to nothing and protects the camera in a useful way.
So, that's the WOAH! Yes, I paid more than I felt good about, but for a change, I appear not to have gotten stung. I think I could turn around and sell the SP for at least what I paid for it, but of course I won't.
I'm going to go shoot this black beauty today...
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
back alley
IMAGES
sounds pretty good bill.
you must be quite the regular on the ebay site.
i limit my looking to 'in canada' stuff and the pickings can be slim sometimes. i'm too cheap to pay for customs and taxes etc.
let us know how the oly turns out, picture wise.
joe
you must be quite the regular on the ebay site.
i limit my looking to 'in canada' stuff and the pickings can be slim sometimes. i'm too cheap to pay for customs and taxes etc.
let us know how the oly turns out, picture wise.
joe
R
Rich Silfver
Guest
Mmmmm a black Olympus 35SP.... nice...
I love mine, great lens. Just bought one of it's little brothers '35ED' that should come in the mail this coming week.
And yes, you can definetively get your money back if the camera is in good condition. If you ever want to sell...let me know ;-)
I love mine, great lens. Just bought one of it's little brothers '35ED' that should come in the mail this coming week.
And yes, you can definetively get your money back if the camera is in good condition. If you ever want to sell...let me know ;-)