BARGAIN! I gotta tell somebody...

[whiz]

Well, it's only a Nikon Scope converter. Just like the one Ken Rockwell bought for $US 80 in 1995.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/lsc.htm

My friend has a Tamron adaptor for his Pentax glass and I will admit to being after one since having a look through his.

I've seen two nikon scope converters on ebay in the last five months. The first one went for almost 475 dollars. The second one started at about 400.

I'd given up hope of finding one at a reasonable price.
In fact, I'd given up hope of finding one at all.

Yesterday, I was wandering down the street next to my hotel and discovered a second hand camera shop. Closed of course for the holiday. ( I'm currently in Melbourne for the C'wealth Games.)

Today I went home early and stopped on the way to have a look through this shop.
Priced a 50mm 1.8f at way too much, then looked around the rest of the shop.
Lots of weird and wonderful stuff.
Some HUGE fast screw on lenses. One gigantic Mirror lens..
Mamiaya gear, Leitz. Almost as good as the shop in Boseman, Montana.
Then... on a shelf behind the proprietor.. a scope adaptor of some kind.... I can't believe it.

I can't read what brand it is...
Looks too big anyway.

They notice me looking and move out of the way.
Oh well, I decide I'll ask about it anyway.

"What's that?" says I.
"Oh. It's a toy really That's a nikon converter that goes on your 300mm lens to make it a 600mm telescope".
"Can I have a look?"
"Sure."
Bugger me. It's a genuine Nikon Scope converter.
Condition: Perfect!
Bummer.
It has no price tag.
Deep breath.
Here we go.......
"What's it worth?"
"I don't know. DAD! How much is this?"
The proprietor calls up from the back. " Ah, it's worth $25"
....

Remain calm.
Breathe very carefully.
Try not to get too excited.
Slowly get wallet out.
NO MONEY!!!!
Observe eftpos equipment on counter near door.
Relax.


It's amazing how you can be mentally calm, but still tremble when trying to run your card through an eftpos slot.

I wonder if he thinks I've been drinking?

It clears, of course, and I'm walking out the door.

When you get such an extreme bargain and all you have to instantly tell is your non photographic manager who's waiting out the door, it doesn't have quite the same effect.

So you guys may appreciate it.

Just the thing for my 500mm Catadioptic lens...

If only I had my D200...

[phillipb]

You mean you didn't try to bargain him down to $20 ?

Well done mate.

[DaveB]

Congratulations!

[cyanide]

THAT is most cool - congratulations!!

[Alpha_7]

Awesome stuff! Congratulations!

[Oneputt]

Lucky fella

[MATT]

Great work, Its nice to pick up a bargin now and again.

I dont know if I got a bargin, but I picked upa Teleplus MC4 2x Tele N-Afd
for $9 plus $18 delivery. That seemed cheap enough. Still had $220 price tag on it. Its Brand new.

Still not as good as your bargin but makes you smile.

MATT

[whiz]

You mean you didn't try to bargain him down to $20 ?

Ngahhhh!
Now I'm kicking myself!
That would have been an absolute pearler!!!

[gstark]

MAtt K has one of these, and I can attest to what an awesome device it is.

You done good. Real good.

Congratulations.

May we ask which store this was?

[Nnnnsic]

Damn. I want one.

[leek]

You lucky beggar ...
I've been looking out for one of those since I played with MattK's example...
Well done...

[whiz]

Yes.
You may ask.
It was Camera Lane.
391 Lt Bourke St
Melbourne.

[Glen]

Well done Whiz, I've been looking for ages for one, missed a few at $150, that is a great price

[dreams]

nice one,, you never know always hehe

[LOZ]

Thanks whiz now I know what it is that I saw in a Hock shop in Hexham which is just over the river from Newcastle NSW It has been their for ages .Hope I don't cause a gold rush tomorrow LOZ

[gstark]

Yes.
You may ask.
It was Camera Lane.
391 Lt Bourke St
Melbourne.

OK ... the sister shop to Camera Exchange if I'm not mistaken.

Thanx.

Loz, we'd better send Stubbsy or Curly out there to collect this one. Did it have a price on its head?

[Alex]

Yes.
You may ask.
It was Camera Lane.
391 Lt Bourke St
Melbourne.

OK ... the sister shop to Camera Exchange if I'm not mistaken.

Thanx.

Loz, we'd better send Stubbsy or Curly out there to collect this one. Did it have a price on its head?

Good shop and very helpful and knowledgable staff. I bought my D70 there over a year ago.

Alex

[Steffen]

Hehe, the good old lens scope converter... I used to own one of these, bought it new from a shop in Germany for about DM400 in the mid nineties. I used it quite a lot on my 300/f4 and 180/f2.8, before I got my telescope. Both of these were rather on the small side, aperture wise, a 200/f2 or even a 500/f4 would have been ideal

It is a very well made fistful of gear, very sharp and high contrast. Mine had a bit of CA and coma towards the field edges, which isn't too bad given that it has an erect prism inside.

My only complaint with it was that it only allowed for axial viewing (rather than 90 degrees). This was quite straining at times (I did mostly star gazing). When I got my first real telescope I sold the converter on eBay for just over $200, that was in 2002.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Grev]

There should be a bargain hunting thread.

[birddog114]

whiz,
It's a great bargain for 25 bucks!!!!! congrats.

But my question is: what do you use it for? replacing a telescope? a binocular? it can't be attached to the camera? you still need the lens to play with it. Yes, it's a fun toy, especially at that price.

[whiz]

Well, it's going to go on my 500mm mirror lens.
With and without the Teleconverter. Basically, it will become a telescope as the 500mm has a tripod mount on it.
The lens was cheap enough to buy to play with, although I missed out on a 150 dollar one which would have been even better. Always concerned about something which has admitted lens fungus and no pictures of it...
It makes it possible for me to sell my spotting scope which will cover the costs of these purchases and still let me dual use the lens.
For some reason, cheap spotting scopes still aren't as good as cheap old photographic lenses.

[birddog114]

Nah!!!!! 500 mirror lens is not good enough!

Get the 500 or 600 AF-S II with an attached battery pack so can do AF with silent wave.

[whiz]

As soon as you have one with the same bargain quotient as the scope adaptor, I'm THERE!
Ps. let me know by personal message.
No need for the traffic infringement department to get to know all members number plates at once.....