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[OM] It's a disease alright, but I love being infected! ;) (long)

Subject: [OM] It's a disease alright, but I love being infected! ;) (long)
From: "Olaf Greve" <ogreve@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 05:48:51 PDT
Hi Guys,

This is _not_ an automated reply. ;)

Aaaaargh, I can't help it, the disease has struck again, and I just _have_ to indulge in letting you know about the package I bought last week (I can't wait any longer, I need to share the joy with people that will understand me). :)

As is a well known fact, a Zuikoholic's life-partner typically can't enjoy the great euforia which is brought upon us when buying new OM-gear. So, I'll have to do the sinning over here, and let you guys share my joy, in the notorious true Tom Scales style. :)

Behold what I bought last week (Unless stated differently, everything is in very nice condition (9 or so)):
-Olympus OM-2n (chrome)
-Olympus 50/3.5 Macro, in hard case, with MC mark
-Olympus 35-70/3.6, in hard case(!), with MC mark, with original hood
-Vivitar 70-150mm matched 2x TC
-Olympus Shoe 4
-Olympus TTL AutoConnector 4 (cracked)
-Olympus TTL AutoConnector T20 ;)
-Olympus TTL AutoCord T 0.6m (the one with 2 T-jacks)
-Olympus T20 cosmetically a bit less (8)
-Olympus MD1
-Olympus M.18V control grip 1
-Olympus Relay cord 1.2m
-Olympus double cable release
-Off brand single cable release (short, +/ 20 CM)
-Olympus small case S
-Olympus 1-4n FS (in camera)
-Olympus 1-13 FS (in box)
-Olympus lens tissue paper (even this is original from Oly!)
-2 bulk film holders ?!? At least I think they are (Asahi Pentax)
-1 loader for these canisters (no brand visible)
-Olympus Auto Bellows
-Olympus Slide copier (without the Oly film-roll holder)
-Olympus Varimagnifier, in original case
-Olympus(!) 55mm A4 (81C) filter
-Olympus(!) 55mm thin Pol (!) filter
-Asahi Pentax 49mm Y2 filter (incl. built in hood)
-Olympus leather T20 pouch
-Olympus OM-2 manual (2 different ones (I think OM-2 and OM-2n))
-Olympus OM system flyer (silver coloured, big format)
-Het Olympus reflex boek, 2nd edition (1979)
-Het grote Olympus boek (Franz Pangerl, 1982)
-Het objectievenboek (Rudolf Smit, 1978)
-Olympus Handboek OM Systeem (?Edition Olympus 6? a kind of SIF!!! ? coming from Oly Netherlands, 1982)
-Copies bellows documentation

...and all this, thanks to yet another victim, eeehhhh "person" going digital! :)

So, now all of a sudden I have a very nice bellows set-up, and an MD1! Not to mention an additional body (which I think I will dedicate to bellows usage (with a 1-12 FS), and/or to shift usage (with a 1-10 FS)), and two lenses! Lots of cool stuff, so expect some questions about things like the slide copier someday...

Also, my studio set-up has progressed a step or two, as I now have an additional T20, and one of those pesky TTL AutoConnector T20s, and another T cord (albeit a short one).

So, obviously I'm a very happy camper right now, BUT I do need to let go of my other 50/3.5 Macro lens, my 35-70/4, and the book of which I now have two, just in order to afford this whole deal. I spotted a digital camera at work over here (a S*ny, aaaaarghh, no Oly! :( ), it even has a macro setting, so tomorrow or so I'll try to take some close-up pictures of the above two lenses and put them up on my web site. Then after I've done so, I'll notify you guys again, and you can get a better idea of the state the lenses are in, and hopefully they too can find a nice home, without having to go through the e-Bay dungeons...

Finally, you ask: how did you get all that stuff past Gioconda without getting busted? Well, I had to invent a clever introduction scheme, for smuggling stuff in these quantitities past her, without having to sleep alone for a month...

First off, I had the whole box delivered to my work address (COD), and last Friday I brought most of it home, well hidden in my bag, and in my jacket. I was lucky, as there was nobody home, so I quickly hid everything by mixing it with the stuff I already had. For once, I had the advantage of having just moved and having a lot of stuff in boxes still.

So, the first batch was stashed away, then came the weekend, and I was *dying* to try out the MD1, so I told Gioconda that "I was finally going to buy the 12 batteries needed for enhancing the studio set-up (ahum!)" (she had seen me messing around with winding the film manually and missing out on some good opportunities). So I briefly explained her about using an MD for that. After I had actually bought the batteries, I told her I would have to use a different body than the 4Ti for testing the batteries, as the 4Ti was mounted on the tripod still, with film in it (this is all true, and was a most convenient coincidence for me).

So which camera did I bring down? Yes, the OM-2n + 35-70/3.6 of course! ;) This worked really well, as _all_ the attention was drawn to the MD, so she completely forgot about the camera and lens. Of course the typical questions arose: "What's _that_ thing?", "I have never seen this, did you always have it?" a simple "uh-huh" from my side kept her quiet for a bit. So then I started putting in the batteries, and mounted the MD on the 2n and the pistol grip on the MD. I turned the dial to "Single", and... the bl**dy thing didn't fire! I turned it to "Sequence" - nothing (aaaaargh). "Hmmm, strange, this should work...". Against knowing better, I turned the batteries around and tried it again, nothing. Suspicious looks started to appear on Gioconda's face, so I quickly turned the batteries around again, after cleaning a few contacts, mounted the thing, and still nothing. Wobbled the camera a bit and then TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK, there it went (Pheeeeeeew!!! Close escape!). Maybe there's a loose/dirty contact, so I need to check this in detail (which is something I should have done _before_ bringing the stuff down of course (duh!) ). Either way, she was really impressed by the MD and liked the thing! So much for the introduction of the first batch, that all went rather well.

Monday came, and after work I wanted to bring home batch nr.2, this included the hard cases for both lenses, the slide copier, and the Oly small case S. There was some tough stuff in there ("introduction-wise" spoken), so I briefly thought about a new strategy. I put everything in the small case S, put that in my normal bag, and smuggled it in. I just put the whole bag casually against the wall and waited an hour or so for Gioconda to go to the gym. When she did, I re-arranged a clothes closet in the attic, such that I put _all_ my OM gear on two shelfs. Bodies went together, there's a lens section, a flash section, an accessory section, a filter section, etc. The slide copier and Oly small case S were put on the lower shelf, in such a way that there was a big gap behind the slide copier and the back of the closet, this space was left intentionally unoccupied, to put the bellows there, the next day. Gioconda returned home, and of course I told her in a proud way that I had finally unpacked all of my photo bags and stored the gear in a closet. She went up to see what I had done, and the 50/3.5 and the 35-70/3.6 hard cases slipped passed her attention. This time the questions came about (surprise, surprise) the small case and the slide copier. I simply explained what they were for. Of course this was followed by the notorious "Did you always have these? I haven't seen them before", followed again by an "uh-huh" from me. No issues, no further questions asked! She even said it looked very professionaly and that there was still some space for more lenses!...;)))) Smoootttthhhh introduction...:)

Batch 3 was a piece of cake, I disassembled the bellows, put it in my bag along with the books I hadn't brought home yet, and came home. Nobody there, so I quickly put the books on a book shelf, and went up to hide the bellows. D*mn! I was just upstairs when Gioconda came home and asked me what I was doing. I quickly put the bellows in a box, and told her I was changing a sweater (luckily enough I wasn't on the attic yet!), close call, but I escaped without getting busted. I decided to wait again for her to go to the gym, played a bit with the varimagnifier, and with the bellows, and then stored it in the closet. The only thing left to do here is to introduce the bellows to her someday, of course that moment will again trigger the same old question, but I'll see if I can incorporate the bellows in some distraction tactic (Hans had a very good suggestion - buying her a nice bouquet of flowers, and then using the bellows to take some macro shots of it ;) ).

So all of that went pretty well, the only *REALLY* difficult thing was refraining from blurring out "LOOOK WHAT GREAT CAMERA GEAR I BOUGHT!!!!!" ;))))

So that's exactly what I'm doing here now! I just couldn't restrain the joy of telling about this great find any longer.

Fellow Zuikoholic-patients of mine, thank you for listening, and feel free to share your experiences with the group too! :)))

Cheerio,
Forever-addicted Olafo

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