Well I got a package in the mail today, a very large
package that made my heart race and my palms sweat.
The pictures shown on E-bay were so poor it had been
impossible to tell what the real condition of these
items were so I wondered. Did I really score a fang or
would I have to take a massive hit on broken items.
The first thing I hit when I dug into the peanuts was
the body, a black OM-1 in none to good condition. It
is brassed and well Dirty (with a capital D). The
focusing screen is the worst I've seen and all the
foam has rotted away. The only saving graces of this
camera are the fact that it has both battery and MD
caps and that it is fully functional. Everything
works, the meter, the shutter, everything, so even
though its dirty and has a mildewy odor, a good CLA
and TLC and it can shine again.
Then I saw the second object, the true treasure of
this purchase, the mighty 24 Shift. I pulled it out,
it actually looks a lot better than the pictures made
it out to be, there is some brassing but not the huge
amounts that the pictures seemed to show. I pulled off
the lens cap and my heart sank a little, the front
element was quite dirty, with smudges and haze and
marks, but stoically I drew my weapons. A 3M lint free
cloth and a bottle of Kodak lens cleaner. I liberally
applied the cleaner to the cloth and went to work. As
if by magic all the haze and dust and marks
disappeared! All except for a few small insignificant
coating marks that, although visible and in the center
of the lens, are very small, very shallow, and most
assuredly won't cause any difficuly.
Its amazing how little wear there actually is on this
lens, which looks like it could tell a lot of tales
and probably has taken thousands of pictures.
Everything is functional on the lens, the shift is
nice and tight (actually its a little tighter than my
new lens, but not by much) the apeture stop down
button works well and the focus glides freely and
smoothly.
I plan on taking 2 test rolls of film, one with my new
lens, and one with my newer old one :) to see if I'm
right about the small marks. I am estimating this lens
at $950 US dollars, a price which I think is very fair
since EX ones at KEH are 1500 and LN are 1700. I will
of course downward revise this if my tests prove wrong
and the marks do affect picture quality, which I am
99.9 percent sure is not the case, but it'll be fun
anyway, after all how many times can you compare TWO
of these lenses side by side :)
Right now I have 4 distinct paths I can take.
1: Keep the lens I just got and sell the one I got new
from B&H. I will take this road over my dead body so
don't even think about it.
2: Keep both lenses for awhile. (possible but not
probable, its fun having two but unlike collecting
50/1.8 lenses there isn't much point having two other
than having an "heir and a spare" type of setup)
3: Sell the lens for money. I'm quite likely to do
this but there is one other thing I could do...
4: Use the lens for Maitani Money, in other words,
trade it for a lens (or lenses) I would like to have
but don't yet have, such as a 90mm macro, a 21/2,
18/3.5, or 8/2.8.
Sorry for the length of the post.
Mark Lloyd
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