BigFatGeek.net

I Heart craigslist – When it Rains it Pours

In 1968 I lived in Scharnhausen, Germany, and a factory that would manufacture Kodak cameras was being built just across a few fields from our house. On opening day they offered tours and my neighbor buddy said they were giving away cameras if you went. So I did. I was 11 years old and Hans Find (my step-father to be) had the coolest camera. It whizzed and whirred and clicked and flashed and had charts, buttons, doors, levers, flaps, and every thing else a budding gadget geek might be attracted to. I thought maybe they would give us one like that on the tour.

After the tour I went home with a little plastic camera that was shaped like a 35mm SLR but was almost just a toy... but it was an Instamatic camera that would take real pictures. Hans helped me set up the camera with film and I shot just that one roll in probably 5 minutes. But it was still cool.

From 1976 through the early 90's, I subscribed to and read almost every major motorcycle magazine and/or book there was. Don Morley was a photographer that first got my attention in the late 70's when I saw his action racing shots of "Fast Freddie Spencer" as Freddie would raise the front wheel when he changed directions in the middle of an S turn.

Sometime about 1985 I got the shutter bug once again, and picked up a how-to book on photography by none other than Don Morley. I read all about it, and for a long time I had camera lust for the "Canon AE-1" camera that was featured on the cover. At 700-1000 bucks for a setup though, I'd have to wait. In the meantime I made do with cheap point and shoot 35mm cameras, and even got some great shots, including the one I still consider my best.

Digital cameras in the mid-90's helped scratch my shutterbug itch because it was just so cool. Oh, but then in 2003, Canon brought out the first sub-$1,000 digital-SLR camera and I knew I would have to get one. By 2007 the prices had come down to $699.00 for the previous years model, but I still didn't have one. It was just too hard to justify.

Finally, a few weeks ago, we were counting all our money and couldn't think of any new ways to spend it. (It's my fantasy so STFU) So... I went shopping for a digital-SLR camera. Best Buy had a sale with a previous year model, plus a lens, plus a camera bag, for $699.00. Pretty good deal. I saw a Rebel T1i parked right there next to it in the display case though - the newest model, 15.1 megapixel, Full 1080PHD video, just the best camera ever. As I was drooling, the salesman came back and informed me they were sold out of the $699.00 deal and would not be getting any more.

So I had to buy the Rebel T1i whether I wanted it or not! Of course I'd need a long zoom lens, a spare battery, a case, an external flash, a book or two on how to operate it, a tripod and a travel tripod, a couple lens hoods, lens filters, lens cleaning kits, and a new 8 GB SD Card to take pictures on, and... well you get the idea. I basically blew my new laptop budget - I went all in. I have no regrets though, not one bit.

Because now I can do this from completely across the yard:

Or this, from 70 feet away, capturing the candidness of a boys imagination as he looks out for "bad guys":

Or this, from 20 stories up - 5 second open shutter flooding the ground with golden light:

And that's not all!

The next day, a friend at work sold Jeremy (my son) the same camera that Best Buy was out of when I went shopping, plus a $270.00 zoom lens, $300.00 SpeedLite, and a $50.00 camera case - all in all over $1100.00 worth of gear for $500.00. It also included an extended warranty that is still good until May 2010. Finally, since she was getting rid of her Canon lenses and equipment in a move to Nikon, she gave me her old film SLR camera - the Canon Rebel 2000. It's a lot like the earlier Rebel digital models, except it's film of course. It's condition is like new. A sweet deal for Jeremy and Tara, and a really good deal for me.

But wait - that's not all!

Friday, I was browsing the prices on eBay for that Canon AE-1 Program camera I've wanted so many years... the good ones were running between $130.00 and $200.00 depending on your luck and the seller. Tara suggested I check "craigslist".  There was a vague, 3 month old listing that said "AE-1 for sale". I emailed him, he answered back that it was still available - he wanted $60.00 for that and a couple other old cameras.  When I got there, I saw it was the AE-1 Program, not just the AE-1.  And it still had the original 1980 Commemorative Olympics lens cap on it! Whats so cool about it? While the AE-1 was the first camera with a computer chip in it, the AE-1 Program took it up a notch. The "Program" meant that the camera would use that new computer chip to set the shutter speed and aperture for you - all you had to do was zoom, focus, shoot! This and several other features previously only available on the full professional models, made this the most advanced consumer (the term prosumer was not invented yet) camera to date!

And - the "other" cameras were very cool as well. Turns out his brother had passed away one year earlier; he was an artist, potter, and a photographer. I'm glad to be able to own and use the camera's of an artist, one that had a passion for photography, and vintage photography as well.

Here's what he had in the box:

Cameras

• Canon AE-1 Program
• Minolta XG-A
• Olympus OM-1
• Petri Color Corrected Super 2.8 (Rangefinder)
• King Regula Sprinty C (German)

Lenses & Accessories

• Canon prime FD 1:1.8  50mm
• Minolta prime MD 1:2  50mm
• Olympus OM System Zuiko Auto-Zoom 1:4  75-150 mm
• Olympus OM System G. Zuiko Auto-S  1:1.4  50 mm
• Olympus OM System G. Zuiko Auto-W  1:3.5  28 mm
• Beck 135mm F=1:2.8 Lens PK Mount
• Kenko OP Auto Teleplus 2X
• Kenko OP Auto Teleplus 3X
• DeJUR Close Up lens set
• DeJUR Auto 2X Teleconverter CA
• SpeedLite 133A
• Focal Handipod mini-tripod
• Misc. lens filters
• Original case for every lens and 2 cameras.

I gave him $100.00 for everything and felt a little guilty - but he only asked for $60.00, so not too guilty.

Saturday I cleaned up the Canon and the Olympus, bought some new batteries and shot a roll of film in each. We'll see next week if I bought cameras or book-ends once I get it developed. I think they will do great though - everything appears to be in perfect order. The pictures of the cameras here and on Flickr are before I cleaned them, and they still look nice.

If you're bored, nothing is on TV, you're out of reading material, and you've seen everything else on the vast world wide web, then go ahead and check out my latest pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjlapierre/

Click, whirrrrr, bszzzzzzp! Sweet mechanical sounds of precision.