Ever wonder about a used lens' history?

BAphotos

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A couple of days ago I received my 3rd used lens in the mail. It's this Nikon 70-210mm f4 Series E:
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It came in a lens pouch, and after pulling it out, I noticed there was something else in it. I pulled out some folded paper and found a business card and receipt from a Korean shop:
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So what I do know about this lens is that it's been at Mr. Chang Camera in Seoul, Korea. Looks like it was October 30, 2000. It may have been purchased from there at the time, but as there's a phone number added to the receipt, it may have been there for repair and that's the customer's phone number. Either way the cost was 280,000 Korean Won, which was $246 at the time.

I just thought I'd share as I always wonder about the history of some old/used items and it was kind of surprising to find a small clue of this lens' history. Makes me wonder how it made its way from Seoul to B&H in NY.
 
maybe whoever the lens belonged to brought it over when he/she came to america(?).
 
Kind of neat! That lens was made well before 2000...in fact, it's probably a mid-1980's build by the looks of it. I had a college roommate who used the 70-210 f/4 Series E zoom lens to very,very good effect for fashion portraiture. Hard to believe as it might be, that Series E lens represents Nikon's implementation of a "cheap" lens, a notch below the NIKKOR level of construction....but by today's standards of the newer,loosey-goosey,self-lubricating plastics standards and AF-lens sloppiness, that old Series E (for Economy) lens feels kind of tank-like. Well, maybe Humvee-like!
 
Glad others found it interesting. I know I've wondered if it was someone who travelled to the US at some point, or moved, or maybe a US service member who was stationed in Korea at the time.
I've looked before at it's approx build date, it's 1981-85, with it's serial number being later in the series probably '85. It's the youngest of the three I picked up, with the 100mm being '79-81 and the 135mm being '71-73 (at least 2 years older than me!).
I'll be keeping the papers for it for nostalgic sake.
I does have a nice all metal build though! As I found when researching it before I bought it, being a push-pull zoom, it did have a lot of lens creep. Luckily found tips of applying some electrical tape to the barrel and now it's gone.
 
i shot the birth of my children with an 18-200 that i sold on ebay. part of me regrets that, but then i realize i sold it to pay for part my 70-200 VR f/2.8 and then i don't regret it anymore! :)
 
The real interesting thing to think about is what has that lens looked at in it's life span. Maybe it shot the birth of some ones baby as well, or perhaps a war corespondent owed it. Maybe the journey to the US an a hope at a new life.

Always interesting to think about these things. I'm sure it will take many more great photos.

Sent from my iPhone using PhotoForum
 
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Show me the LENSFAX.
 
That is cool. It would probably creep me out if I buy a used lens and find something like that lol
 

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