Who --wouldn't-- take free glass?

480sparky · Mar 21, 2015

Had a little free time yesterday and was near the local brick-n-mortar camera store, so I stopped in to buy a couple little things.

Turns out, they were cleaning up their "Old, Used and Ancient" corner. You know, the old 'dinosaur' stuff nobody wants any more. There was a large box of old, oddball lenses they had posted on their facebook page. They wanted to clear all this old stuff out, and were either tossing it, donating it or just plain giving it away. And the lenses were part of the "come take what you want out of this box" offer.

Since I knew there were three Nikon F-mount lenses in there, I dove right in. And by pure luck, I was one of the first 3 people to dig into said box of toys.

So by pure happenstance, I ended up walking out with three old-school zoom lenses.......... for free.

Left to right, they are:
RMC Tokina 80-200 f/4 "Close Focus"
Soligor MC 70-210 f/4.5
Super Cosina 80-200 f/4.5-5.6 Macro.

All three have very clean barrels, considering they were all just tossed into a box. And the glass on them is exceptionally clean as well. This is the same box I got my Sigma MiniWide II 28/2.8 a while back for the princely sum of $10.

Later today, I'll take them into the back yard for some test drives. I'm not expecting anything fantastic. I'll probably keep just one of them, and donate the other two to a worthy cause.

If anyone here has any insight to any of them, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

bribrius · Mar 21, 2015

i hate you. And i am a worthy cause.

JustJazzie · Mar 21, 2015

Oh! I wish I had a camera store like that! I can't wait to see what you get from the macro!

sm4him · Mar 21, 2015

bribrius said:
i hate you. And i am a worthy cause.

But why would he donate to a worthy cause that hates him?

sm4him · Mar 21, 2015

What great fun! Like Jazzie, I wish there were a local brick & mortar store around here like that--even just one that HAS old lens like that, never mind giving them away or selling them for next to nothing from time to time.

Have fun testing them; looking forward to seeing the results!

bribrius · Mar 21, 2015

sm4him said:
bribrius said:

i hate you. And i am a worthy cause.

Click to expand...

But why would he donate to a worthy cause that hates him?

Probably wouldn't. LOL I am waiting for yard sale season here. Maybe i can find some diamonds in the rough. Not often i have his kind of luck getting lenses (so yeah, i hate him lol)

fjrabon · Mar 21, 2015

highly intrigued by the tokina.

480sparky · Mar 21, 2015

So far, some quick-n-dirty tests show they're pretty much on par with each other.

As expected, crisp and clear in the centers, with softness and CA increasing as I get to the corners. And softness increasing with focal length as well. This is expected.

But all 3 are surprisingly sharp, considering their age.

Designer · Mar 21, 2015

bribrius said:
Not often i have his kind of luck

The "luck" happens because 480sparky visits the store often and buys stuff there.

The harder he works, the luckier he gets.

480sparky · Mar 21, 2015

It was pure luck. I actually went through that whole box about a week ago. I happened to need a few things, and about 15 minutes before I arrived they posted the give-away on their FaceSpace page. I was shopping and someone came in and asked about 'the box of free lenses'. That's when one of the staff told me about it.

So I went back to that corner, and there were 2 others already sorting through it. I asked what they were looking for. One said Pentax K, the other Minolta. So as I was looking for the 3 Nikon mounts I knew had been in there, I was handing the other 2 their respective mounts.