I was browsing ebay , as you do after just buying a 75 to 300mm lens Af and i already had an 18-55mm af lens when i found what was supposed to be an AF 35-80 lens. It was OEM and had a surprisingly good reputation over the years there had been a manual quite liked an F which was a real dog and an FA which was supposed to be quite good for very little money about 15 dollars.

So I bought this lens thinking that it would fill my little AF gap. Next day I was looking at reviews of the lens and pictures from the listing and it didnt add up the lens didnt appear to actually be the FA and looked to be the A version and the listing did say auto and manual focusing.






Any way i messaged the seller who had posted it the day before and told him i thought he'd listed the lens as the wrong model.

He quickly replied and offered to refund me as it was just a cheap lens. So I agreed and today it arrived.

well the lens quickly turned out to be the manual version and had massive fungus behind the front element so i decided to break it down and clean it, nothing to lose. well turns out only about 95% of a lens was there the front section had been glued together and rings were missing that should of held one section to another. So turned out to be actual junk. Been fun stripping and cleaning it but i just can't get it to focus without gluing the front element in place again. It might work but i doubt it.

Anyone else been sold a lens worse than this?

Dennis;

Please allow me to dis-abuse you of one thing relative to photo-printing; there ARE NO "economical" photo printers! There are however a few that have significant advantages over others.

First: Dye sub printers; They have their place; it is NOT in photo printing! (Trust me on that )

Another fact about photo printers; until you get into the higher-end machines, (say $600 to $800 and up ), the printer makers don't make a CENT on the printer they sell you; their only profit comes from the ink that they sell you after you buy their printer. The three key requirements of getting great prints are; a decent printer, the "maker" of that printer's ink, and the print paper that the maker recommends. Buy an Epson, use their paper and ink, and your prints will still look great after being displayed years form now!

Photo printers are notoriously difficult to compare between brands, because they all "vary" slightly in the technology that they use. Great prints? They are all capable of making great prints; however, the costs involved can vary greatly, as can the relative archival quality of the prints they produce.

For example; Canon printers are capable of making beautiful prints; the problem being, they do it with dye technology; dye technology can't hold a candle to pigment technology in terms of how long those prints will "look great". Laser technology is great for some things, but it's NOT great for color prints.

Unless you are prepared to buy a very expensive photo printer, get yourself an Epson photo printer; for less than $200 you'll be able to make prints that would have required a 10K investment just a few years ago; unless your intention is to "dazzle" the photo editors of magazines, don't bother getting a printer that uses more than 4 or 5 ink cartridges; if you do need to satisfy photo editors, you better be counting on spending BIG BUCKS!

Don't expect to buy anyone's printer, then use some "no-name" ink and photo paper from "Dollar Tree" and end up with prints that some art gallery will exhibit; the ink and the paper are at least as important (or even more so ) than the printer you use.

Hello Hogs,
I get e-mail every few days from Picture Correct. It has been so long I forget whether or not I signed up or it or if it's junk mail, but either way I don't mind as they have interesting articles once in a while. Today's e-mail, "New Deal: Over 1000 Stunning Presets for 1-Click Photo Editing." Normally $560 and usually on sale for $99 but today with the code you can get it for $49. For all you "in the know" Hogs is this a phenomenal deal or is this just another Veg-o-matic? I have yet to use a preset, I actually enjoy tinkering with each photo and the way I personally analyze everything I do I figure it will take me about 41.5 days to check out each of the 1000 presets. But more important here is my main concern with the miracle presets. Let's say I take 100 photos from 6pm to 7pm, the light is completely different at 7 than it was at 6. So I am in Lightroom with the first photo (6pm) and I find a preset that I like and do my 1-click thing, perfect. So now I 1-click the whole 100? No matter the lighting they are all going to look as good as photo #1? Because if the answer is no then what is the point of all this, I might as well do it my way, one at a time. Thanks all....Marty

It's fascinating what we remember from "many years ago". Partly because it was early in our learning experience, and if something was remembered for this long it obviously had an impact! Of course now we are older, more experienced, and can absorb more of the finer points of what it was she originally meant. Even now, there are quirks though!

Here is what she said that affected you enough to remember for so long:

"Essentially the camera makes everyone a tourist in other people's reality ..." -- Susan Sontag

However, it turns out there's a really useful little quirk to it too! That wasn't the end of the sentence. And the last few words really put another full layer of impact on the meaning. (My emphasis.)

"Essentially the camera makes everyone a tourist in other people's reality, and eventually in one's own." -- Susan Sontag

I remember the Burlington! In August 1968--I had just turn 15-we moved to Ft Wayne In from Cherry Hill N.J. I had cousins at the time that lived in Naperville that my family would drive to visit. A year after I moved to Ft. Wayne my best friend from Cherry Hill moved also to Naperville. So when I was in high school there was an Amtrak route known as the Broadway Limited that traveled from Chicago to NYC by way of Washington DC I believe. I use to take it from Ft Wayne to Chicago all the time. My friend would meet at Union Station and we'd take the Burlington to Naperville to his parents home. Most the time I traveled at night but sometimes I'd get to Chicago early daytime and we walk to Old Town(is that still there?) and browse all the shops.

My real regret however is that I did not bring my camera with me---such missed opportunities. Just before we left N.J. my dad took his severance pay and bought a Topcon Auto 100 and gave me his old Argus Markfinder(not the brick) and a Weston Light Meter measured in Westons. WE went to Atlantic City to take pics of the ocean(regret not getting any of the Boardwalk ) and he taught me how to use it. We shot Kodachrome! I'm sure your aware that Kodachrome was the only color film that would last and sure enough I have many photos my Dad took with with the color is as good as new from the early 50's possibly late 40's.

I was not skilled with that camera then and did not think to try to take pictures then. I started using it during my last year of college when we had a small darkroom in my dorm and started playing with B/W-really didn't know what I was doing but I used that camera and meter with good results. I still have both the camera and meter --when I unpack them I'll take them out for a spin.

I like what you do focusing on history and working in a documentary genre. That has always been my interest however with digital photography that has changed--its not so easy using photography as a record of fact since so much is altered.

The first photographers I fell in love with are the FSA--Farm Security Photographers--hired by the Fed Gov. to take pictures of the country during the depression. Many very good photographers--Walker Evans,Dorothea Lang,Margret Bourke-White and so many others. The collection was published in a large book entitled "A Vision Share." I could really relate to it coming from a N.J. burb and traveling through Rural Indiana(I Love) and finding similar subject matter. Now I live in Columbus Indiana(40mi) south of Indianapolis very close to the country.

Well you probably did not want such a long story but very much appreciate your style and have you on a buddy list--you can be my digi mentor-so I can pick your brain and watch your photography grow. I don'y remember the details of Chicago and the train --I'm 62 now and it's hard to remember any thing now--heh,heh-but thanks so much. Joan