When Christmas comes in October…

[NoLoveLossless]

Had a buddy stop by today and start unloading stuff out of his truck in the drive. I went out to take a look and there were several boxes of stuff. Said he was cleaning out his deceased uncle’s storage unit and when he found this stuff he thought I might want it. Said I could have it all and just throw away what I don’t want.

In these boxes I found not one, not two, but 5 Photoflex professional grade, heavy-duty 10′ light stands in dusty but otherwise MINT condition. Half a dozen old ACME-Lite studio lights WITH barn doors attached that still work, and there were extra lamp bulbs for them. 30 or so lens filters – CPLs NDs Warming, cooling, special effect, UV – you name it…easily well over $2K worth of filters – Hoya, Nikkor, Tiffen, B+W, Carl Zeiss, Heliopan…I forget now what they all were. Nearly all of them are top-of-the-line glass filters. And not a scratch on them. There was an old GE exposure meter just like this one: http://www.jollinger.com/photo/meters/meters/ge_dw58.html and it still works perfectly. There were 2 old Nikon F cameras, 1 old Olympus, and 1 old Minolta that still had film in it – all 4 of them still work 😀 There was also an old Nikon SB-9 flash that still works perfectly.

And the kicker? He said if I was that interested in all of THIS stuff, he has a WHOLE TRUCKLOAD of studio equipment and camera accessories and stuff like this to bring me as soon as he can get to it in the back of the storage unit. This was just a sample he brought by to see if I was interested.

I think I’m in love. Just don’t tell my spouse. 😀 😀 😀

 

 

[cameraclicker]

Wow!  Congrats!

[NoLoveLossless]

Thanks, CC! 🙂

 

I know a lot of folks wouldn’t be as tickled with the stuff as I am – maybe it would seem like ‘junk’ to the younger crowd that likes all new-fangled, bright and shiny stuff. And Lord knows I have enough of that too. But some stuff, well it is timeless. Just try to find a steady, truly  ‘heavy-duty’ light stand these days that is also easily portable. And I don’t even mean *for a reasonable price* – it is damn near impossible to find ones this well made, period.

And a light meter that doesn’t need batteries, EVER? 🙂 Yeah, you actually have to know how to turn the dials, adjust the wheels – you have to actually know about f stops and shutter speed and stuff. It is like using an old cash register – you actually have to know how to count/make change yourself – the horror! *rolling my eyes so hard they probably will stick* 😀

I’m an old fogie, I guess, but I’m a happy one! 😀 Can’t wait to see what else he has tucked back in that unit.

 

[nesgran]

Nice find! The Nikon F’s are fine cameras. Just be a bit careful when reconditioning the studio lights so you don’t blow the caps.

Problem with the light meter is that it is likely not very accurate anymore. The old selenium light meters have a limited shelf life which is counted in decades and over time their exposure readings stop being correct.

[NoLoveLossless]

Yep, been real careful with the lights, so far so good – got them all bright and shiny again and all still working. 🙂

 

Ah, good point about the light meter – I’ll have to fiddle around with it some more and see how close it is. I know it won’t exact my Sekonic L-308s but if I compare the two I can see just how off it might be. It’ll be fun to play with. 🙂

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