"Back To Cameras Again"

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An electronic problem ended my love affair with my Minolta XK, but I still had the others. The year was 1989, and once again I found myself drooling at all the goodies locked up in the brightly lit glass cases.

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It was like radio heaven, only for cameras. They had [have] new, used,rentals, accessories, and a very knowledgeable staff. My problem was that I was always looking for exotic lenses [used, of course] - especially wide angle lenses.

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One day I happened to ask about some Minolta lens and of course the sales guy said "Nope, nothing used, but I can order a new one for you". The blood draining from my face, must have been the clue, 'cause as he stared at my bloodless, pasty white face, he said:"I know you've been in here year after year, only to walk out empty handed, so it's time you changed brands"

(SOMEHOW i KNEW THIS WOULD BE EXPENSIVE)

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He went on to tell me about Nikon's, and how I could walk into practically any camera store in the world, and find a used lens, in the Focal Length I wanted. Not only that, there were bunch-O-bodies of various price ranges that these lenses would fit on. That was the day I became a 35mm Nikon man! I bought a beat up looking but perfectly functional F3, with a 43-86 zoom....."A good start", I thought.

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It wasn't long after that the "fever" hit me. I love wide-angle for the outdoors, so my next purchase was a Nikkor 20mm 3.5 lens, and I probably shot 75% of my photo's with it. Next came "Normal" lens (much cheaper), and that kept me happy for awhile and I developed an itch for a 105mm f2.5 semi-telephoto, but razor sharp when it came to pictures!!

THE 105mm 2.5 Lens

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I suppose next to my F3, the FE's were my next-in-line-favorites. I also owned an FM, and FM2, but the guy was right - I could walk into any camera store in whatever state I happened to be in, and fine what I wanted, "used".
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Woody
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