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Treasure hunting.
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 11:07 pm    Post subject: Treasure hunting. Reply with quote
I like to scan the webs for hidden treasure and once in a while come across things I can't pass up.
My most recent score is a Topcon RE camera with the 58mm 1.4 lens. 189 plus 20 postage. It also comes with the 58mm 3.5 macro that I see advertised for 350 and up but have never seen a sale. I scanned sold listing but none there. What is a good estimate of current retail value. Are the ridiculous askings a reflection of the lens IQ? or just collector demand? Anybody got samples taken with that lens? Feel free to post your experiences on this thread re searching for treasures, techniques used to find things. I find this among the most fun of my camera associated tasks (likely second only to actually TAKING photos).


PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 11:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Congrats! But if you don't even bother to use search here, why should I help? Twisted Evil


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 12:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Can you help with search? Every time I try (on MFL) it I get 404's. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I gave up and do a general seach on Google but you get an awful lot of uninformed dreck.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 12:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ignore Klaus and his notorious shitty attitude.

The Topcon RE lenses are perhaps the very finest to have come out of Japan in the 60s and 70s, both optically and in build quality. IMHO, they are as good as what the West Germans were producing at the same time.

This is a large part of why they are expensive, the rest of it is simply that they were a premium level product and weren't produced in huge numbers so they are not available in any quantity on the secondhand market today.

The 1.4/58 is an amazing lens, I had one on load for a while, adored it. Hard to find one for sale and when you do, they are $$$$. I do own the 1.8/58 though, which I also adore.

Never used the macro, as you say, it's not at all common to see for sale.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 1:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Laugh 1 Like 1 Klaus


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 1:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
thanks for the note re Klaus (hmmm). I have several Topcon RE lenses 35mm, 100mm 2.8, 135mm and 200mm so I am aware of the IQ and overall quality. Was just curious about experience with the Macro. It was a lucky find the lot was oddly listed and the macro was just listed as 58mm macro in the details thought the photo was quite clear. I am really curious but I have to wait for it to come in the post, also my a7ii is off for repairs. Had an SD card come apart inside and bend a spring or something. They wouldn't click in the slot.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 5:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Relax,just a bit of fun.I apologise.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 6:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
kryss wrote:
Relax,just a bit of fun.I apologise.
heh, no worries. I am a long time follower of this forum and generally trust the regulars to provide good advice, some amazing photos, and of course some good natured kidding. I am serious about the search function though. It worked for awhile when I first signed up several years ago, but not for a long time.
Re Klaus, I thought at first he meant search for info but later figured he might mean search for treasure. As if. First members are going to know the value of their gear, second I would feel bad taking advantage of a fellow member. There really aren't many photos taken with the 58mm 3.5 macro on the net. User xeoc has a nice series on Flickr and I finally found part of the series Klaus was on about. Remarkable. None of that showed up in "images" on google, and when I opened that thread the first time the photos were gone so I thought the thread pre-dated the server crash. Excuses excuses, Anyways it's late and I am off to bed.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 6:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
jamaeolus wrote:
Can you help with search? Every time I try (on MFL) it I get 404's. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I gave up and do a general seach on Google but you get an awful lot of uninformed dreck.


I just plugged in "Topcor macro" and got one site of links including mine, wheer I present my experience with my lens incl. lot sof pictures...

Not sure what went wrong...I get 404 often, but depending on what I search for, when I change the subject, I get useful results... Wink

Btw. here is an album full of (my) images taken with it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kds315/albums/72157634493667370

I have lots of lenses tested and used, many of those results are listed on my flickr page Wink


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 6:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
kds315* wrote:
Not sure what went wrong...I get 404 often, but depending on what I search for, when I change the subject, I get useful results...


That's exactly my experience as well. However, there would be certainly room for improvement. Wink


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 6:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
tb_a wrote:
kds315* wrote:
Not sure what went wrong...I get 404 often, but depending on what I search for, when I change the subject, I get useful results...


That's exactly my experience as well. However, there would be certainly room for improvement. Wink


Certainly, but in the hands of the site admin Attilla, not the mod's Wink


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Some broken stuff on the board, this used-to-be-useful search also fails now -- Attila's fs.php script: http://forum.mflenses.com/fs.php?sw=Spiratone

Google searches do not include all the sub-forums, only those it is supposed to see. For example, Photographer's Cafe is hidden from Google.

Board software searches require setting up database indices for those searches -- the board is massive; building indices for all the searches we'd like is impractical, would take days, maybe weeks, then, the board response could slow way down whenever somebody does certain searches. Of course all this is improved in later versions of the software. MFlenses has a lot of custom code -- a lot of work to upgrade all that, plus nobody has time, especially while in major life transitions.`


PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 6:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
kds315* wrote:
jamaeolus wrote:
Can you help with search? Every time I try (on MFL) it I get 404's. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I gave up and do a general seach on Google but you get an awful lot of uninformed dreck.


I just plugged in "Topcor macro" and got one site of links including mine, wheer I present my experience with my lens incl. lot sof pictures...

Not sure what went wrong...I get 404 often, but depending on what I search for, when I change the subject, I get useful results... Wink

Btw. here is an album full of (my) images taken with it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kds315/albums/72157634493667370

I have lots of lenses tested and used, many of those results are listed on my flickr page Wink


Thanks for that. Gorgeous imagery (as usual for your stuff) When I first encountered failures I kept trying terms with less and less info still 404's. Yesterday I must have asked it for too specific of thing, because when I duplicate your term I actually get results (Yay!) Your flickr page did not show up on my google search images. (at least I don't think so) I assume (perhaps wrongly) that google will prioritize Topcon 58mm 3.5 macro images above Topcon 58mm 1.4 so I stop opening images when I get one that doesn't match my search term.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 2:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Link to review of all three Macro-Topcor lenses by "Camera 35" magazine were just posted here: https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/will-the-real-exakta-please-step-forward.5500483/

They are all quite fine lenses. Was always happy with the results on film with my Super D.

I got an RMS thread to K-mount adapter so I can use the 30mm on my Pentax K-1.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 6:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
John Shriver wrote:
Link to review of all three Macro-Topcor lenses by "Camera 35" magazine were just posted here: https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/will-the-real-exakta-please-step-forward.5500483/

They are all quite fine lenses. Was always happy with the results on film with my Super D.

I got an RMS thread to K-mount adapter so I can use the 30mm on my Pentax K-1.


Cannot more than agree, as I have all three! (a rhyme...)
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