My lucky lens day: early Nippon Kogaku lens and case

Just to show that occasionally Lady Luck smiles on us all: I stopped into a local camera store yesterday that's nearly all digital but takes analog gear in trade, and found a near-mint Nippon Kogaku Tokyo 13.5cm f/3.5 lens, with NKT rear lens cap (but a Nikkor lens cap), correct 10.5 cm/13.5 cm hood, and mint NKT leather case for $45. They had a mint NKT case for a 10.5 cm lens, too (but not the lens itself) -- would I like that for $5? Yes, I would.

OK, it's not the tick mark version, but still, it was made in 1962 and looks great, and goes nicely with my F. Focusing is a bit stiff, probably from lack of use.

Also picked up a Canon new FD 50mm f/3.5 macro for $80, a Canon FD SC 100mm f/2.8 for the same price, and a Canon FD 135mm f/3.5 for $30 with caps, all in excellent condition. I'll slap those on my T90. Now I need to find the Canon 25mm extension tube for the macro.

I hadn't intended on spending all that money, but each struck me as a good price for a usedful piece of equipment - except the Canon 135, but who could resist it at just $30?

I love finding mint early gear, although I try to keep my collection to 1975 or later as that covers all Pentax K mount lenses. I have a handful of lenses from the original SMC Pentax range which was only made for a couple of years and they'll give modern lenses serious competition if you play to their strengths.

I also have some Canon FD stuff, you might check out KEH for extension tubes.

Jeff