Seller's Remorse -

Lanline · Jun 4, 2010

I sold a MINT Nikon FE black body with a mint 50mm f1.8 Nikkor and SB10 flash yesterday on craigslist. I met the buyer and he was very excited. He loved the camera and paid my full price no problem.

I offered him a few rolls of film and he said, "no that's okay - I just bought this for the lens!" What? He says to me, "this lens will autofocus on my D300!" I told him the lens will NOT AF and he said that it would - so I shoved the cash in my pocket and left.

By now the buyer must know that I was right, it will not auto-focus. Maybe he can photoshop the focus in! I think from now on, I am going to question the buyer and see what they are going to use the gear for. If I hear a digital use, I think I'll just keep the gear.

w9cae · Jun 4, 2010

Dang & I am down here in underland hoping to find a lovely film Nikon.

domaz · Jun 4, 2010

I always found Nikon mounted lenses confusing. There seems to be so many rules about which Nikon lens can mount on which camera and retain this functionality it's hard to keep them straight. Nikon should have dropped there manual focus mounts when they went to Autofocus like Canon did. Keep things simple.

fotch · Jun 4, 2010

domaz said:
I always found Nikon mounted lenses confusing. There seems to be so many rules about which Nikon lens can mount on which camera and retain this functionality it's hard to keep them straight. Nikon should have dropped there manual focus mounts when they went to Autofocus like Canon did. Keep things simple.

Your kidding, right? I would rather have to use a little bit of intelligence and keep using great lens that were purchased years ago rather than having to replace everything.

stillsilver · Jun 4, 2010

domaz said:
I always found Nikon mounted lenses confusing. There seems to be so many rules about which Nikon lens can mount on which camera and retain this functionality it's hard to keep them straight. Nikon should have dropped there manual focus mounts when they went to Autofocus like Canon did. Keep things simple.

Perhaps this is why a lot of people dumped thier Canon gear and switched to Nikon. There were a few disgruntled folks.

Mike

Jeff Kubach · Jun 4, 2010

stillsilver said:
Perhaps this is why a lot of people dumped thier Canon gear and switched to Nikon. There were a few disgruntled folks.

Mike

I guess I'm one of the few who didn't dump Canon FD system. Nothing against Nikon, I'm just too cheap to switch! Besides I still like my old Canons.

Jeff

TheFlyingCamera · Jun 4, 2010

Well, the lens mount issue wasn't so simple for Canon- since they had the complex (relatively) breech-mount system on the FD lenses, it would have been problematic to bring out an AF lens using that mount. In the long run I think they made the right choice to piss off some customers now, but have the superior system when it came to autofocus. They put the autofocus motor in the lens, instead of in the body, re-did the lens mount to be optimized for electronic connection between the body and the lens, and as a result, they had the right size motor for the lens in each lens, which became more and more obvious with the longer, faster glass. 30 years ago, Nikon dominated the sports photography arena. Now, look at the average sideline of the average professional sports event, and 90% or more of the lenses you'll see are Canon white.

Rick A · Jun 4, 2010

I'm waitng for the OP to tell about the buyer wanting his money back "cause the stupid lens is broke and dont work".

CGW · Jun 4, 2010

Look Lanline, just because the guy was bipedal and sported an opposable thumb didn't mean he was intelligent, right? Enjoy the $ and let him figure it out.

Roger Thoms · Jun 4, 2010

The buyer will have to manually autofocus the lens by using the focusing ring located on the barrel of the lens. Should work fine.

Roger

darkosaric · Jun 4, 2010

Maybe on the end he will start to use film, just for fun, and then sell D300

wblynch · Jun 4, 2010

darkosaric said:
Maybe on the end he will start to use film, just for fun, and then sell D300

Best Outcome !!

lxdude · Jun 4, 2010

Maybe contact him and see if he has buyer's remorse?

lxdude · Jun 4, 2010

domaz said:
I always found Nikon mounted lenses confusing. There seems to be so many rules about which Nikon lens can mount on which camera and retain this functionality it's hard to keep them straight. Nikon should have dropped there manual focus mounts when they went to Autofocus like Canon did. Keep things simple.

Not really any advantage.

Canon's simple: MF works on MF cameras, AF works on AF cameras.

Nikon's simple: MF works on MF cameras, AF works on AF cameras.
And as an extra, there is extensive, though not complete, compatibility between MF and AF if you want to mix them.
If it's confusing, stick with AF lenses, as is necessary with Canon.

Lanline · Jun 4, 2010

lxdude said:
Maybe contact him and see if he has buyer's remorse?

haha... he answered an ad of mine, looking to buy cameras today. He want's $50 more now So he is just a profiteer.

removed account4 · Jun 4, 2010

darkosaric said:
Maybe on the end he will start to use film, just for fun, and then sell D300

i was thinking the same thing
and i am looking for a first time poster

and his backstory is : "i bought this beautiful camera the other week from this guy ..
to be honest i just got it for the lens for my d300 ... the guy told
me it wasn't going to work but i bought it anyways .. the lens didn't work right
so i said what the heck and bought some film loaded it
can someone help me process the film, it used to be easy with the display,
and the anticipation is killing me to see how the images look.
i haven't used the 300 in a week."

altair · Oct 5, 2010

I found myself in a similar situation last night, when I sold off my Yashica Mat EM TLR. I have 2 other TLR's so that one had to go, I never really bonded with it anyway.

So, I put up an ad in a local photography forum and then a guy answered my ad, saying he's interested in buying it and that the price I asked for it was ok. I met him last night at a diner. He's young! Only 23 and he brought along a table-full of his friends, all of the same age. They had lots of DSLR's on the table, among them a full frame model of the digital variety, haha. I handed him the TLR and they inspected it, full of oooohs and aaahhs. I was feeling ever more curious and unable to help myself, I asked the guy who contacted me..."Do you shoot film?".."Are you going to use this TLR?". He said no. In fact, he's buying my camera for his 19 year old friend, who was unable to come & view the camera as he lived quite a distance away. Apparently, this 19 year old friend of his collects 'old cameras' like mine, and he has 3 other TLR's as a collection. He also has the latest Nikon DSLR, a D3s, with which he mainly shoots with. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????

While showing those kids how the TLR works, and testing the shutter speeds & aperture, I felt useless. These kids they're never gonna appreciate and use the camera. They're never gonna understand how it works. They said film was 'too expensive'. I tried to talk them the other way around but I could see it was a lost cause, as they kept snapping away at my TLR with their latest DSLRs.

Soon after that, I made excuses, took the money and left. I felt remorse, tons of it. In fact, there was a time back then when I wanted to take my TLR back and say "Hey, know what, the deal's off". I wanted to sell the camera to someone who would use it, appreciate it and cherish it. Not to some spoiled brats who will merely put it up on a shelf gathering dust.

Well, at least I got a good price for it. Still, I could barely sleep last night. Sigh....

M.A.Longmore · Oct 5, 2010

rtbadman said:
The buyer will have to manually autofocus the lens by using the focusing ring located on the barrel of the lens. Should work fine.

Roger

.
That's Friggin Funny !!!

If the image in the viewfinder is out of focus.
You will automatically focus the lens properly.
It doesn't get much simpler than that !

Ron
.

Vonder · Oct 8, 2010

I always follow the adage that when something no longer brings you joy, it's time to let it go.

Or when yer really frickin' broke...

altair · Oct 8, 2010

Wolfeye: you're right! In my case it was a mixture of both, didn't really gel'd with the camera, plus the wife's birthday is coming up next month. Haha.

I only wish it could've gone to a nicer home, one where it'll be put to good use.

Cromlech · Oct 16, 2010

Being only 20, I feel bad for all of you older guys giving away your camera gear like this... hopefully you run into the younger generation, shooting film!

Richard

dehk · Oct 16, 2010

Should have sold me the FE body. Nonetheless, This is quite sad.

fmajor · Oct 19, 2010

That TLR sale is a cup 'o sour milk. I had sellers remorse after selling off a mint Gossen SBC Luna Pro. Oh how i wish i had never sold it - it looked like new - manual and everything. I've since "sorta" replaced it with a Sekonic L-398M Studio Deluxe II, but i just didn't think i'd ever need an external light meter. stupid stupid stupid.

On another note, i recently sold a Minolta SRT102 w/ MD Rokkor-X 50mm f1.4 to a young fella - and he's using it like crazy!!! I've been able to go out with him a couple times shooting and he is really enjoying it. I have a few of these and wanted to pare things down a bit and he approached me to buy - i wasn't thinking of selling that particular camera, but i could see he was really interested. Probably the best sale i've made (not in terms of cash, but right camera - right person) - and i've sold more than a few.

2F/2F · Oct 19, 2010

TheFlyingCamera said:
Well, the lens mount issue wasn't so simple for Canon- since they had the complex (relatively) breech-mount system on the FD lenses, it would have been problematic to bring out an AF lens using that mount. In the long run I think they made the right choice to piss off some customers now, but have the superior system when it came to autofocus. They put the autofocus motor in the lens, instead of in the body, re-did the lens mount to be optimized for electronic connection between the body and the lens, and as a result, they had the right size motor for the lens in each lens, which became more and more obvious with the longer, faster glass. 30 years ago, Nikon dominated the sports photography arena. Now, look at the average sideline of the average professional sports event, and 90% or more of the lenses you'll see are Canon white.

You are correct, but let the record show that Nikon lenses can be special ordered in a white finish, and Nikon have begun to make up some lost ground in the past few years, now that they have digital cameras that can actually compete with Canons.

2F/2F · Oct 19, 2010

Why not just have kept the body and sold him the lens alone? No reason for a doofus to have such a nice mint film camera!

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