Circling Sir Killing

This morning I was clearing out old items in my eBay watch list. One of the items was 'Adobe Photoshop CS5 for windows little white rabbit', which sold for £10.50. This is a beta version of Photoshop CS5, which you can download for free (illegally?) from the net. Given that the auction states 'SENT TO YOU ON A GOOD QUALITY PRINTED CD - ROM', I'm not sure why you'd pay £10.50 just to have some free software put on CD for you?

A 'SUN FM F3,8 / 21 mm' lens sold for £43.39, and from internet reports it sounds like this is not a very good lens.

An 'Olympus PEN E-PL5 16.1 MP Digital Camera - micro four thirds' with 14-42mm kit lens sold for £207.34 + £10 P&P, which is a good deal. The cover was missing from the shutter button, but this doesn't affect usability at all according to the listing. It's funny how much less people will pay if something has a few cosmetic issues. I could understand it with something that's meant for display, but not something like a camera.

A 'RARE TOKINA RMC OLYMPUS OM fit 17mm f3.5 LENS PRIME LENS' sold for £47.77 + £4 P&P. This lens normally goes for more like £100, but to be honest, even £50 seems a bit much to me. Image quality is reportedly good for the price when the lens is stopped down to f/8.

I got outbid by £1 on a 'i1 Display Pro (PC/Mac)', which ended up selling for £116.21. As always, if I'd bid £20 more, I might still have been outbid by £1 for all I know. They retail for around £160 new.

Some more Rodchenko books were listed that I don't have, but at very expensive prices. 'Alexander Rodchenko: Works on Paper, 1914-20 By Aleksandr Rodchenko, David Elli' and 'Alexander Rodchenko "Photography is an Art" russian Constructivism rare Book'. From the listings:

Book Details
Title:	Alexander Rodchenko: Works on Paper, 1914-20		Item Condition:	used item in a good condition
Author:	Aleksandr Rodchenko, David Elliott, Aleksandr Lavrentiev		ISBN 10:	0856674184
Publisher:	Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd		ISBN 13:	9780856674181
Published On:	1993-06-30		SKU:	AWE-0856674184
Binding:	Hardcover		Language:	english
Edition:	Reissue		List Price:	£57.38

"Alexander Rodchenko. Photography is an Art"


Weight: 3,1 kg

English language

Hardback

480 pages



This book is to mark the 115th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Rodchenko. It consists of two parts, «Creative Experiment» and «Photo Reportage». This structure enables us to enter the artist’s laboratory and see how his ideas were embodied in the day-to-day work of one of the most productive photographers of the age.The quotations from Rodchenko’s articles, speeches and diary entries, his daughter’s reminiscences, his correspondence with contemporaries and the unusually rich illustrative material present a vivid and rounded picture of the personality of this great Constructivist and world famous reformer of twentieth-century photography. Much of the material is published for the first time.

A 'Canon EF 200mm f/2.0 L IS USM Lens' sold for £2,785, which is quite a good deal - it sells for over £4000 new.

A broken 'Fujifilm X series X-Pro1 16.3 MP Digital Camera - Black (Body Only)' (actually it appears to be one full camera and the top sections from 2 more cameras) failed to sell for £50. It looked as if the sensor had been hit with a hammer, with the glass in front of the sensor being shattered. If it was just the glass in front of the sensor that had been broken, then this would be a very good deal for me since I want a camera with the hot mirror glass replaced with clear / quartz glass for full spectrum photography anyway. But I can't help feeling that smashing the glass in front of the sensor like that without damaging the sensor would be almost impossible.

One 'NOVOFLEX NOFLEXAR 35mm 3,5 EXAKTA Mount Lens' sold for £93.55, while another sold for £62.59. Both in good condition, and both with similar postage. The more expensive one ended at 9am, while the cheaper one ended at 8pm on the same day. Around 8pm is generally considered the optimum time to end your listing for maximum bidders at the last minute, so quite a strange result. These lenses normally go for around £100 - £150.

A 'Samyang 14mm F2.8 Manual Focus Lens for Samsung NX' sold for £139.89, while the same lens for 4/3 mount sold for £132. The Samsung mount one was new, while the 4/3 mount one was untested and no returns. Typical selling price of this lens in Canon or Nikon mount is £200 - £250. The four thirds mount one may be able to be converted to Canon or Nikon mount, e.g. see this thread about converting a Samyang lens to Sony alpha mount: Rokinon (Samyang) mount conversion to Sony Alpha. Samsung NX has a much shorter Flange back distance. The lens doesn't look like it has a lot of extension added on the rear mount, so I'm not sure whether a Samyang NX mount lens could be converted to a DSLR mount.

A 'Sigma Apo Teleobjektiv 500 mm***1:4,5***für Nikon Vollformat***' sold for £796.92. I think this is probably quite a good price for this lens, though it is not the HSM model. Personally if I wanted to spend near £1000 on a telephoto lens I'd rather get the modern 'Tamron SP AF150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD Lens' - good image quality, though AF tracking seems a bit dodgy.

I got outbid by about 10p for 'Creative Composition: Digital Photography Tips and Techniques by Harold Davis'. Oh well...

A 'Lensbaby Composer Pro with Double Glass Optic for Sony' sold for £46, RRP is $280. Like the Samyang lens, I believe you could probably remove the mount from this and replace it with a drilled M42 adapter and shims to use on a Canon or Nikon DSLR.

After finishing going through my eBay watch list, I made some Yorkshire Teacakes.

In the afternoon I went out on a short walk with a cheapo fisheye add-on lens. Then I did some work on the pond with Billy and Clare. We emptied it out, in order to get some more clay from the bottom and patch up the sides of the pond (plus remove all the excess plant life and blanket weed).

There were loads of frogs in the blanket weed, including 2 mating pairs. Also 2 adult newts. Of course, there was probably plenty of other stuff in it that we didn't see as well. Around the edge of the pond were loads of pond snails. I couldn't do any work in getting clay out of the bottom of the pond though, as the bottom was like quicksand (or should that be quickclay?)

So I'll have to do some more work on the pond tomorrow, trying to scoop up clay from the bottom without getting into the pond.

In the evening I went on Mario with Billy for a bit like I always do. Then I booked our hotel for Mauser's wedding.