Tucson is about a two-hour drive south of the “evil empire” of Phoenix, so I’ve heard Tucson locals say. I could not agree more when comparing the vibe. Tucson is layed back and it’s well, it’s Tucson. Close proximity to proper mountains such as Mt. Lemmon, the US most southerly ski area. Another hour south and you are across the border and in Mexico. A little more than an hour to the southwest and you find yourself at Baboquivari and the cave where I’itoi lives. According to the O’odham, this is the creator of G~d and the cave is the exit of the underworld. This is Tohono O’odham territory…
Wait, I’ll get back on track.
I’m headed to Tucson for a camera swap meet by the 65th Western Photographic Historical Society held at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. I need a certain old Lowepro camera bag and I’m hoping to find one here. I’m in the formative stages of, “the Idea” and each component has importance. I’m also hunting down a Nikon D780, a particular digital camera seemingly suitable for my love of old manual focus Nikkor lenses.
My Forester is a comfortable ride and the drive to Tucson is flat and quite boring. I know just about every turn and area of the desert by memory. I’ll be passing by Picacho Peak where there is a petroglyph area, but this is not the time for that, I’m on another mission this time and I’m going to stay focused.
I had found the Nikkor 28-50mm f3.5 lens hood at eBay. I had been tracking one there for about $60 but it was bent and the set screw was too. In my head I had already thought how I was going to repair it but it SOLD! Yikes! I didn’t think it was that rare but when I saw one for sale for a few hundred dollars, I knew that the articles I had read about it being rare were probably true. I put in the search term in eBay and bam, there it was, the Nikon HK-12, $25 delivered.
Is it true?
I looked at my notes, and looked up a pick of it mounted on the lens, “yup, that’s it.” And I bought it right then and there. I’ll still drive to Tucson and look for one, I’m sure others don’t really know how rare they are and some don’t even care.
Who uses old manual focus lenses these days anyway?
The drive went smooth, I know it well and I jockeyed with various people for position on the I-10. Traffic is like a chess game, you can take a defensive position, or you can just race towards the goal. I do not use traffic against the person, that would not be cool and lots of people that race are out of their league. There is the guy with the new car that doesn’t know it yet and the fender bent or sideswiped car that you know it’s not their first rodeo and they just don't care about their car, or you.
This morning it was a frumpy lady. Driving a Jeep Renegade she kept cutting me off and I decided to put some distance between us, long story short, the Forester has a quicker throttle response when using launch control (AVH - auto vehicle hold and Sport Mode which is a quicker throttle response) and I easily beat her off the line at the light, she took the right lane as we merged on to the Southbound I-10 and she got merge shut down a half car length behind me. She stood on her horn, and I just laughed as she passed me on the freeway going 95. About 2 miles later when she settled down to 80 and forgot about me, I was in cruise control at 85mph and got a good look at her as I passed. Looked like a old woman wearing a lace dress and had a tight bun, so not looking like an aggressive driver. She scolded me as I passed pointing a finger at me, it was super odd but that’s how life is on a busy freeway in a city of millions of people.
An old lady driver speeding, it was surreal.
Tucson is beautiful, the mountains we bathed in good morning light and the Jewish Community Center was beautiful. I was there at 9a sharp, paid my $5 early entrance fee and started to walk around. There were all kinds of vintage cameras of all kinds. I saw lots of people with smiles clutching new acquisitions. I almost bought a Nikkor AI 24mm lens but a Quick Look at Ken Rockwell indicated to me that this was not the lens I was looking for.
Do I want this or do I need this?
Long story short is I bought a Nikon EM for $5 that had a series E 50mm on it. That was my deal and I should have not purchased as I don’t need it. I did take it home and cleaned it and will sell it on eBay with the rest of my EM extras.
I found a small Nikon School reference book for my bag and a Nikon AS-1, I bought it by mistake, I thought it was for the F3, damn it.
My purchases from the 65 WPHS Annual Camera Sale was a Nikon School reference book for my photography bag.
The ride back was uneventful with no racing, just rocking to PWEI (Pop Will Eat Itself) and enjoying the lyrics.
