Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Unexpected Detour...

Sooo.... I was supposed to be just outside of Bozeman, MT tonight, preparing for a day or two in Yellowstone. Instead, I'm at a motel in Missoula, MT, about 3 hours from where I want to be.  Why?  Bad luck and really really bad luck.  First bit of bad luck was the weather.  Its supposed to thunderstorm tomorrow, and it already did that this afternoon, so Yellowstone might be out of the question for at least another day.  Now... the really really bad luck is another wonderful example of how I make anything and any situation complicated.

Missoula at Dusk


While travelling through Missoula, I decided that I was hungry and wanted a bite to eat.  I parked and started walking toward what was supposed to be a sandwich shop (which I later found out closed down) and passed a camera store.  Well, being me, I had to stop in and take a look.  I ended up eyeing a couple inexpensive lenses to buy, and having talked to the owner a bit and seeing that the lenses themselves were of decent quality decided get my camera and bring it in for a few test pictures.  The first lens, a M42 mount 50mm/1.8 worked quite well and was very inexpensive.  The second lens, a nikon mount 28mm/2.8 was also quite inexpensive, but as it turns out, didn't work so well.  You see... this was not a genuine nikon lens like I have used previously on my camera but rather some other random Japanese brand.  Now, Nikon lenses are supposed to mount in only one orientation (or so I thought) but apparently I was able to mount this lens upside down on the adapter and get it to fit on the body (don't ask... it just worked).  I ran through some tests, made sure everything was good, and then tried to remove the lens.  It was stuck.  FUCK.  You see, by somehow mounting the lens upside down it was now jamming against some pins when I tried to rotate the lens out.  Both myself and the owner tried working the lens for a good long while before finally giving up and calling the shop's repair guy for an appointment tomorrow in order to either a) do his magic and remove the lens or b) dismantle the lens in order to remove the lens.  My $15 lens just turned into a $100 problem I think...

On the plus side I'm glad I brought along my old XTi body.  On the other hand I totally forgot the remote trigger.  Ya win some, ya lose some.

1 comment:

  1. Hope the lens came off and you are on your way to Yellowstone -- watch out for the bears!!

    Keep posting - it's great fun to follow your adventures!

    Love, Jay and Judie

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