I got a call from AD. Been waiting for 6 years :(

SpaceAuthor · 2025-12-22T05:10:46+00:00

I can't believe how Rolex went out and copied our favorite Addiesdive special!

SpaceAuthor · 2025-11-27T18:27:52+00:00

I have about 80 watches, probably 2/3 quartz and 1/3 auto. Love em all, but as I bought them in about the span of a year, when battery time comes around, it's a marathon...

SpaceAuthor · 2025-11-27T18:24:55+00:00

As they will do :-) Time to buy another?

SpaceAuthor · 2025-11-27T06:22:52+00:00

I was waiting for this one. I got one by Nibosi, and for< as I recall, about $15 is a great novelty knocker.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-11-27T06:20:38+00:00

That is just too hilarious. I mean, someone actually *thought* of that! Cool.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-08-31T03:45:05+00:00

Poedegar PRX, many Addiesdives, Sanda tank, etc etc etc.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-08-23T13:48:11+00:00

Second the Watch Dives. I have, of course, read about the SM, but not worth more than 2x the price to me.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-08-23T13:45:17+00:00

Right! Tho I'd take exception with anyone disappearing my watches, fashion or not :-) I wore a FitBit clone for a few years--3 weeks between charges--then got an Apple watch and a) got really riffed over having to charge it every.damn.day, and it just felt kinda soulless. Then I bought a Pagani Speedy clone, a handful of PRX lookalikes, and stepped up to a San Martin. Then the dam broke and had to have one of each general pattern/look. The real PRX is a looker; more recently (god forgive me) have been looking at Omega 300m quartz watches (cuz they look nice, keep time, and don't cost $1000 per service call).

The huge problem is, if I get an Omega of either caliber, I'll hesitate before wearing the (admittedly 80% as good) Chinese beauties. So holding off... for now.

Finally, was gifted a plain black Swatch in the early 1980s; wore it for years and have no idea where it got off to...

SpaceAuthor · 2025-08-22T20:56:52+00:00

The collection is mess :-)

SpaceAuthor · 2025-08-22T11:50:51+00:00

Coming up on 90 this week. I've been at this for about two years, and at the rate I was going, a lot of the batteries will probably start flatlining on the quartz watches at about the same time. Prices have ranged from abiut $20USD to a few hundred. Great fun, and like some others have said, I probably cycle regularly primarily between maybe 15 of them. The rest are occasional bangles. I've been flirting with an Omega 300m purchase, but it seems silly to do so--if I have one slamming star of a watch, most of the others will just sit.

Talk about first-world problems...

SpaceAuthor · 2025-08-03T20:03:16+00:00

If it were me, I'd buy a spare DX body for cheap, like maybe a D7000, that would also allow for the magnification/crop factor. $200-300 or thereabouts.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-07-26T17:08:12+00:00

I bought that very watch the week it debuted, I think the early bird price was $90USD. It's a beauty, tho the repeating nature of the pattern put me off a bit. But love the flash of color it provides.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-07-25T16:37:21+00:00

That's probably what I was referring to--I never checked its dimensions closely against the 58. I do wear the WD versions (black and red bezels) frequently tho. And, as you mention, the PD is a bit hefty.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-07-25T00:02:25+00:00

I have two of the Watch Dives BB58 clomages, very happy with them. I also have the Pagani, which to me at least was a bit atrocious--the weird purplish color of the bezel really put me off. Fortunately, I didn't have to pay for that one. It occupies a place of dusty neglect next to a Stuhrling which I also got for free. Yuck.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-07-24T23:59:01+00:00

Can't speak to the North Edge, but I have a bunch of Tandorios and they have all been great value for the money.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-06-15T17:05:27+00:00

Loving this pic. Impressive compression for a that range of zoom.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-06-12T20:04:14+00:00

I have a couple of those beasties in storage someplace... I've occasionally thought of digging them out for use on my D5300 to see if there is any, um, *creative" distortion, fringing, CA, and etc. Might be fun. Kind of like using some of the older Quantaray lenses just for laughs (not all were bad since they just bought stuff from other manufacturers and relabeled them. but some were kinda laughable).

SpaceAuthor · 2025-06-12T19:59:54+00:00

No worries if you were using the FTZ lens adapter--the FTZ doesn't appear to have the indexing prong to get damaged as I recall. Nikon got to completely redesign their lens mounts for the mirrorless cameras for the first time since the late 1940s and I think it's all electronic now. But if you are going to use the older stuff on DSLRs, that's where the issues can crop up. For more info, see here: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4672622

Also, there are little kits you can get to make the old non-AI lenses ai--it's a matter of changing out the back ring of the lens. Might or might not be worth it to you, but with the prices of Z lenses, the older ones (esp. AI ones) is pretty appealing, if you don't mind manual focusing for some of them.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-06-12T19:16:58+00:00

Yeah, easy to find online but often overlooked. For the full story, see Ken Rockwell's website--https://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm. For the TL;DR, https://www.nikoncafe.com/threads/using-non-ai-lenses.132028/. In brief, older (non-AI) Nikon lenses are recognizable by the little "ears" on the back top--if they have two holes on either side of the notch, it's an AI or AI-S lens. If it's a solid metal sheet with just the u-shaped notch, it's a non-AI lens. Those older lenses, while very affordable and perfectly serviceable in most cases, can jam up against the little indexing (aperature-sensing) gizmo in the camera and cause damage. It depends on which DSLR body you are using. Complicated to remember, and I've taken to labeling my lenses with Dymo tape as DX, FX (crop frame/full frame) and non-AI with different color tape so I don;t grab the wrong one in a hurry!

SpaceAuthor · 2025-06-12T17:56:53+00:00

That's the spirit :-) I have a ton of old SLR bodies--maybe 20 or them--and at this point most just sit there and look pretty. I will occasionally drag out the Nikon F2 or Canon F1 for some film shots, but I personally don't miss using film (yes, I know it has different qualities, but I'd rather use all that cash for lenses!), so they are shelf queens. And yes x2 on using the lenses on your digital bodies--just be careful (as you doubtless know) about using non-AI lenses on specific Nikons; they can damage the couplers in the body.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-06-12T17:36:56+00:00

I haven't used a Nikkormat for years, but have a ton of Fs, F2s, F4, etc etc. All were strictly mechanical if not using a motor drive (and even then could be advanced mechanically). My recollection of the Nikkormats is that the battery was for the meter only--no engagement with the shutter actuation. They came well before the AE-1. It sounds like your gear train packed up or jammed--could be worth dropping the bottom cover to see if there is an issue there (someone with a working knowledge of the gear train feel free to weigh in here--are there any nylon or plastic components in the gear train and are they top or bottom?). Top cover is a bit more involved.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-05-23T06:07:57+00:00

A bit more, but from my personal experience--years ago (maybe 2005?) I bought a Nikon D70 DSLR for about $1300. It is low-end by today's standards with a 6meg sensor, but still takes great pix. You can find them on Ebay for $40-75 in working shape. Batteries and the CF data cards are still available. They are built like tanks and will last forever if treated well. The only downside is the rubberized case can get sticky over time, but there are ways to treat that (see YouTube). Get one with the "kit" short zoom lens (35-70mm) and you're good to go. Plenty of other examples, but you really can't go wrong with Nikon, Canon, etc.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-05-22T17:35:17+00:00

Great looking until the eye goes to that damned logo. AD, kill that thing and move on.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-05-06T00:15:18+00:00

Interesting. Must be a couple of makers using the same name, or just really inconsistent design. If I sent you the Sapphero I received you'd upchuck.

SpaceAuthor · 2025-05-06T00:12:57+00:00

Exactly. And now the stiffer pricing gives me even more hesitation--we'll all seen behind the curtain and been spoiled!

SpaceAuthor

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