...which was another lens. This time a Russian Helios 44-2, 58mm F2 manual lens which I got for £7 - I paid a bit more than they asked because it's a charity I support and it was too cheap. It's actually quite a nice piece of glass, not exactly in the Zeiss class but quite sought after by people who use them for portraiture and macro work, I sold the last one I had for £12. The shop had just been given seven or eight boxes full of old cameras and photographic junk, I had a look through four and told them what I thought stuff was work since they didn't have a clue. They ought to have more of it out tomorrow so I'm going to go back and see if there's anything else of interest. I'll reveal the location once I've had a good rummage...

The other thing I got today and forgot to mention was truly weird - a firewire-powered light for use with an iSight camera; the old one with a round tube that was sold for imacs etc. It's a ring light that goes around the camera and allegedly varies its brightness to compensate for room brightness. I don't actually own an iSight camera, but it's weird and cost £2 so I had to have a play. So far I've established it lights up but haven't been able to check the "adjusting for brightness" part because it was already getting dark when I tried it. I don't actually have much of a use for it, so again ebay is probably the eventual destination.

Later - I can only find one of these for sale on ebay - for $40 plus shipping! I doubt I'll get that, but I'll probably make a profit...