Thanks John Gompf!

One of the things I love about writing the blog is the great interaction with you guys.  A little while ago I mentioned that I was desperately wanting an old Nikkor 25-50 zoom lens, they are pretty rare and hard to find.  My buddy John Gompf from New Jersey shot me an email with one he found on eBay, so I ordered it, and it came while I was at NECC, it’s near mint and I love it!  John had even made an offrer to see how low the seller would go, and so I knew I could save a little on it!  I bring the whole thing up for two reasons, first and most importantly, I really enjoy the old friendships renewed and the new ones mad, that have been a result of the pilgrim’s chronicles. It’s really fun to kick ideas back and forth with all of you and share spiritual insight.  When I was at NECC, last week, I had a half dozen people approached me and tell me they read the chronicles and it was meaningful to them.  It thrills me to know that God’s will is being done, and pray that He gets all the credit!

The second thing is that, like you, I’m a photoholic.  I just love my addiction to all things photography, what a great profession and hobby!  Since my experiment  with manual lenses I’ve wanted to get another 25-50 Nikkor zoom and test it.  I will do so at Oshkosh and I think I know what I will be reporting.  The history of the 25-050 is an unusual one.  It was the second “extreme” wide angle zoom Nikon ever made, you  have to remember in the 70’s 25mm was extreme for a zoom!  As our engineers always do, they attempted to make a near perfect optic, and they came very close.  For it’s time,  the 25-50 was a very expensive lens, and consequently, it never was a big seller.  A few years later it was sold out, at a bargain price, and only then did a number of people get their hands on a lens they could not have afforded otherwise. The lens became an instant classic and legend.  The interesting thing is the lens while very sharp is not what I would call legendaraly sharp, like says the 55mm Micro Nikkor. What made the lens so incredible was  that it was so well designed that it had virtually no CA (chromatic aberration)!  As a result the images from this lens have a color purity and, “look”,  that are out of this world.  Now, every lens sample is ever so slightly different, but I hope to discover that I got one of the very good ones!  Tests this week will tell the tale!

Thanks to all of you, out there,  many of whom I will never meet, or know, for coming here and letting me visit with you via a blog.  I know that God has inspired me to do this, and I pray He is reaching out to each of you and meeting your needs with “His” inspiration.

In Him,

the pilgrim