Nikonos Camera Question.... help!

[IowaCaveDiver]

hello friends..... i have an unidentified piece of gear...no, i don't mean that I want you all to claim it, i'm pretty sure it isn't yours, but I don't know what it is exactly. I was diving a wreck and scootered out into the sand to see what people may have dropped off the dive boats, and among dozens of weight belts, a few backup lights, and a nice dive rite wreck reel, I found Nikonos lense.... rather large with "15" imprinted in the top right under where the Nikonos label is imprinted. No luck yet hearing back from camera people websites, nor can I find a product similar to this for sale. the lense is in great shape, a little crusted with salt, but still would work great. I'd just like to find out what it is and what it might be worth....wouldn't mind selling it.
-Matt

[Me]

You have found a Nikonos 15mm lens. Not sure if it has any value since it's crusted with salt underwater, but value brand new is about $1800 on the internet discount camera sites.

How much water is inside of it? I'm sure the value is significantly depleted.

Go to www.keh.com and you'll find second-hand Nikonos lens for sale.

I have one already.

[IowaCaveDiver]

there is absolutly no water in it.... the salt crust might even be an over statement. The glass in the lense is in great condition and I cannot see any major scratching or flaws. Really all that I can see that is wrong with it is the black paint/coating seems to have worn off, possibly from being in the salt water. I would guess it wasn't down too long, as there wern't much in the way of barnicles growing on it. I was thinking it was a 15mm lense, but it didn't look like the ones pictured currently on the nikonos website. I found it at 130 feet, so i wouldn't guess the pressure would have had too much efffect on it.

-Matt

[IowaCaveDiver]

I found another lense as well, this one for a motormarine I by sea & sea looks like a macro lense since it has the little view finder stick things that pop up on the sides.... it is a lot crustier than the NIkonos, but I would imagine the lense still functions properly.... just needs to be cleaned up. any idea of value. I emailed the website you posted for info on that other lense. It still doesn't look like the 15mm lenses they have pictures of on that site.

-Matt

[Me]

There are two 15mm Nikonos lenses. One for the NikV and then an older model for the older Nikonos cameras. They are not fully interchangeable to the best of my knowledge.

Another site you might check out that may be more fruitful for information is ....

www.southern-nikonos.com

[FW]

Was there a cap on the backside of the lens? If not, I don't see how it wasn't full of water.

There are some lenses that slip *over* the normal camera lens to change it to wide angle, but I am not aware of any made by Nikonos.

[IowaCaveDiver]

there is no cap on the back of the lense, just glass/lense piece. It does look like if you had a specialized tool you could remove this piece of glass. It also doesn't appear that this lense would directly screw or fit into the front of the camera, rather it has an arm attached to it with a small fitting at the bottom as well as an adjustable screw which allows the arm to be tightened or loosened. Also, just below the lense, where this arm is attached to the lense, there is a small metal fitting that looks just like the fitting that would be on the bottom of a flash and would fit into that little groove most cameras have just above the eye piece for the flash. I'm still not sure.

-Matt

[OFG-1]

The Nikonos 15mm lens does not have anything attached to it, unless the owner kludged something
The 15mm lens has two adjustment kinobs coming out of the side. The front of the lens is hemispherical shaped clear glass. If you turn the knobs, there is an window in the side of the lens that has numbers in it, and as you turn the numbers move.
If what you found has a single or dual piece of wire, or a flat bar, coming out of the bottom terminating in something that looks like a football goalpost, you have found an extinsion tube.
Look to see if the 15 you found on the part is a 1:5

Both the lensand the extinsion tube have a bayonet mount o ring sealed at the rear. The lens has the hemispherical glass at the front. The extinsion tube has a female bayonet mount that another lens screwa into.

Cheers
John

[IowaCaveDiver]

i'll try posting some pics in a bit.

[Line Squirrel]

i'll try posting some pics in a bit.

Sounds like you may have found the 15mm view finder and you are describing the fitting that would fit onto the flash hot shoe...just a guess

[IowaCaveDiver]

I think you're right about the view finder....that is what one of the photo websites wrote back and thought it might be....I uploaded three pics to my gallery, which i've never done, so hopefully this link works.... I feel like a moron, but I want to know if this thing is worth anything.

http://cavediver.net/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=402

-Matt

[FW]

Yep, Mike is right, it is a view finder. Still worth something, but not nearly as much as the lens.

Keep looking, you might find a Rolex, or Spanish treasure ship :-)

[IowaCaveDiver]

What is something like this worth? How about new? Think it would sell?

-Matt