Apologies in advance if I am telling you something you already know . . . There are at least 3 questions you should ask when thinking about a used lens. The first question is the one you are asking here: will this lens work on my camera? And it is a good question! Three are more than a few of us who got carried away with a super eBay deal on a Pentax lens, forgetting to note that the lens is an older screw-mount that requires an adapter.
>From others' replies it sounds like there is a good chance that these are >appropriate lenses. However, next you need to ask "do I want this lens on my >camera?" There are at least two reasons that you might not want to buy and use >a lens that fits on our camera. First, if the front or (even worse) the rear >lens elements are scratched, then any images you take are going to be somewhat >degraded. Depending on how bad the scratching, how much image degradation, >maybe you can live with it for a while, but definitely don't pay much if >anything because you will be replacing those lenses soon. Second, the more >serious issue is whether or not the lens shows signs of fungus growth on the >lens elements. This hasn't been discussed on the PDML recently, but it is >something you need to know about. Open the aperture and look through the lens, >both from the back and the front. Point the lens towards a white or off white >wall if possible. Oftentimes it helps if you look through at a slight angle >rather than straight through. If you see fine tracings like a small spider-web >on the inside lens surfaces, run, do not walk, but run away from that >purchase. Don't even accept such a lens as a gift. They are virtually >impossible to clean (though a good technician a can dismantle the lens and >give it a try, but that is expensive). Worse, the fungal spores may propagate >to other lenses in your bag/storage closet. It isn't likely, but why take the >chance? Unless it is a very rare and potentially valuable lens worth the time >and effort to try and clean it, don't mess with an infected lens. Third question: if the lens fits (and seems like it may be useful), and it is reasonably scratch-free and totally fungus free, you may still want to pass if the price is too high. Too high doesn't depend on what you can afford; if you have $50 to burn and are offered a $25 lens, that price may still be too high. Price/value is determined by scarcity, condition, and utility. The scarcity and condition are tough unless you have been carefully tracking multiple markets including eBay and others, and unless you have seen enough examples of what people call "like new", "good condition", etc. Hopefully the lenses you are interested in are available through KEH. My working rule-of-thumb when I was more actively involved in buying and selling lenses is that I would not pay more than 80% of the KEH "bargain" price for the lens. In other words, if KEH had a "bargain" SMC 50/1.4 for $100, I would not pay anyone else more than $80 for the same lens in "good" condition. I would rather deal with KEH, pay a little extra, and be confident that I was getting good merchandise that could be easily returned in the odd event that I found something wrong. Hope this helps . . . stan On Apr 25, 2011, at 9:56 PM, Jeffery Johnson wrote: > I have a want ad on craigslist for lenses that will work on a Pentax camera. > Well after two months of having the ad on craigslist I have heard from a > lovely lady that has the following lenses. Now she read the information to > me over the phone as the only computer she has access to is at work so she > was not able to email me that information. I will be meeting her tomorrow > afternoon after work at a neutral location (a restaurant) to buy said > lenses. I am new to older lenses so will these even work on my K-R without > having to get an adopter and also are these worth buying. > > SMC Pentax f 1:1.4/50 > zoom l37 52mm Nikon (the description she gave was for the filter that is on > the lens so not even sure what this lens could be.) > sigma zoom 1:3.5-4.5 f28-84mm > > Need help with this this evening as I stated have plans on meeting tomorrow > evening. > > Thanks, > Jeffery > ___________________________________________________ > Pictures that I have taken on Flickr: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/jt-johnson/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
