Well, it certainly helped me, Stan. :-) My confidence level in buying used
lenses has just risen thanks to your advice below. Thanks! Cheers,
Christine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stan Halpin" <s...@stans-photography.info>
To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List" <pdml@pdml.net>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2011 10:28 PM
Subject: Re: Advice
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/
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