Re: A*300/4 value?
I wrote: I will sit on the info and see what the shop offers me. I just had a reply from the shop. They have offered to swap the A*300mm f/4 for the 6x7 165mm f/2.8 I was interested in (second-hand). I've been looking for this lens for quite a while. The 165mm lens was priced at NZ$895, which is just over US$500 at today's exchange rate. Looking at KEH that seems extremely expensive but the 165mm is not seen for sale very often around here, and medium format glass is generally quite expensive on our secondhand market. Another shop in NZ has one listed for NZ$795. A new one is NZ$2,400 so I can't really complain :) It would certainly be cheaper to get one from KEH... until you add freight and taxes, and if there are any problems it'd get difficult. I bought a secondhand FA* 400mm lens from BH a year ago and it was quite nerve-wracking, considering I was in England at the time, shipping a lens from NY to NZ. Luckily everything turned out OK, apart from the fact that I don't use the lens enough. So with the above in mind I've accepted their offer. I won't tell you what I paid for the 300mm in the first place; let's just say that I'm not losing money. My 67 kit is about to be complete, apart from two items: 1- The 400mm f/4 ED IF, but I'd rather buy a house right now; 2- The 65mm f/2.8 which does not exist (the 55mm is too close to the 45 for my liking, and the 75 is a bit close to the 90mm). Now I'm hanging out for the body to come back from repair (it had a light leak). Cheers, - Dave http://www.digistar.com/~dmann/
Re: A*300/4 value?
Regarding F* over A*, the two big plusses for me are AF (of course) and the 2 metre minimum focussing distance of the F* lens. Oh, yeah, I forgot about that - the F* focuses about twice as close as the A*, and that can be quite significant... I've had a couple occasions where I was able to get a larger critter (bird) photo with the shorter A* 200/2.8 than with the A* 300/4 simply because I was able to get closer with the 200/2.8. (With the 300/4.5, the improvement over the 300/4 would be larger, about 2:1 overall.) The built-in hood on the A* is a bit too small for my liking (I added a gigantic metal hood). True. The accessory hood for the A* lens (it's actually marked for the M* lens) is better than the built-in A* hood, but it's not as convenient, of course (it's a screw-on hood). Fred
Re: A*300/4 value?
Hello, recently I discovered this one: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemitem=293779category=3334 This would be around ~400 US $ - I've also watched several others in this price range... until I found my F300/4.5 :-) Cheers, Thomas David Mann schrieb: Hi all, I've offered my A*300mm f/4 to the camera shop as partial trade against a 6x7 lens. It saddens me to do so but its had no use since I picked up an F*300mm f/4.5. Unfortunately its hard for us to decide upon a fair value. I searched Ebay, BH, KEH and Google and came up with nothing. Does anyone out there have a rough guide of a fair price for this lens? Mine is near-mint condition with its original front cap, a real A- series rear cap, and its original case. Cheers, - Dave http://www.digistar.com/~dmann/
Re: A*300/4 value?
Dave, US$450-500 when you can find one. Bob S.
Re: A*300/4 value?
A shop in Arizona is advertising one for $595 in 10- condition. Robert
Re: A*300/4 value?
Does anyone out there have a rough guide of a fair price for this lens? Mine is near-mint condition with its original front cap, a real A- series rear cap, and its original case. US$450-500 when you can find one. A shop in Arizona is advertising one for $595 in 10- condition. This would be around ~400 US $ - I've also watched several others in this price range... until I found my F300/4.5 :-) I have seen users (a bit beat up but in supposedly good mechanical and optical shape) goes for about $300, as I recall, but better ones, such as yours, Dave, should get at least $400, I would say. A lot depends on the market, of course, which is currently a bit depressed). As for the M*/A* 300/4 versus F*/300/4.5, I have both (and multiple copies, since 300mm is a very frequently used FL for me), and I'd say that the lenses are not totally redundant: The F* is a slightly sharper lens (but not at f/4- g), although it is slightly slower (and sometimes that partial f-stop can be significant). Both are well made, but the M*/A* is a bit nicer to use for manual focusing. And, for the size, at least in my case, I can pack the significantly shorter (when focused at infinity) M*/A* in my camera bag, but the F* requires (for me anyway) carrying it separately. On the other hand, as I said, the F* is a bit sharper (and the FA* would be, too, I guess). The hood arrangement on the F* (but not the FA*) is very well handled, and the tripod mount can be useful (even if it's not as nice as the mount on the A* 200/4 Macro). Oh, and the F* is an autofocus lens (important to some, such as my wife and my daughter-in-law, with their ZX-5n's). Perhaps because I use 300mm so much, I don't see it as excessive to own both designs (even though I've been forced, for financial reasons, to sell off some of my other extra lenses) - they're both good lenses with separate useful characteristics that certainly do not totally overlap. Oh, and I'm still not totally used to beige lenses... g Fred
A*300/4 value?
Hi all, I've offered my A*300mm f/4 to the camera shop as partial trade against a 6x7 lens. It saddens me to do so but its had no use since I picked up an F*300mm f/4.5. Unfortunately its hard for us to decide upon a fair value. I searched Ebay, BH, KEH and Google and came up with nothing. Does anyone out there have a rough guide of a fair price for this lens? Mine is near-mint condition with its original front cap, a real A- series rear cap, and its original case. Cheers, - Dave http://www.digistar.com/~dmann/
