Century 650mm

bilbo10235 · Joined: 24 Jul 2011 Posts: 6

What is the best forum for selling a Century 650mm that I have owned since the 80's?

Oldhand · Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2018 4:59 am Post subject:

It is a monster of a lens.
A forum that has members close to you to enable pickup or minimise postage would help
Tom

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Ebay works quite well.

The old monster Century lenses are fine things but not very valuable.

I see one 650/6.8 sold on ebay last month for $340

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

I have one I bought about 25 years ago at a camera show/swapmeet. It's a fine lens. I've taken many good photos of the moon with mine and even managed to capture Jupiter with its four Galilean moons.

So, if you have camera shows/swap meets in your area, that's one option. However gear tends to sell at fairly good discount prices. I paid about $150 for mine, as I recall, some 25 years ago.

There isn't a lot of demand for the old Century lenses. People who know about them know how good they are. Everyone else tends to be rather clueless as to just how good they are. I also own a Century 500mm f/5.6, which has the same size objective as the 650mm f/6.8, and I love it. An oldie but goodie.

As for a recommended price, I'd say the one that sold on eBay for $340 sold for about the right price.

Romainjuchereau · Joined: 18 Apr 2022 Posts: 1

Hello,

I'm looking into buying a century 650mm for my Bolex rex 5, is your lens still for sale?

Thank you

Kind regards

Romain

bilbo10235 · Joined: 24 Jul 2011 Posts: 6

I still have the lens, but not sure how I would ship it. Where are you located?

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

To ship it, I would recommend packing it securely in a cardboard box. As I mentioned above, I own this lens, so I'm aware of how long it is. And if you have the tripod mount for it, that adds to the depth dimension -- although it is removable and can be shipped separately.

If you're unable to find the right size box for that lens, you may have to do like I've done in the past and build a box out of cardboard. Anything's possible if you put your mind to it. I once sold on eBay an 8-foot-long slide rule that I found at a garage sale (Modeled after a K+E, and used, no doubt, for teaching how to use one in a classroom environment). I had to build a box for that thing -- it took a few boxes and a lot of tape, but I did manage to ship it and it arrived intact (whew!).