do you pick up inexpensive lenses,,,

[pappastratos]

do you pick up inexpensive lenses hoping to find a good one ? I do, kinda like a challenge, plus its fun. I have picked up a couple & they were worthless. I did get a 200mm for $24.00 that is sharp as any expensive lens I own. I have had better luck with older Sears, Vivitar, & Lentar than later models. Maybe it is the "heavier the better" syndrome,,,

[ManualFocus-G]

Yep, deffo in the case of old, long Japanese ones!

[Excalibur]

[danfromm]

Well, from time to time there's no way I can get a lens I want without paying the going price. It always stings a little. My 35/4.5 Apo Grandagon and a center filter for it stung a lot even though I got both a bit below market.

But back when I was chasing lenses that might be useful on my little 2x3 Graphics I mostly bought inexpensive lenses, turned up a number of wonder lenses for very little money. Times have changed, and in several ways. I'm more than fully equipped, so there aren't many lenses that tell me I need them. And, thanks to the diffusion of knowledge, the sorts of lenses I tend to accumulate have got somewhat expensive.

Re this last, some years ago I bought a 4"/2.0 TTH Anastigmat (2 1/4" x 2 1/4") from a guy in the UK. Delivered price was $30. A thrill, and downright cheap. I think two are now up on eBay. One's opening bid is UKP 998, the other's is $1,700. That's more than even a very nice normal lens for 2x3 is worth to me. I once bought a Uran-27 (100/2.5 Soviet lens for an aerial camera that shot 7x8 on 80 mm film) to see what it was. 1 Euro for the lens, 25 Euro for the post office. Not as thrilling or as cheap as my 4"/2.0 TTH, but definitely still a cheap thrill. Even those hard-to-use beasties sell for more nowadays.

I still look, see little that I have to have at the opening bid or BIN price. Just this morning I finally noticed a coated 2.375"/6.5 Dallmeyer wide angle. BIN $600. View wide open, shoot at least three stops down. Pretty little thing. Hard to justify when I have perfectly usable 58/5.6 Grandagon, a fine 60/5.6 Hexanon, a wonderful 60/14 Perigraphe, and a pretty good 65/8 Ilex. 370312421507, if anyone is interested.

When I see something that appeals -- I think the last was a Boyer Opale -- I'm almost always outbid. My last score worth mentioning was a completely unusable, except as a door stop, 200/2.0 S.F.O.M. that cost roughly $200 delivered. The price was worth finding out what it was.

I suspect that Klaus has similar tales to share about the good(?) old days.

I'm not ready to chase obscure lenses of the '60s - '80s for SLRs, or even first rate lenses for SLRs of that era, slightly envy those of you who are excited by them.

[ForenSeil]

Yes I also buy cheap and mysterious lenses at a venture.
The problem is that I don't have enough time to test all my lenses.
So usually I'm buying them, checking other people opinions on the web, and as long it's not better than my best similar lens I'm reselling them for much more than I paid 3 months later on Ebay

[Attila]

I rather pick up Russian lenses they are cheap like most crappy Jap lens and all good

[RioRico]

Dare I admit this? I almost have enough long lenses for my needs. Oh sure, a few more would be nice, and if some bargain speed demon appeared in front of my delaminating eyeballs, I'd grab it. But I don't do birds, wildlife, sports, the usual domains of extra reach. I have a hard time deciding what to do with my Lil'Bigma 170-500. My other 300-400-500 glass doesn't see enough use. Thus I am not in the hunt, not driven to buy more-more-more. Will I be excommunicated now?

But yes, I still look for cheap lenses. Yes, my preferences now are European rather than Asian, although I'm still looking for an ultralight (70g) Rikenon XR 28/3.5 Aspheric, which probably won't be cheap. Or any other lens in the 20-30mm range that weighs 110g or less and is small. But I still abide by one of my basic rules: If it costs less than a sandwich or burger, BUY IT!

[yinyangbt]

I usually buy good lenses with good quality/price ratio ,in the 10 to 100 E limit . I am going over very seldom .
One of the causes of buiyng MF Lenses is that they are cheap. Not the only one . And of course ,not all the MF lenses are cheap And with the money spent on MFLenses this year I could buy a good AF zoom , shurely

[William]

I used to buy very cheap lenses that interested me when I saw them. About 2 years ago eBay was full of cheap Russians, Pentacons, 3rd party Japanese lenses etc for £5-10 or even less but now that seems very rare. Charity shops now seem to look up the lens on eBay and sell it for the highest BIN price even though they are often not checked out.

Now the focus is on building a Pentax M series and buying modern lenses.

[LucisPictor]

I have started by buying loads of cheap lenses (Russian M42, noname Asian...) in order to try them and keep the ones I like.
After a while I started to buy more expensive ones (Zuiko, Nikkor...) and then really expensive ones (mainly Leica).

And I have to admit, in most cases there is a difference if you put all things together: performance, built, haptics...

But at the end of the day the best value is offered by those lenses that are reasonably expensive. Nikkor or Zuiko lenses are about as good as the really expensive Zeiss or Leica lenses but several times cheaper - and definitely better than the cheapo lenses!

[iangreenhalgh1]

I'm done with cheapo lenses, bought way too many. How many of them have I kept and still use? Eww, very very few, Hoya HMC 2.8/28 springs to mind and a Petri CC Auto 1.8/55 I got for 99p and is a stunner, but have to admit most of what I had were either stinkers or mediocre and I just don't see the point in shooting with mediocre glass when you can find excellent glass for peanuts if you have patience and do your research. Attila's suggestion of buying cheap Russian lenses is a great one, I have several and they are all superb.

[GrahamNR17]

I don't buy cheap lenses just to see of they are any good. There's so many people here that do it, I just wait until they report a good one, then go find a copy

[AhamB]

I never did this. I'm not a collector and don't want to be stuck with a cupboard full of lenses I don't use, or the hassle of reselling lenses that aren't worth anything. My cheapest lenses were the Oly 28/3.5 (sold) and Super-Takumar 55/2, both of which are well known.

[RioRico]

Don't confuse 'cheap' with 'bargain'. Some of my favorite lenses cost very very little. My super-bargain list (prices in USD, shipped):

Tamron BBAR 28/2.5, $4
Meyer Helioplan 40/4.5, $12
Yashica ML 50/1.4, $10
CZJ Tessar 50/2.8 (Exakta), $7
Sears-Tomioka 55/1.4, $2.25
Argus-Chinon 55/1.7, $3
Super-Takumar 55/1.8, $7
Nikkor 85/2, $9
Vivitar-Komine 90/2.8 macro, $3
Pentax F35-70/3.5-4.5, $11
Sears-Tokina 55-135/3.5, $8

And some 'cheap' lenses are surprisingly good. My list would be tedious. I'll just say that I'm very happy with various glass labeled Lentar, Paragon, Toyo, Focal, Opticam, even Hanimex and Albinar.

As for reselling: I *do* sell off everything I don't intend to use. My lens profit margin is 100%, after eBay fees. I'm currently at 230 lenses kept, 120 lenses sold. And I'm now at 45 cameras kept, 30 cameras sold, 90% profit margin. The sales sure help pay for the keepers, eh?

[martinsmith99]

I bought a 50/1.4 S-M-C Tak for 5GBP with original caps. Not sure that price paid has much to do with it, but that was certainly inexpensive.

[pappastratos]

I do a little research, but for $10-20 I have bought a couple that were really sharp. But I have bought one that fell apart in 2 pieces,,,

[walter g]

Yes, I still do, but not as often. I still look for inexpensive lenses from the 1950's-1960's. Mostly I'm expanding my Minolta collection. All lenses in my signature were USD $14 or less each + shipping. Most were under $7 USD.

[mfkita]

I use Nikkors just because they were in my bag 40 years ago when I was a news photographer....and they got used to me....

When I went digital I sold most of them and then had to get them back, and except for my Nikkor 180/2.8 ED that I got for $140, (a lucky ebay bid), all my Nikkors cost no more than $75, and most were nearly free...after selling off the gear that came with them...and many of those lenses were sold (at a tidy profit) when I found their replacement

One such lens find is my AI'd 85mm F1.8K...it's a story of sell, buy, buy, sell, buy (keep) and sell again....
...it came to me after I sold my 85/F2 AIS (bought back in the 1980s), and bought 85/1.8H beater for a lot less....I needed the money and the 1.8 is every bit as good as the F2 (some say better)....
I then found (I say "find" but I don't really look for them), a better 85/1.8H, so sold the beater 1.8...for nearly the cost of its replacement
...A year later I found the 85/1.8K along with 2 other lenses and a Nikon body...the owner wouldn't sell the 85 by itself, sooooo.....I took the chance and bought the whole kit....
...I kept the 85/1.8K, and sold all the other gear along with that 2nd 85-H for what I paid for all that gear so the 85/1.8K cost me nothing....
(actually for less than nothing, a profit actually, since I sold all the other 85s for a profit...but the profit isn't as interesting as all the finding, buying and selling it took to finally get a hold of the "keeper"...)

From pawn shops and Craigslist I've found a lot of cheap gear...including five 50mm/1.4 Nikkors that cost me nothing after selling the bodies they were on....I kept the last 50/1.4, an AIS version...the others were eventually sold for $40-$75, good deals for those buyers, all profit for me...

I have two 135/2.8 Nikkors, one Q.C that was AI'd...and a non-AI compact "K" version....each cost $40...lucky ebay bids

I had a 105/2.5 P that cost $10 after selling the gear that came with it, and eventually sold it for $60 when I got the AIS 105/2.5....for $65...
...and got a 200/4AIS Nikkor for $75, but it came with a good looking and good working FE2/MD12....all for $75...

And though I've sold a lot of gear for profit, I've often given away lenses and other gear when I come across a grabbagbox of gear that I had to buy for that 1 piece of glass I wanted...
I gave away a 300/4.5 Nikkor, a bunch of Canon lenses, that I had found in one such $100 box, keeping for myself the 180/2.8 Nikkor and 50/2K Nikkor I found at the bottom (finding such a deal, I just HAD to give some of it away, for good Karma)....

...back to OP's interesting question....I do occasionally keep odd and non-nikon gear...a $3 Kiron 28/F2 that's stuck at F2, and a 7mm Spiratone fisheye I got for $12...both in Nikon mounts that were the kind of finds I like...cheap thrills....but I tend to sell all the $5 and $10 lenses and bodies...I'm trying NOT to be a hoarder....and that's hard to do....

[pappastratos]

I am trying to get all M42 mounted lenses, why, I do not know. I do use M42-Canon EOS adapters. I guess I am wanting to get a couple of M42 film bodies to play around with. I have another 400mm I got for dirt that should show up any day. Hope it is M42, seller said end cap screwed on. Some sellers are clueless.

[Lord Minty]

Here in the UK cheap lenses seem to have disappeared. 10 or so years ago you could pick up M42 lenses for single GBPs and I got my boxed CZJ Sonnar 135mm f3.5 for £2... Now the cheapest for a known lens is around £15+, but my wife did pick up a lens for me recently for £5 - a Photax-Paragon 35 mm f2.8.

I was pretty impressed to get this when I tested it out:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordminty/6292156161/

[Smoli4]

just to participate, I buy all my lenses in either my city's flea market or in second hand shops, but i got a few from people who had those old lenses in their home, and after hearing i am interested in them they passed them over to me as gifts (i got reall good lenses that way [well real good as in my state right now, like a good J-9 and a few others.])
but back to the subject because i only buy lenses in the market\ second hand shops, i cant resist buying a 4-10 euros lens, even if i dont anything about it. when i see a lens i only see its specs (28mm f2. if its a known maker i could pay more than 10\20 euros but if i knows its a middle'ish lens i will still grab it just to test it, because i know the next time ill be there it will be long gone...

[hoanpham]

Just cant resist cheap lenses, esp cheap lens lot...

[jjphoto]

I'm certainly interested in trying inexpensive lenses but I'm sick of throwing my money away on items with fungus or that simply don't function as they should.

I'm sick of the bullshit so common from private and 'Ma and Pa' sellers (selling whatever junk they get their hands on) who are incapable of giving even vaguely accurate desriptions or answering specific questions. I've received many, many items which are simpy faulty or significantly damaged by fungus. When the shipping cost is usually a big proportion of the cost of the item (as is the case with most overseas purchases) the option to return an item is irrelevant. Shipping can be a killer and buying within your own country is probably the way to go, especially if you are in the U.S. of A. with about 300,000,000 people, probably all selling their junk on Fleabay or similar on-line markets.

I think the best way to purchase 'cheap' is from garage sales, camera markets, pawn shops or even reputable traders (Fleabay or 'brick's and mortar'), but when buying 'cheap' and sight unseen then you are often gambling on the condition of the item. Maybe that's part of the fun for some people, some you win, some you loose.

JJ

[iangreenhalgh1]

I have a weakness for cheap lenses, but not the crap third party ones you see so many of. I just picked up three Mamiya-Sekor E lenses for a total of 14ukp, in superb condition. Easy to modify an adapter to try them on my NEX.

[Lloydy]

They seem to be calling to me as I pass by - "buy me, buy me" and invariably I take pity on them.

But I've got some decent stuff for next to nothing, and a bit of junk.