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Which search operator for 1.2 lenses on ebay?
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 2:11 pm    Post subject: Which search operator for 1.2 lenses on ebay? Reply with quote
Hallo,

has anyone encountered this problem, there seems to be no effective search operator to find f/1.2 lenses on ebay. Each time I try I get search results including f/2, f/2.8 lenses etc. Some sellers seems to be aware of this as they consistently list their lenses as, let's say f/2 .8, with a space between the 2 and eight.

For what I have seen the algorythm seems to strip the search string of periods, colons, semicolons.

I find it a bit disappointing, for the rest the search engine seems very powerful


PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 2:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
1.2 lens

seems to work for me...


PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 2:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
f1.2

the search engine will match f1.2 to f/1.2.


PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 6:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
To put it bluntly Ebay search engine sucks.
Even if you use quotes the search engine can't tell the difference between,
f1.2, f1,2, and f1:2..
I also filter to used.


PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I was looking for "Lord camera" it had 800 plus results, 4 were actually Lord camera. Most were weston light meter for whatever reason. Yeah their search really sucks. Sometimes I will see an item "X "in a search for a different item but when i search for just "X" it won't appear. It's puzzling.


PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 8:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
You never get perfect search results no matter what you do. I try to narrow things down by deducting certain terms, for example "Pentax 50mm F1.2 -(Nikon, Canon, Olympus, F2, F2.8, F1:2)". It doesn't help that much with aperture values, but you do lose some unwanted results and it does save me some time and nerves.


PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 9:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
You can filter it further.
Go to focus type. Select;
Manual
Fixed Prime

Of course if you can also filter by brand,
Tho that doesn't really work that well.
Also filter by price. Takes out alot of lenses
If you have a specific budget range.


PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 9:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
jamaeolus wrote:
I was looking for "Lord camera" it had 800 plus results, 4 were actually Lord camera. Most were weston light meter for whatever reason. Yeah their search really sucks. Sometimes I will see an item "X "in a search for a different item but when i search for just "X" it won't appear. It's puzzling.


Entering "Lord camera" (with the quotation marks) gives two results: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=%22Lord+camera%22


PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 9:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
walter g wrote:
To put it bluntly Ebay search engine sucks.
Even if you use quotes the search engine can't tell the difference between,
f1.2, f1,2, and f1:2..
I also filter to used.


That has not been my experience. Entering f 1.2 or f1.2 or f/1.2 retrieves all f 1.2, f1.2 and f/1.2


PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 9:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
One of the problems with eBay's "search feature" is that it considers the text content of the listing as well as the actual title. Search for "adaptall" and you'll get all sorts of unrelated miscellanea simply because "adaptall" was an option offered to the seller as part of the auto-fill description and, usually not knowing (or caring?) otherwise, they decided to take that option.
It really is annoying and, to be frank, probably counter-productive. Having been presented with a multitude of unrelated items I'm sure many, like myself, will just not bother!
Factoring in a manufacturers' name, as in "Tamron adaptall" or "Canon f/1.2" will usually refine things significantly, albeit at the risk of missing that all too important poorly listed item at the giveaway price Wink


PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 10:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
visualopsins wrote:
walter g wrote:
To put it bluntly Ebay search engine sucks.
Even if you use quotes the search engine can't tell the difference between,
f1.2, f1,2, and f1:2..
I also filter to used.


That has not been my experience. Entering f 1.2 or f1.2 or f/1.2 retrieves all f 1.2, f1.2 and f/1.2


I've found numerous entries that are f/2 for each of those searches but that's often down to those listing the lens not knowing that 1:2 is very different to 1.2 (or simply wanting to up the interest in their lens...
The only option is to wade through the many irrelevant listings & manually pick out the ones that match.


PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 12:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Type lens select cameras and photo and select f1.2 assuming the seller entered it that will get you there.


PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 12:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've never had a problem. I almost always list a brand name and usually a focal length., plus I always use the "f/x.x" format. These variables always do a decent job of ensuring I get good results back from my searches.

I just tried Canon f/1.2, for grins. Got nothing but f/1.2 lenses and/or lens accessories for Canon f/1.2 lenses.


PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 8:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Surely the art is to be the only one to find a poorly described auction!


PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:24 pm    Post subject: Re: Which search operator for 1.2 lenses on ebay? Reply with quote
pleto wrote:
Hallo,
has anyone encountered this problem, there seems to be no effective search operator to find f/1.2 lenses on ebay.


I prefer to buy those f1.2 lenses not described as "f/1.2" Wink

S


PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Searching for "licht riese" will turn up some german results


PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
visualopsins wrote:
jamaeolus wrote:
I was looking for "Lord camera" it had 800 plus results, 4 were actually Lord camera. Most were weston light meter for whatever reason. Yeah their search really sucks. Sometimes I will see an item "X "in a search for a different item but when i search for just "X" it won't appear. It's puzzling.


Entering "Lord camera" (with the quotation marks) gives two results: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=%22Lord+camera%22
Interesting. I had no idea quotation marks could help restrict results. Very useful information. I knew about the Minus trick any other helpful hints would be greatly appreciated. E-bay is just about the only source I have available. I have picked up the odd thing now and then on the local craigslist, which I also routinely scan. (like the three set of Russian mirrors) but well over 99% of my purchases come from ebay.


PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 4:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
jamaeolus wrote:
visualopsins wrote:
jamaeolus wrote:
I was looking for "Lord camera" it had 800 plus results, 4 were actually Lord camera. Most were weston light meter for whatever reason. Yeah their search really sucks. Sometimes I will see an item "X "in a search for a different item but when i search for just "X" it won't appear. It's puzzling.


Entering "Lord camera" (with the quotation marks) gives two results: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=%22Lord+camera%22
Interesting. I had no idea quotation marks could help restrict results. Very useful information. I knew about the Minus trick any other helpful hints would be greatly appreciated. E-bay is just about the only source I have available. I have picked up the odd thing now and then on the local craigslist, which I also routinely scan. (like the three set of Russian mirrors) but well over 99% of my purchases come from ebay.


https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/

those work in most searches which typically depend on Google anyway


PostPosted: Sun Jul 11, 2021 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Slalom wrote:
Surely the art is to be the only one to find a poorly described auction!


Good point. I've done this a few times and saved quite a bit over what I otherwise would have had to pay.

With Canon, an obvious try is to spell it "Cannon," as in artillery. I've also done well on occasion browsing through the "Vintage Movie and Photography" subsection of Cameras at eBay. THere is also a "Vintage Lenses" sub-subsection there, that might reveal some underbidded possibilities.


PostPosted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Also Marco lens..... my best treasures though have been unmarked in lots. Olympus camera lot, with the 40mm f2 only viewable at extreme magnification on my tablet. It was a very nice black pattern OM-1 and the 70-150 zoom. 300 or so IIRC. Then there was the bonus CZJ tessar 80 that seems unused, in an exakta kit that wasn't even shown on mentioned in the add. IIRC I paid 39 for the VXIIa with the biotar 58 f2 and the jubilee eye level viewer everything completely working.


PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 6:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Slalom wrote:
Surely the art is to be the only one to find a poorly described auction!


can't reveal all the secrets, but i've found all my best stuff (including two 50ish/f1.2) that way - will give one useful tip that i'm not really using anymore: searching for the camera body a given lens is likely to be found mounted on will often reveal treasures


PostPosted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yep, it's been a few years ago now, but for example, I was looking for a 35mm focal length lens for my LTM Canon IIIa. Found a 3.2 Serenar mounted to a IIIa for a price that was less than the lens usually sells for. That was an uncommon deal, and I jumped on it. In my earlier post I discussed searching through less-frequented areas on ebaiy, like the vintage gear. I've found a few good deals searching through this section in the past.

Back in the good old days I would often find interesting lenses mounted to cameras I was interested in that were functioning little more than body caps. Picked up a Series 1 Vivitar and a Tamron SP that way. Sadly, I think those days are largely gone. But it always pays to stay on ones toes if looking for good deals. You never can tell when or where they'll crop up.
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