Manual Focus Lenses Forum

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1802

It's not a sale info, just a question.

From time to time I am looking at listings with old lenses, wondering about some special distortions and light effects they may bring. Recently my curiosity was attracted by a listing of three Krauss lenses with helicoids, two of which Tessars and one Trianar. From previous experience I know similar ones are really good, so no special effects.

But current bids were low, around 15 euros, until the last two or three hours up to the end of the auction. In the last hour the auction got really animated and finished with a final price of 390 euros for the set. That was really unexpected, given you may get a LF Zeiss Tessar for 50 and sometimes for 30.

I looked at sold items and found out that Krauss marked Tessars are higher in price, and still not that high. A few copies without helicoids were gone for 50-90. And that is not that far from BIN asked prices which are close to 90-110. That means someone bid for those three lenses in auction higher than BIN price. I am not sure helicoids add so much of added value.

What do you think, is it an isolated anomaly or there is something in this set which is not evident at first glance?

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

Rarity? Hype for old(er) Lenses (seen in Asia now often)? People getting sick of the sterile rendering of modern lenses and searching for old glass?

alex ph · Joined: 16 Mar 2013 Posts: 1802

I was asking myself the same questions. Still, paying over the usual BIN price is relatively rare, I guess.

I currently observe a curious trend, at least in my pretty accidential sampling for observation: some 50mm classic MF lenses are growing in price, including for example Pentacon ones and Helioses which were staying really low in the previous couple years. While some others, like for example Pentacon 135 or some rarer lenses are tending down in average.

It looks like there is an arrival of newcomers generation interested in MF who start from the basics, as many of us did before. And that drives the prices for classics a bit higher than usual. While more experienced buyers have saturated their wish lists. As a result, some less conventional lenses and focal lengthes are slightly cheaper than usual.