lenses you wish you had kept.

Layer-cake · Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 560 Location: Cape Town

I have been missing two lenses that I sold and wish I never had, the first being a lowly tonika RMC 28mm 2.8 and the second a well used super tak 55mm 1.8.

I always find myself looking for more of them at the markets here, I'm sure there are many times you can think back of the ones that got away!!

caspert79 · Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Posts: 3221 Location: The Netherlands

I think the Tokina AT-X 90/2.5 macro is the one I regret most.

iangreenhalgh1 · Expire: 2014-01-07

Can't honestly think of one. There was the Fujinon-TV 1.8/75 I sold for a tenfold profit, but then I found another one.

barnaby · Joined: 21 Mar 2010 Posts: 59 Location: Hampshire UK

I once sold an OM-1 with a standard 50mm 1.8. Before posting I took the lens off to double check the mirror was clean and mirror foam was OK. It wasn't until my friend asked a week later if his 50mm 1.4 had been cleaned that I realised what I had done. I did wonder why I had a 50mm 1.8 sitting on my desk. Embarassed

The only lens I regret selling was one of my first Canon zooms, the Canon EF II USM 28-105 mm f/3.5-4.5. I use to have great fun with this lens and it never let me down. I sold it for pittance too.

TrueLoveOne · Expire: 2013-12-24

There was a time when i did not have any Konica stuff, and there was no NEX with cool adapters.... but i had this one lens, the 3.2/135, brandnew, never used. It was some old stock left-over from a photography shop.
I sold it because i couldn't use it. Today i have several Konica cams, many lenses, a NEX with AR adapter.... but no 3.2/135....

woodrim · Joined: 14 Jan 2010 Posts: 4060 Location: Charleston

Nope, just have some I want to sell, and a very few I wish I had't bought.

Oldhand · Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:15 pm Post subject:

Canon FD 85mm f1.8.
Let it go along with my other Canon FD's, but this is the one I miss the most.
OH

Billou · Expire: 2015-05-19

An old Tokina 28mm f/2.8 rmcII. I gave it to a guy with a camera I sold.
This thing had a coating problem or something, because the pictures had a wonderful character, very vintage colors with a yellow/green hue. The more I see pictures taken with this lens, the more I want it back, but it's now gone. I tried a few other Tokinas 28mm but never had the same effect. Crying or Very sad

I used it for only one single day.

littleearth · Joined: 21 Dec 2011 Posts: 77 Location: PT

I kind of regret selling my SMC Takumar 50 1.4 ! The build quality was amazing but the truth is I rarely used it !!

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Micro Nikkor 200mm f4 and Biotar 70mm f1.6 lens optical block.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

Many years ago I had a Canon A1, 50 / 1.4, 28 / 2, 80-200 / 4 and all the accessories like flash and motor drive in a nice Canon real leather case, I bought it from a friend at a good price, and virtually unused. I used it for about 2 years then decided to move to the EOS system and traded everything in a straight swop for a EOS 600 and crappy kit lens. Rolling Eyes

I didn't regret it at the time, but looking back......... Crying or Very sad

EDIT, I just looked closely at the list of the gear I had written down in the cover of my copy of 'Lens work' for insurance purposes, with the prices as advertised. There's a date 1991 which is probably shortly before I traded it, and the only things on the list I kept were the AE1P, the 500 mirror and the Gitzo, everything else was traded.

check your serial numbers guys, I want my stuff back !

frenched · Expire: 2014-06-17

SMC Pentax 50/1.4. Great glass. It came with my ME-Super when I bought it new back in the day. Let it go for next to nothing. I could just kick myself.

Mir · Expire: 2017-09-30

Memory as a tendency to forget....

But from memory, there was an almost complete photosniper Tair 3PhS that i miss...
It was quite a lens....

A 15 blades Pentacon GDR 2,8/135mm #8484228 that i also miss....wasen't an exceptional lens but i really liked using it...

A Hoya 3.5/25-42 that i like using more than my Tamron SP 24-48.....

@woodrim
PM me what you want to sell....thanks

ForenSeil · Joined: 15 Apr 2011 Posts: 2726 Location: Kiel, Germany.

Interesting topic!
Hmm... I had many great lenses I sometimes miss. My list of these lenses changes from month to month.
This month it's
- Steinheil Culminar 135/4.5 LTM - I'm missing it's wonderful bokeh for potraits. Also it looks and feels like a gem. I used it only once and regret that I haven't used it more.
- Apo-Rodagon-R 75/4 - I used it for digitalisation if negatives when I found that Rodagon 105/5.6 does give at least >95% of the IQ at 1:1,5. But now I've changed to FF and I need 1:1 not 1:1,5 anymore I guess the Apo-Rodagon-R would be visibly better here as it's made for 1:1 and I would love to try it again.

uhoh7 · Joined: 24 Nov 2010 Posts: 1300 Location: Idaho, USA

can't wait for the day that's my problem.

Since I became a member here I bought 60+

have sold 2 or maybe just one.

yikes!

frenched · Expire: 2014-06-17

dnas · Joined: 14 Nov 2008 Posts: 488 Location: Japan

Can't say as I've ever sold a lens and regretted it, but obviously quite a few people here have.....

If they are Japanese lenses, I may be able to find them if some people are interested. For example, I see Super Tak 55mm F1.8 very often here in Tokyo. Nobody here in Japan is really interested in these!!! It includes the Super Tak & the Tak SMC.

I also see the OM 50 F1.4

And MC Rokkor 55mm F1.7 by the bucket load. (etc)

Actually, I converted a Canon FL 58mm F1.2, and regret that a little, now that the FF Sony mirrorless is almost here!!!! Wink

FotoPete · Joined: 20 Nov 2012 Posts: 126

Pentax FA35/2. Don't think I've found a lens since with that sort of micro contrast (not getting into Pentax limited)

Pentax A50/1.4 - never got around to using it much

Zm-5a-mc. Beast of a lens, couldn't mount on my K20d due to the extended flash housing, never got to see it shine. Got a zm-5ca recently but came misaligned.

Zenitar-16

Kiron 105/2.8

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7583 Location: Hong Kong

Meyer Trioplan 2.8/100 - Now they are expensive!

ForenSeil · Joined: 15 Apr 2011 Posts: 2726 Location: Kiel, Germany.

Layer-cake · Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 560 Location: Cape Town

hoanpham · Expire: 2015-01-18

What a depressive thread! like the dark, the cold and rainy is not enough for this autumn...

Keep them all.

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

The one I regret to have sold the most is the Nikkor-O 2.0/35. Definitely.
And perhaps the Vivitar 3.5/17.

And I really regret NOT to have bought a fully working Leica M3 with a collapsible Summicron 2/50 which was offered to me for €300,-!!
Damn! Silly me!

Layer-cake · Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 560 Location: Cape Town

barryreid · Expire: 2015-11-04

Over the 20-odd years I've been messing with cameras there have been a few that I've missed.

1. Zeiss 18/4 Distagon in Contax MM. I loved the character of that lens but sold it about 18 moths ago to fund something non-photographic, then regretted it immediately and ever since. Sadly I've not been able to afford another, however I've acquired Tamron 17/3.5 for £50 which has helped ease the pain, but it's not a patch on the Zeiss.

2. Canon FD 135/2 which I thought was just a great short/mid tele, often combined with a Canon 2x converter. I traded a Sigma 70-210 2.8 APO to get it. And to prove history repeats… I've just chopped in a Canon 70-200/2.8 L IS against a 135/2L

3. Pentax SMC-M 50/1.4. Good? Bad? Can't remember but it was my first fast prime and it impressed at the time. I sometimes consider buying an MX and one of these just to see if I'd still be impressed.

I'd also like to re-buy a Zeiss Planar 85/1.4, but I don't regret that as I like NEX-6 it helped pay for.