Martyn's Lens

Xpres · Expire: 2014-10-28

It looks like Sue Ryder is based in Sudbury. If that's where the lenses are going then I'd be happy to advise them. I'm in Sudbury every week and could readily spare some time if needed.

GeorgeSalt · Joined: 09 Feb 2013 Posts: 336 Location: Norfolk, UK

Hmm..

Steve finds it too much to sell individually so an agreement is made to send them all to Sue Ryder, an agreement is reached with Sue Ryder.. someone gets the lenses from Steve.. now there's a worry it's too much for Sue Ryder so someone wants to step in and sell fifty individually and pass the worst to the charity for their Ebay..

.. we've been here before..

Apart from the fact I'd be pushed to identify the 25 least bad lenses in that list, never mind the 50 best.. why not just give them *all* to Sue Ryder with accurate descriptions. Flag up any that need a higher starting price, and just leave them to it.

Even if they all go on at 99p starting bid, it does not matter - they'll reach the correct market value if the forum helps by pimping the sale by advertising it around other forums. As most of the lenses are scrap anyway, from what I can see on the original list descriptions, let's not remove the best ones for a closed-shop sale on this forum. The only thing that's gained from dividing up the list is allowing this forum to cherry pick the list and dump the dross on to Sue Ryder.

Just do what was said. That's my view.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

I don't entirely agree with George, I do see his point about forum members 'cherry picking' the best then 'dumping the dross on Sue Ryder', that could be seen as taking advantage and then leaving the hard work to the charity. But this forum is probably the best market for the decent stuff, I think the forum marketplace gets a lot of visitors that don't join in on the other forums.

Maybe, even the poor stuff could be offered here as spares / repairs rather than being binned. Although that might have to be done with the acceptance by the Sue Ryder charity that it is basically worthless, and of course the effort of someone storing and posting the lenses as they sell for next to nothing + postage.

The reality is, they will be slow to sell. I've had a bunch of common lenses, in good condition, for sale for a long time and sold very few of them, and they sold for low offers rather than the prices I asked. That's the problem with common lenses, people like me and so many others just pick them up dirt cheap at charity shops and flea markets, but the better stuff we will seek out. Which is why I think the best opportunity to sell the better stuff is to offer it here first.

fermy · Joined: 17 Feb 2012 Posts: 1974

I agree with George Salt. What has been agreed upon must be done.

The proper way to help with the sale is to advertise Sue Ryder's auctions for the Martin's lenses in the marketplace section on this forum. One should simply advise to Sue Ryder not to sell Martin's lenses as a job lot (at least the ones in decent condition) and ask them to alert the forum whenever the lens from Martin's collection goes up for sale. Plain and simple, no hassle for anyone, no suspicions, no bad feelings, and the Martin's will is executed.

konicamera · Expire: 2014-06-14

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Agreed until I looked at this.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Sue-Ryder-Shop

I bet the visitor rate on that site is in the dozens! plus it looks crap. I cant see that huge mirror thing with the rifle grip sitting well on that site
and doubt it would ever sell on there, what photographer would visit the place?.

I am more than happy to make the call tomorrow and get the stuff collected 'as is' if that is the general concensus, I just threw a rough plan out there to avoid good stuff being given away. I think if anyone had seen the ebay store earlier, we would have got to somewhere else by now.

I would not attempt to sell any of these lenses for Sue Ryder myself and I don't want any of them.

Steve has done fantastic work on this but I fear that work may be in danger of being wasted if it is not used properly.

Lots of members thought it a good idea for the lenses to be offered to members here in the past which is why I threw that in.

Steve.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

The Sue Ryder site is on ebay, so would an ebay search for 'Zenit photosniper' throw up the S.R. site as well as the other ebay offerings? If ebay led you to the S.R. offerings then it might not be so bad?
Oxfam sells everything, including photo gear, through its own web site, but of course Oxfam is much bigger and it has adapted to selling this kind of stuff through its web site rather than shops.

It's difficult to know what to do, with a lot of effort and time maybe there would be a decent amount of money raised? or maybe it's better to just shift it quickly for whatever it raises?

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

This is the email i will send to Sue Ryder..,

Dear Paul, I have now managed to contact Saffer Steve and can confirm that he has delivered the remaining lenses to me at my home.
All of the lenses in Martyn’s collection are photographed for you and these photo’s are on a usb memory stick. The lenses have all been cleaned and bagged and numbered with a list that shows condition and spec etc. It should now be fairly simple for you to do a good job of listing these lenses armed with this information and get the best possible price for them.
Steve also left me £260.00 in cash which represents the proceeds of his sales of various lenses. There is also a spread sheet thing on the memory stick explaining these sales.
We all owe a great deal of thanks to Saffer Steve and his wife for doing all this work.

In addition to the lenses there some old cameras that should also be collected at the same time.

There are also a number of special filters, adapters and other weird bits and bobs that I think will be far too much work and research for your people to list easily. They are pretty much junk. I would suggest for simplicity sake, that a volunteer member of the forum be given these to identify and deal with their disposal via the forum for any that want them as they have hardly any value, but that is your call.

I will print off Steve’s original list and tick off the lenses that remain and ask your driver to check this and sign for them plus the usb stick and cash.

So if you could please call me to arrange for the collection, we can wrap this up at last.

Best regards

Steve taylor.

If you want to comment on it or add or subtract please say so, I will send it off on Wednesday.

Steve.

GeorgeSalt · Joined: 09 Feb 2013 Posts: 336 Location: Norfolk, UK

Olivier · Expire: 2015-08-06

Why not designate a board of 3 members in charge of selling the individual lenses they choose in our MFL club ?
They would set the selling price and make the link with the charity association.

I suggest beginning with 3 lenses by week.
And I suggest a fair price : enough for charity and low enough "market price" for members.

The MFL club is for active members only.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

So long as everyone is happy to just hand over the lenses that is what I will do.

That email will go off tomorrow so if you want to alter it in any way let me know.

I will now go and check that what should be in the boxes, is in the boxes and get it ready to go. My wife is fed up with them and we now have a fifteen inch gouge in the dining room table Shocked

another bollocking Crying or Very sad

I had a look at the Cyclops and read through that thread where Martin and Woodrim were in raptures about them. Seemed wierd to be holding the lens Martin was discussing with actual photos of it. He was as happy as larry...
I will stick that night vision scope thing in with the actual lens seeing as they go together, I was reading that thread for ages, realy interesting.

I will be starting a thread for Sue Ryder to consult about the various lenses on Steves list. Please add anything helpfull to the sale on there. That way we will see who actually cares enough to follow on from the excellent work done by Steve and his wife.

Should be interesting. Smile

Steve.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

Yes, go for it Steve. There aren't many options, and I think we've discussed them all. And other than doing what you suggest, 'someone' has to do a lot of work. This way the charity will have to do some of the work, but it's the sort of thing they are already set up to do - selling stuff from the web site.
Once they have the stuff listed, perhaps we could have the list posted in the Marketplace with an explanation of how and why they are there and a redirect to the Sue Ryder charity page, at least that will give the collection some more exposure.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Just finished checking that what Steve delivered is all present and correct.
There are 15 lenses missing thats 13 now.
These are the numbers
2
3
4
5 found
6
7
8
14
15
16
40
88
104 found
155
163

I think this must be what Steve sold for the £260.00. in cash he gave me with the remaining lenses. If, someone wants to evaluate this please do and confirm that Steve has done the right thing, that would be good. I have some quite nice lenses that I am happy to donate if there is a shortfall.

There are bits and bobs of Martyns stuff that I think will get binned if not appraised and appreciated by someone who cares. if that is you, send me a pm and I will send them to you.

Steve.

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zelda_n64 · Joined: 26 Aug 2011 Posts: 163 Location: UK

Hi all,

I have kept out of this over the months to see how and what direction this will go.

Martyn's request was that he wanted the proceeds to go to Sue Ryder, not the actual lenses.

A couple of questions:

Even if Sue Ryder are given guidance, will they be the best outlet to actually sell the items?

Some of these lenses are way more valuable than others, looking at the Sue Ryder ebay shop, will they actually offer international shipping to maximise the number of bids for the lenses?

Whilst some of us may wish to purchase some of these lenses at a knock down price, what would Martyn want - apart from the maximum amount of money to go to his chosen charity.

Before these lenses are sent to Sue Ryder, we should at least decide the best course of action to get the correct amount of money for each item. Surely it would be better for someone who roughly knows the value of the item to sell it rather than giving a job lot to an organisation that could overprice and not give it the correct exposure (no pun intended) worldwide.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Hi Zelda, good point...
Martyn's request was that he wanted the proceeds to go to Sue Ryder, not the actual lenses.

There are now three boxes of lenses

I box of completely knackered lenses with mounts taken off, busted lens cases etc.

1 box of old cameras that I would not even open they are so crappy.

1 Box of old filters, adapters, magnifiers, and out and out weird stuff that I don't recognise plus Martyns 'bits and bobs box' Laughing

every bloke has one and there may be gold in there, who knows.

I would suggest that someone here takes the last three boxes and sells them for sue ryder and that only the three boxes of lenses are given to them.

Please volunteer on this thread if you want to do this please.

I think that is it!

If there are no volunteers to sort out the three boxes of stuff, I will mark and label them accordingly and let them take their chances at Sue Ryder and they will go off with the lenses.

Steve.

zelda_n64 · Joined: 26 Aug 2011 Posts: 163 Location: UK

Steve,

I will volunteer to get rid of the junk, I did dm earlier.

A chap I know repairs lenses, if these are sorted I would imagine he would quite like the bits for his repairs. I see him at least once a month and should be able to do a deal with him. Obviously these would be sorted before hand by me and anything I find useful I will happily put on ebay for the whole world to see with the auction using the charity facility - 85% to the charity (15% for the fees) and anything remaining after the fees also to go to the charity.

I am on the west coast of the UK, but not venturing to the Capital until 5th March.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Thats great Zelda, I would prefer that to some poor sod grappling with what to do with them.

I have spoken to Paul Apenteng at Sue Ryder this afternoon and gave him the good news and what the state of play is today. He is getting the Sue Ryder ebay administrator to phone me later with a view to assessing how we can all help her with the sale and the collection of the stuff.

Getting there at last.

Steve.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Paul Apenteng just sent me this...

Paul Apenteng paul.apenteng@suerydercare.org

2:35 PM (1 hour ago)

to Elaine, me
Hi Elaine,

I hope you're well. You'll recall we spoke a couple of weeks ago about some camera lenses and miscellany that had been left to Sue Ryder at the behest of, the now deceased, Martyn who was a member of an active Camera forum.

I have just received brilliant news: All the goods have been cleaned, documented and ready to collect, as well as £260 from items already sold. Furthermore, Steve Taylor (CC'd) who first brought the matter to our attention and who currently holds the lenses, has offered the services of the forum to ensure we sell the lenses through the eBay site at market value.

Please contact Steve on 01634 xxxxxxx to arrange collection and how to best proceed to fulfil Martyn's wishes.

Steve, I just want to say once more to you, the forum and SafferSteve, thank you for all your hard work. It has been a touching matter and your dedication to honour Martyn has been heart-warming and inspiring.

Thanks,

Paul

On 23 January 2014 10:37, Elaine Peterson <elaine> wrote:

Hi Paul

Sounds interesting....If you would like to give me a call. My direct number is 01604 593688

Kind regards
Elaine

On 23 January 2014 09:29, Paul Apenteng <paul> wrote:

Hi Elaine,

I hope you're well. We met last month when myself and my colleague Sarina visited Northampton, and I took a liking to the vintage projector (which I am still interested in by the way!). We have received a bit of a complicated phone call and would appreciate your input:

A gentleman called Martyn was a member of an internet forum about cameras. Before Martyn passed away last year, he asked the forum to sell his vast collection of camera lenses and donate the proceeds to Sue Ryder. A forum member known as "SafferSteve" collected the lenses and began to sell them, however, we came into his own family hardships. As such, he has stopped selling the lenses and has not been active on the forum since September.

As a result, another forum member known as "ByChance" rang us to explain the situation and ask for support. I advised him we have our own eBay page and if they tell us where to, we can collect the lenses and sell them via our eBay site and they can advise us on the estimated value of the goods. I am thinking a van from a local retail store will collect the goods and bring them to you to sell.

Is this correct, and is there anything else I should add? I know it's a bit of a long winded tale so if you have any questions, please give me a call.

Thanks,
Paul

I await the call.

Steve.

bernhardas · Expire: 2017-05-23

Edited

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Posting this on behalf of SafferSteve who has sent me a PM with the following information.

Hi Steve

Just read the posts and would like to just cover the missing lens. These were the amounts made after ebay paypay charges etc from my wifes spreadsheet.

Just don't want the last posts indicating missing lens.....

We have given more than what was made as we felt bad about the ebay complaints and refunds...steeling from the collection.

Please can you let the group know my wife did keep the books.

No2 Vivitar 400mm F1:5.6 £11.04
No3 Paragon 400mm F1:6.3 £16.44
No4 Soligor 400mm F1:6.3 £16.44
No6 Meyer Optik 300mm F1:4 £13.29
No7 Tamron 400mm F1:7.5 £12.19
No8 Meyer Optik 400mm F1:5.5 (Silver) £6.67 refund £30 (EBAY USER LUKASZ ZYCHOWICZ - Buyer id codealone Reporting to Ebay unhappy with discription)
No14 Soligor 450mm F1:8 £18.61
No15 Soligar 350mm F1:5.6 £19.44
No16 Meyer-Optik 200mm F1:4 (Zebra) £14.44 refund £21 (EBAY USER LUKASZ ZYCHOWICZ - Buyer id codealone Reporting to Ebay unhappy with discription)
No40 Sigma 35-135mm F1:3.5-4.5 £4.81
No46 Vivitar 135mm F1:2.8 £6.19
No88 Photax-Paragon 35mm F1:3.5 £4.85
No155 Russian mirror lens 3M-6A 500mm F6.3 £62.15
No163 Tamron Aspherical F28-200mm F1:3.8-5.6 71A £12.12

TOTAL MADE 218.68

Money given £260.00

I sincerely hope that no-one now doubts Steve and his wife's sincerity or honesty.!

Steve, I did the check on what was in the boxes primarily to illustrate that we will be able to account for what goes to the charity and what they actually sell also. I have also added a few decent bits to the donation which I will look out for on the ebay site.

Thanks again Steve, I hope that both of you are happy and healthy now. I bet you wish you had never seen these bloody lenses mate!

Not had a call from Sue Ryder today, will wait until friday afternoon and gee them up.

All the best Steve and wife.

Steve.

saffersteve · Joined: 28 Jun 2011 Posts: 91 Location: London

Last post

The refund marked against no16 was actuall ment for no6.
The 200 vs 300 mm Mayer. Don't want anyone thinking bernhardas complained.

bernhardas · Expire: 2017-05-23

Edited

bernhardas · Expire: 2017-05-23

Edited

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Update,

Just spoken to Elaine at Sue Ryder who is feeling a little overwhelmed at the volume of the task of listing this lot. Due to a lack of product knowledge 'in house' and the man hours involved in the selling process, we discussed the option of offering the collection for sale as a whole. Elaine will be presenting the list of the collection to various camera shops and a local auction house for a job lot sale value and if interested a purchse offer.

I suggested that we offer the whole lot on here and see if anyone from here or other forums may be interested in making an offer for the whole thing.

This could be a good opportunity for someone to start an online business with little risk and stock that has been carefully selected by Martyn who lets face it, knew what he was doing. I also see this as something that may appeal to other charities faced with a similar large collection donation especially without the benefit of Steves initial catalogueing...

When making an offer, please bare in mind, there are additional items included that are not on the list that a person with the knowledge to identify them will be able to sell on at an additional profit. This includes a large box of about 20 cameras, a large box of stuff like Macro bellows, mini tripods, filters, teleconverters and adapters plus a box of gubbins from a lens collectors bits and bobs which may be priceless if you know what they are. Plus a box of what I think is crap but may contain some item of worth, for you to decide.

What you are offering Sue Ryder is to relieve them of the cost in time, admin and brain ache, deducting that from what you think you can sell the stuff for and hopefully making a little money out of it thanks to the time you can devote to enhancing the sale.

Therefore if you would like to make an offer for the whole lot please do so here and then Sue Ryder can take that up with you direct should you come up with the best offer.

I am going to open the bidding at £25.87 for the lot Wink

What are your thoughts, could you sell this stuff, you could find yourself with every charity in the land pounding on your door, begging you for help...

Think about it!

Steve. Smile

zelda_n64 · Joined: 26 Aug 2011 Posts: 163 Location: UK

Awesome,

If I had the money I would offer a good price as I don't then I cannot afford the whole lot, but my offer is £31.56.

However, I feel that to maximize the donation to Sue Ryder then the job lot is not the way to go. They should avoid camera shops as they give nothing for old gear and auctions can be hit and miss - although it would be better to have smaller lots at auctions.

The task is a big task as we all know, I will happily compile a list of lenses that I would happily sell on ebay using the charity option with 80-85% of the cost going to Sue Ryder - the remaining 15-20% going to cover the ebay/paypal fees. Anything left over will be sent to the charity because as far as I can see Martyn wouldn't want a profit to be made out of his generosity and wishes.

Here is a quick list of the lenses I know I could sell:

No27, No80, No81, No86, No103, No152, No165, No175, No176, No177, No178, No179

and if I wasn't at work and meant to be working I could find another 20 - 30 to add to the list.

The camera mounts I have that I can test the lenses on my Pentax DSLR are as follows:

M42
Minolta MD
Exacta
K mount