gokevin cameras

[scsambrook]

Just been looking at eBay vendor 'gokevin cameras' - he seems to have lots of 'made-up' lenses at exotic prices. e.g Dallmeyer movie lenses grafted onto focusing mounts cannibalized from genuine Leitz RF lenses.

Does anyone have experience dealing with the business? What
I'm wondering is whether these are 'bodged jobs' or good quality adaptations.

[SVP]

I've had 4 or 5 items bought from Kevin some six or seven years ago, but all of them were off eBay (and I can recall his quoted prices were a bit more reasonable back then...). No converted lenses among these, I'm afraid, so I can't comment on the adaptation quality.
Notwithstanding, three of my items were quite valuable ones (a long-focus Astro-Berlin Fernbildlinse, a NOCT-Nikkor 58f1.2 and a magnificent Nikkor 300f2 IF-ED...) and I can confirm that his performance in terms of safe and reliable shipping of such expensive lenses had always been top class.

[kds315*]

expensive, but very reliable and fast. Bought some items too from him.

[Univer]

Hi,

My only experience with this seller - if you can dignify such a trifling interaction with that name - consisted of a query sent with respect to a lens he had listed for sale. It wasn't a high-dollar item.

His response arrived a couple of days later: the terse reply 'I can't find the lens.' That statement notwithstanding, the lens continues to be listed. I can excuse the inability to locate the item; I find it harder to exuse the fact that the item is still purportedly available for purchase.

I've done my share (maybe more than my share) of eBay buying, in several different "collectibles" categories. My experience has been that this kind of behavior by a seller should be taken - together with all other relevant factors, of course - as a possible warning sign.

I freely concede that such experience should be given far less weight than the experiences of folks who have actually traded with a seller. But I'm not impressed, and I will think twice (or three times) before buying from him in future. What if the item with respect to which I clicked the "Buy-It-Now" button were another "missing" lens?

Cheers,

Jon

[kds315*]

Well, I have more than 600 lenses here and it has also happened to me that "I could not find it". Bare with me (and Kevin), such thing happens. I would certainly NOT take that as a warning sign. He takes his busienss seriously, alweays speedy in response, always exactly as described, takes tons of pictures of each item and lists that on his site.

[Univer]

Hi,

Well, I was careful (I thought) to be clear: I defer, of course, to those who have traded with this gentleman.

That said - and readily acknowledging that one can temporarily misplace an item – I may have a different definition of what it means to take one's business seriously. If I couldn't lay my hands on an item about which a prospective buyer had inquired, I would certainly have undertaken to search thoroughly and contact him when the item was found. No such offer was made in this case.

If I hadn't happened to have a question about the lens at issue, I might well have purchased it, only to discover that it wasn't actually available. At a minimum, that would have entailed inconvenience - and a several-day delay before the purchase price was credited back to my account.

I have no axe to grind here, but the fact that this phantom lens is still listed for sale does not inspire confidence. To lose an item is an excusable error. The failure to remove the listing is harder for me to understand.

Cheers,

Jon

[scsambrook]

My thanks to contributors for all the replies and comments. But irrespective of his speed and care in packaging, I confess I would be very nervous about buying one of his 'made-up' lenses which I fear are made especially for rarity-hungry collectors and experimenters.

Perhaps I do him an injustice - these things may, after all, be truly unique and superbly crafted.