Home

Please support mflenses.com if you need any graphic related work order it from us, click on above banner to order!
SearchSearch MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

what are the biggest bargains you have found?
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Manual Focus Lenses
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm drawn to this thread like a moth to a flame, with somewhat similar results.


PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Since buying a bargain OM-2 SP (my dream camera of the late 80s) from Oxfam last week I've been looking for a wide. I've been poking around in the eBay listings for OM-10's with lenses in the hope of snagging a nice 28mm or maybe even Sigma Super-Wide II. It's gone better than I imagined;

I've just snagged an 'Olympus OM-10 camera with lenses and accessories' (that's the auction title) off ebay for £54 plus postage. There are three lenses included and, crucially, all are Zuikos. There's a 35-70/4, a 75-150/4 and best of all the third lens is a 24/2.8 with matching hood!

Looking forward to this set arriving. I'll probably move the OM-10 and zooms along sometime in the next few weeks and be left with a very cheap 24mm!


PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
A couple of weeks ago I bought a sony a6000 and I'm entered in the mflenses world.
Just a few days after I did what I believe is a very good bargain.
For 110 euro (delivery expenses included) i got:
- Olympus OM 2n
- Zuiko 28mm f/2.8
- Zuiko 50mm f/1.8
- Zuiko 135mm f/3.5
- Tamron 80-210 f/3.8-4

Everything in very good shape.

Today I bought a Zuiko 35-105 f/3.5-4.5 for 55 Euro.


PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Carl Zeiss Planar 1.4/50 HFT for 44eu. Previous owner had removed the optical block from the helicoid and couldn't figure out how to put it back. It's being repaired and even with the repair cost will be a huge bargain. Smile


PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 6:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
barryreid wrote:
Since buying a bargain OM-2 SP (my dream camera of the late 80s) from Oxfam last week I've been looking for a wide. I've been poking around in the eBay listings for OM-10's with lenses in the hope of snagging a nice 28mm or maybe even Sigma Super-Wide II. It's gone better than I imagined;

I've just snagged an 'Olympus OM-10 camera with lenses and accessories' (that's the auction title) off ebay for £54 plus postage. There are three lenses included and, crucially, all are Zuikos. There's a 35-70/4, a 75-150/4 and best of all the third lens is a 24/2.8 with matching hood!

Looking forward to this set arriving. I'll probably move the OM-10 and zooms along sometime in the next few weeks and be left with a very cheap 24mm!


I'll say, if not for free, if you price things right. Actually, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably hang onto that 75-150 because it will no-doubt make a great portrait lens, and sell the OM-10 with the 35-70 as a set. Easier to unload that body that way, especially if you didn't get the manual adapter with it.

Still, all in all, I'd be just thinking that £54 would be a great price to pay for that 24, never mind the rest.


PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Carl Zeiss Planar 1.4/50 HFT for 44eu. Previous owner had removed the optical block from the helicoid and couldn't figure out how to put it back. It's being repaired and even with the repair cost will be a huge bargain. Smile


I am always a bit afraid of deals like that - I recently bought (yet another) dirt-cheap Nikkor 50/1.4 and the idiot who had it before me managed to bend the aperture plate.


PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 8:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
hello


in found a samyang 8/f3.5 for 120€ in a cash converter shop, not a bargain but a good price , cause on ebay they are sold for 160 to 200€ plus shipping cost , And I have 1 month of guarantee Smile


PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 8:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
cooltouch wrote:
Another successful shopgoodwill.com auction for me. A Sigma 600mm f/8 mirror, in the somewhat rare Canon EOS mount. I've been jonesin' for one of these Sigma mirrors for years, but have never wanted to spend the high prices they've been going for in recent years. So I was jazzed to see this one appear. I had to pay good money for it, though. Not a great bargain, but still a very good deal, I think. $76.


Congratulations! Seems like a good deal to me. I think I should try buying from Goodwill while I am visiting the states.
Any tips?


PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Cooltouch, You are on a hot streak! Maybe buy a lottery ticket? Wink

The Sigma mirror looks new! But I'm surprised it's that heavy. I thought these were light in comparison to conventional telephotos of same focal length.

The Vivitar 135 f2.8 Close-Focusing is a much desired lens and their best non Series-1 135mm offering.
I found a non-CF version on ebay for $6.50 and it's one of my bargains. Produces sweet images and I recommend to anyone to buy one of these Komine gems if you discover one cheap.


A just took delivery of my latest bargain.... a Konica Hexanon AR 300mm f4.5 telephoto. The seller passed it along to me for the cost of shipping, as that's what he paid for it from a dealer who found it in the parts bin. Previous owner tried to 'clean it' and messed it up. Smudges and finger prints all over the elements and the aperture ring doesn't correspond to the blade position.
I opened it up and the fix was simple and the glass cleaned up easily. It's in very good shape, but missing the tripod mount. Someone must have removed it when it was in the bargain bin.

I'm stoked with anticipation to try it, as I was hunting for a 300-400mm lens for hand-held wildlife captures with poor luck.

Picked up a Vivitar (Komine) 400mm f5.6, only to learn the later Tokina-made versions were better. And missed a bid on the best version for portable shooting. Sad

Paid good money for a Tokina AT-X 100-300 f4. In great shape and sharp, but big and heavy as hell. And impractical as a walk/hike lens.

Won a Goodwill.com auction for a Tamron CT300 f5.6 in fixed mount. Came damaged! I was refunded and told to do as I wish with it. I got it working, but images aren't good enough, especially after the big Tokina AT-X. Unfair comparison I know...not fast and sharp enough for me.

Won auctions on two bargains...Vivitar 100-300 f5 Close-Focusing zooms. Both had etch-damaged rear elements. Appears to be a factory defect. Fixed both with cerium oxide (posted about it in repair forum), but they aren't sharp enough either...even when new.
(The Tokina AT-X really spoiled me! Later test shots yielded some bright and sharp keepers. So these aren't that bad.)

I forgot to bid on a Canon FD 300 f/4 in pristine shape, and it was won for a song! Kicking myself for that one! Razz

The Konica is surprisingly light and short for its focal length. And the sample photos found shows it's pretty sharp and colorful. I ordered a Chinese copy of a Canon tripod collar for it. Should be a close fit.
Will post a pic when I get it all set on my camera.

EDIT: Since we need pics....Wink






Unfortunately, this lens suffers from a lot of CA. I removed quite a bit from the bird and plane shots. But clearly evident.

Last edited by WNG555 on Wed Mar 04, 2015 10:59 pm; edited 4 times in total


PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 2:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
uddhava wrote:
cooltouch wrote:
Another successful shopgoodwill.com auction for me. A Sigma 600mm f/8 mirror, in the somewhat rare Canon EOS mount. I've been jonesin' for one of these Sigma mirrors for years, but have never wanted to spend the high prices they've been going for in recent years. So I was jazzed to see this one appear. I had to pay good money for it, though. Not a great bargain, but still a very good deal, I think. $76.


Congratulations! Seems like a good deal to me. I think I should try buying from Goodwill while I am visiting the states.
Any tips?


Sure, all I can recommend is that you do as I have done, and I've been reasonably successful. But first you'll have to get some sort of payment/shipping situation squared away. Shopgoodwill.com requires a credit card or, in some cases, Paypal. So just make sure you're able to get the piece of gear shipped to an address that differs from your billing address. This is possible, I know, because I was having to do this right after we moved. My credit card info still had the old address listed, so when I entered the ship-to address, I had to make sure that I gave them the bill-to address also. Next, check how much the shipping will be. Often shopgoodwill's shipping charges are so high that it doesn't make any sense bidding on a cheaper item. Even for small, lightweight items, shipping charges in the $15-20 range is not unusual. They're really taking advantage of the new UPS "dimensional weight" shipping policy plus tacking on sizable handling fees to overcharge their customers. I've written them a pissed-off letter about it, and even got a response where I was promised they would look into it. Probably just lip service, but still I let them know how I felt about being overcharged.

After that, just good auction buying technique will usually work well for you. I generally do not bid on an item until there is less than 20 seconds left, and then my bid is for the most I'm willing to pay for that item, keeping shipping in mind. So if I get outbid, well, somebody wanted it worse than I did.

In the cameras and camcorders category there, there are typically 45 to 60 pages of camera gear listed. What I do is I like to first scan at the beginning and try to work my way all the way through to the end, which can be very time consuming, adding items to my watch list as I go. Then, each time I check back in, I go to the end of the pages and see what new things have been added. I'll also take a look at the items whose auctions are set to expire soon. I do this because I have found items that, for one reason or another, didn't make it on my watch list, and they were items I ended up being interested in. I don't know exactly how the various Goodwill centers go about listing their items, but I have noticed on more than one occasion a new item appearing in the middle of the listings instead of the end, so I also will scan through the pages occasionally, as time permits.

So then it's just a matter of deciding how much I really want all those items I've saved in my watch list, set an alarm on my phone to remind me on items I'm really interested in, and make sure I'm at the site to bid on the ones I really want. I can't tell you how many times I've missed out on items that I really wanted, but neglected to put an alarm on my phone for.

Good luck!


PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 2:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for all the details! I'll what i can do. Smile


PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 3:35 pm    Post subject: My Bargains Reply with quote
Hi guys

Some days ago I bought a Tokina Bokina AT-x 90 2.5 Nikon mount in very good condition for 100 Euros. I think you can call that a bargain. Unfortunately no hood and no macro extender included. Have to get those elsewhere.

My other deals I call a bargain where from evilbay:
Fuji Fujinon SF EBC 85mm F/4 soft focus Lens M42 in mint for 170 Euros
Zoomar Panosoft Soft Focus 110/2.8 in mint for 180 Euros.

Bargains I missed were:
Dreamagon Soft Focus F/4 mint for 50 Euros
Rodenstock Immagon 200 / 5,8 Nikon mount for 98 Euros. Yes it was written "Immagon"!
Nikon 50mm F/1.2 for 200 Euros
Minolta VARISOFT ROKKOR 85mm f2.8 for 80 Euros

At the moment I could get a Canon Fd Mount VIVITAR (KOMINE) 90mm 2.8 Macro lens 1:1 for 60 Euros. I can't say much about condition and not sure if it would be a bargain either. What do do think?

cu
Somayn


PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I spend 25€ yesterday and got:
Nikon fm body with md-11 motordrive
Nikkor 105mm f2,5 ai
Nikkor 50mm f2 ai
Vivitar 28mm f2,8
Vivitar 200mm f3,5
Some other bits and pieces like filters and a metz 402 flash set

I already have the two nikkor lenses but in pre-ai version.


PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 1:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
!Karen wrote:
I spend 25€ yesterday and got:
Nikon fm body with md-11 motordrive
Nikkor 105mm f2,5 ai
Nikkor 50mm f2 ai
Vivitar 28mm f2,8
Vivitar 200mm f3,5
Some other bits and pieces like filters and a metz 402 flash set

I already have the two nikkor lenses but in pre-ai version.


That seems like a pretty good deal. Congratulations!


PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
minolta MD rokkor macro 50/3.5 including original 1:1 extender in mint condition for 70€
tokina 17 in mint condition 100€
minolta rokkor 28/2.8 for 30€
hexanon 50/1.7 in mint condition for 30€
jupiter 37AM in mint condition for 40€ (industar 50/3.5 included for free also in mint condition)
vivitar series 1 70-210 first version in mint condition for 20€
tokina rmc 28/2.8 in mint condition for 20€


postage (in mint condition Smile ) included in prices Smile


PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 7:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
!Karen wrote:
I spend 25€ yesterday and got:
Nikon fm body with md-11 motordrive
Nikkor 105mm f2,5 ai
Nikkor 50mm f2 ai
Vivitar 28mm f2,8
Vivitar 200mm f3,5
Some other bits and pieces like filters and a metz 402 flash set

I already have the two nikkor lenses but in pre-ai version.


Wow, that's a super deal!


PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
SK Curtagon 2.8/35mm
Uncommon for 18E

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/OTMyWDE0MDI=/z/jeAAAOSw1ZBUxOHy/$_57.JPG


PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 4:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Okay, I finally did it. I replaced a Canon EF, which was destroyed by a catastrophic collapse of shelves that held almost all of my photo gear a few months back, with another one. The old one was in very nice shape for a camera as old as it was, so I wanted to replace it with one that was just as clean. I scoured eBay over and over and finally hit on one that was being offered from Japan. I made an offer of $100 and, to my surprise, it was accepted. Well, the camera arrived today, and all I can say is that it is completely flawless in every way. I don't think that a lens has ever been mounted or a roll put through this camera, it is literally that clean. So considering what people are asking for very clean EFs on eBay, I'd have to say that, yes, this was one helluva bargain!

Here's my problem. I've never been the sort of collector who will not use his gear for fear of putting wear on it. I used my old, now destroyed, EF, and it was a great picture taker. A big, bright focusing screen with a full-information viewfinder: Shutter speeds along the bottom and apertures along the right side. And it has the same self-timer/mirror lock up/stop down lever system as is found on the old F-1 and FTb. But dang it, this camera is so clean I'm tempted to just put it up on the shelf and stare at its beauty. Fondly referred to as the Black Beauty, it is every bit deserving of such an accolade.

Here are a few shots of the new EF, taken with my NEX 7. I attached my 85mm f/1.2 SSC to it just to make things look interesting. Ignore the overly exaggerated dust motes, which always get blown out of proportion with flash photos.






PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 7:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
What a hell of a bargain! Well done! Lots of envy for your great looking EF and the magnificent 85mm 1.2 lens!
Happy shooting!


PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 2:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yeah, I thought it was a bargain until I started giving it a careful once-over today. I noticed that the black shroud that surrounds the lens mount -- I don't know what it's called, but I think you get the idea -- is broken. Snapped in two. It wasn't noticeable until I noticed a slight defect in the finish in the shroud and as I gave it a closer inspection, I saw the break. Well, that was mildly annoying. And then I go and load it up with batteries, and it is deader than a door stop. None of the electronic functions work. So, since the seller didn't reveal this damage, I'm gonna return it, taking advantage for a change of eBay's buyer protection plan. Too bad, it really is a clean camera. But it must have gotten smacked really hard to break that shroud like that. Which might be why its electrics are dead too.

As for the 85mm f/1.2 SSC Aspherical shown in the above photo, that was definitely a great bargain, but it was three or four years ago when I bought it. I found it sitting in a used section at a local camera shop. They hadn't a clue what they had. I forget what they were asking for it, but I ended up putting together a package deal that included the 85mm, a FL 55mm f/1.2, a Vivitar Series 1 28-90mm f/2.8-3.5, and a Vivitar macro-focusing teleconverter in Nikon mount -- all for $350! !!! Definitely one of the best deals I've ever come across.


PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 2:05 pm    Post subject: Zeiss Triotar 135/4.0 M42-My best deal of the week. Reply with quote
An Ebay sale. The seller said he didn't know what it was besides what was written on the lens. A single, poor, photo on the listing and no description of condition. Opening bid was $19.99 US and i was the only bidder.

It was delivered in three days and is in great condition cosmetically and functionally. It is clean, the glass is flawless, no noticeable internal dust. The only issue is that the focus ring is a little more stiff than I would like, still usable though.

Steve











PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:58 pm    Post subject: Re: Zeiss Triotar 135/4.0 M42-My best deal of the week. Reply with quote
newst wrote:
An Ebay sale. The seller said he didn't know what it was besides what was written on the lens. A single, poor, photo on the listing and no description of condition. Opening bid was $19.99 US and i was the only bidder.

It was delivered in three days and is in great condition cosmetically and functionally. It is clean, the glass is flawless, no noticeable internal dust. The only issue is that the focus ring is a little more stiff than I would like, still usable though.

Steve


Congratulations! That's a nice looking lens at a nice price. It looks different than my copy, what mount is it?


PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 8:43 pm    Post subject: Re: Zeiss Triotar 135/4.0 M42-My best deal of the week. Reply with quote
[/quote]

Congratulations! That's a nice looking lens at a nice price. It looks different than my copy, what mount is it?[/quote]

It is an M42 mount. I have another in M42, aluminum, not chromed, that is about two inches longer and 30% wider, expanding out at the focus ring.

I really don't need this one also but I couldn't turn down the chance to pick it up at that price.


PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 8:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Biggest bargains!

Well it was my Yashica ML 50mm f1.4 I got for £25 or maybe the Nikkor 50mm f1.8 I gotfor £5. Also got a Tair 3 for £31 the other day but best bargain has t be an OM Zuiko 20mm f2 macro for................................. £45!!!!!

Was a bit specialised for me so sold it on, I tested it though, cracking lens!


PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 10:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Picked up a canon 350d with a tamron 18-250 for £55 at a cashconverters The lens is worth at least £100
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Manual Focus Lenses
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 80, 81, 82 ... 117, 118, 119  Next
Page 81 of 119