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#1 |
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Oxfordshire, UK
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So I'll apologise straight away!
But, I've been looking at lenses on ebay and wondered: a) If I wanted to buy a prime lens (or two) what would you guys recommend? I'm assuming a fast (f1.7 or better) 50mm would be a definite but what about a 28mm f2.8 or a 125mm f2.8; are they worth getting? I suppose what I mean is whether the extra stop or 2 is worth getting. Also I assume the quality of a prime is better than that of a zoom. b) And here's the tricky bit - what should one pay for older lenses? Obviously there isn't a "book" price but as a guide, what's a fair price to pay? I ask because I have seen bids for computer equipment that are higher than the price available on the net. People see to assume that if it's on ebay it's a bargain! So if I'm going to bid (and win) I need to have an idea of when to stop. Keith |
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#2 | |
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Thach Alabama
Posts: 14,981
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Keithw wrote:
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Dawg |
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#3 | |
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: NW. England
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Keithw wrote:
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For what it's worth re. the b part of your question, if I get interested in a particular lens, I monitor the Ebay auctions for a week or two just to get an idea what price that lens averages, after that you bide your time, and very often I think down to different wording of offers you sometimes see one that doesn't attract the attention it merits and is tending to be lower priced they're the ones to go for. I also take note of a sellers reliability. Re. your a) part there are others who will answer that better than I. I do have primes including the 50/1.4 M and the 50/1.7 A, and like using them very much, it's kind of like having a dedicated tool for a particular job rather than a multi purpose tool. ... Just my thoughts. ... Jack |
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#4 |
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Hassleholm, Sweden
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Hi Keith.
By sheer luck, I have the FA 28 2.8, the FA 35 2.0 and the FA 50 1.4, having bought all at very favourable prices. (The 28 mm was part of a package deal, sold some of the stuff and got all my money back. Kept the 28 mm, an AF converter 1.7 and an F 70-210 consequently for free. I dare call that a good deal.:G) At first I thought about selling the 28, but after using it on my SA trip I think it defends it's place besides the other two. No doubt primes win over zooms any day, at least if they are one of the Pentax quality primes. Compared even to the *-lenses these three give you a lot of lens, fora comparatively low price. Kjell |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: D/FW area Texas
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keith,
do a search for the lens and then ck the ''completed auctions''.. this will give you a figure to go by. i'd venture to say that you'll be happy with any used pentax lens as far as IQ is concerned. altho there are lenses they made that had IQ problems from copy to copy. like the K 135/2.5 takumar. i had one that was a POS and now another that's superb. roy |
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#6 |
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Frazier Park, CA
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As far as a) goes - it depends on what you want. The 28mm 2.8is a popular wide anglelens. I used to leave the kit lens home and shoot any wide angle stuff with my M 24mm 2.8 but have really do like the convenience of the kit lens. The 24mm 2.8 stays home unless I want something faster.
The SMC 125mm 2.8 also has a good reputation. It would be a useful tele lens (I like using my K-Mount Tak 125mm 2.5, a much lesser lens but one that's quite sharp). So it comes down to - do you want a tele or a wide angle? Or the faster 50mm? If you are thinking about an M 50mm, my recommendation would be to buy the 1.7 (and save yourself a couple of dollars at the same time, since the 1.4 sells at a premium). I have both the 1.7 and the 1.4 and find the 1.4 to be too soft wide openfor me. Since one of the purposes of a fast lens is to be able to use it wide open, I prefer the 1.7. Once you stop down the lens beyond f2 (say f2.8), the two lenses are the same. |
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