Buying a lens second hand - advice sought

gilbouk

gilbouk

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I'm recently have found myself swapping lenses quite a lot following moving from Sony to Nikon. Without really having any friends who have Nikon lenses that I can try, it's turned into a bit of a hobby, buying and selling lenses and experimenting a bit.

Recently I purchased a lens from Camera Jungle. It's a Sigma 17-50, f2.8. I just thought I'd ask the opinion of more experience photographers regarding lens and dust particles / imperfections.

20170611_182003394_iOS by Gilbo B, on Flickr

20170611_182026745_iOS by Gilbo B, on Flickr

20170611_182034162_iOS by Gilbo B, on Flickr

This lens was described as 'Mint' - but I'm not sure if the particle or imperfection which lies behind the outer glass would warrant me wanting to return the lens? My concern is that should I wish to re-sell the lens in the future at some point - I would have to alert potential buyers of the problem resulting in lost interest / lost value.

What do you guys think? When I test the lens and take a photograph of a white wall for example - I do see a slight mark in the pictures I take - but I can't be sure if this is down to this imperfection or perhaps a dirty sensor.
 
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it should have been advertised stating about the dust spot on the lens, " mint" could really mean anything less than as new . I would return it as most photographers are looking for top quality lenses that are perfect, you might have trouble selling that. Of course it depends on what you paid for it? if "dirt" cheap may be worth a repair clean but I doubt it
 
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realspeed said:
I would return it as most photographers are looking for top quality lenses that are perfect, you might have trouble selling that. Of course it depends on what you paid for it? if "dirt" cheap may be worth a repair clean but I doubt it
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+1
 
All I can say is that it will have no impact on the output, but only you can know if you are happy to keep it
 
rob-nikon said:
If you are not happy and can return then return it.

Whilst dust can make it harder to sell on, majority of dust won't have any effect of the resulting images (the savy photographer knows this and looks out for these 'bargains'). The articles below may surprise you.

http://kurtmunger.com/dirty_lens_articleid35.html

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/10/front-element-scratches/
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Really interesting articles. I didn't realise how insignificant dust can be. However would it be true to say that dust on the sensor is more noticeable on your photos? I have noticeable marks on photos from my 150-600 but haven't had time to identify what's causing them. Not much of an issue as I mostly crop my images anyway - and they get cropped off
 
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Gil Bev said:
Really interesting articles. I didn't realise how insignificant dust can be. However would it be true to say that dust on the sensor is more noticeable on your photos? I have noticeable marks on photos from my 150-600 but haven't had time to identify what's causing them. Not much of an issue as I mostly crop my images anyway - and they get cropped off
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Dust on sensor = bad
Dust in lens = no issue

Personally I would be a bit miffed it was described as mint but would then crack on and use it as it really makes no difference at all.
 
Gil Bev said:
Really interesting articles. I didn't realise how insignificant dust can be. However would it be true to say that dust on the sensor is more noticeable on your photos? I have noticeable marks on photos from my 150-600 but haven't had time to identify what's causing them. Not much of an issue as I mostly crop my images anyway - and they get cropped off
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Dust on the sensor is more noticeable but how noticeable depends on the aperture used. Say you had dust on the senor, at wide open apertures like f2.8 &f4 the dust spots most likely won't show in the images, when the aperture is closed down to f11 & f16 the dust spots will be more likely show in the images.
 
Nawty said:
Dust on sensor = bad
Dust in lens = no issue
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Dust on sensor = easily cleaned by user.
Dust in Lens = only removable by specialist.
 
I wouldn't worry, a bit of dust in the lens won't show on images and is perfectly normal.

Even buying and selling it wouldn't really have an impact - every used lens will have some dust in it.
 
The only issue here is that it was described as mint. Mint to me means indistinguishable from new. As for the dust, it's a none issue in terms of impact in IQ. Most used lenses I see for sale have some level of dust inside, and of course zoom lenses are more prone.
 
Different used dealers seem to have very different standards for their ratings. I've bought from CJ and been a little disappointed before. In that case it was a D700 with rubber grip falling off, not mentioned at all in the description. On the flip side, I've bought stuff from MPB and Ffordes that have been marked down on condition and I'm unable to find a mark anywhere on them.

In this case, I'd get in touch with camera jungle and see what they say. Maybe some form of partial refund, if not a full refund.
 
Thanks all, I received the lens on Friday, so will get send them an email this morning and see what they say. Will let you know what happens.
 
I would just send it back personally, unless they have stated some dust is in the lens.
 
Gil Bev said:
What do you guys think? When I test the lens and take a photograph of a white wall for example - I do see a slight mark in the pictures I take - but I can't be sure if this is down to this imperfection or perhaps a dirty sensor.
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It's the sensor. It's always the sensor.

Personally, I'd suggest that you shouldn't worry about this speck of dust in your lens. It will NOT affect your images and if you go and buy a brand new lens there's every chance that it will get some dust in it quite quickly. That's what happens with lenses. The internal volume changes as they focus and/or zoom, so air has to move in and out of the lens, and air has dust in it.

However, if you think you've over-paid then I suggest you might ask the seller for a partial refund, calculated as the difference between the mint price and the mint-except-for-a-speck-of-dust price. That's got to be less hassle than sending it back.
 
StewartR said:
It's the sensor. It's always the sensor.

Personally, I'd suggest that you shouldn't worry about this speck of dust in your lens. It will NOT affect your images and if you go and buy a brand new lens there's every chance that it will get some dust in it quite quickly. That's what happens with lenses. The internal volume changes as they focus and/or zoom, so air has to move in and out of the lens, and air has dust in it.

However, if you think you've over-paid then I suggest you might ask the seller for a partial refund, calculated as the difference between the mint price and the mint-except-for-a-speck-of-dust price. That's got to be less hassle than sending it back.
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Yeah, the dust problem with these sort of zoom lens is common. The zoom barrier extends so it will suck up the dust. Even internal zoom barrier will happen as well.
 
It's unlikely to affect the images it takes - but I would be tempted to return it.

I had a similar imperfection on one of my lenses, from new. I used it for a few months, but it bugged me knowing it was there (small hair behind front element) - so I had it removed/repaired under warranty - thinking about future resale.

Unfortunately people can be quite particular about these things, whilst some perhaps wouldn't even notice.
 
I have emailed Camera Jungle, and they have been very forthcoming with a solution. They are arranging an exchange for me, and will be collecting the lens tomorrow. Thanks for all of your input guys - very much appreciated. In the end I had to think about sale of the lens in the future - and although as a lot of you pointed out there would be no detrimental effect to my photographs - I ended up getting in touch with them anyway.
 
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Gil Bev said:
I have emailed Camera Jungle, and they have been very forthcoming with a solution. They are arranging an exchange for me, and will be collecting the lens tomorrow. Thanks for all of your input guys - very much appreciated. In the end I had to think about sale of the lens in the future - and although as a lot of you pointed out there would be no detrimental effect to my photographs - I ended up getting in touch with them anyway.
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Tbh I didn't realise that one or two specs of dust would affect resale particularly, I just take it as part of buying used lenses, but I'm glad you've got it sorted to your satisfaction (hopefully) (y)
 
If it was sold as "mint", I would expect it to be basically as new, no dust. I would also expect a retailer to give detail of all imperfections (MPB are pretty good about describing dust etc) so I would let them know you are happy to exchange but are disappointed with their lack of honesty in the description. Maybe that will make them take note for future listings.

At least you got a good outcome, so at the very least their customer service was ok.
 
They ended up giving me a refund in the end. Time to go lens hunting again. Maybe at the end of the month
 
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