buying a second hand lens, knowing it was dropped

saxk

saxk

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Brad 'Electron-Don' Foster
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hi all

jsut wondering what people opinions were on this subject, i have a found the lens i want a tamron 17-50mm, at a very good price.

BUT, it was on a 400d when the body was dropped, landed on the grip and the camera still works fine, flash button doesn't work, that's all. but im not buying the body.

i have some shots straight of the body on a 50d, so what, 12mp ?

please tell me if you think this is a good copy, the guy explains how it focus's fine, and has no exterior damage at all.

after buying one lemon lens already, i really don't want to make the same mistake but this lens seems to be perfectly sharp and focus is spot on.

please see image here and let me know what you think.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiewallis/2907455153/sizes/o/in/set-72157607677413759/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiewallis/2907453371/sizes/o/in/set-72157607677413759/
 
Looks like a decent copy to me, despite a drop. Whats the price?
 
are you sure these shots were after the drop and using the lens?

might be worth asking for a shot at f2.8 as well
 
yer ok good advice fletch.

price is £130
 
Thats quite a low price, I defo go with fletchs' advice first.
 
ok ive asked for some 2.8 shots
 
15 million pixels from a 50D. It looks fine, but as Fletch said you really want to know these shots were taken after the lens was dropped and not before.
 
well CT, im hoping that these were after as was said by the seller.
 
The guy is probably honest - he's admitted it's been dropped. Can you not get the date of the shots from the Exif data?
 
no its a flickr upload so its all blocked.

he has said again that all the shots were taken after, yes i agree he has been honest in saying its been dropped so there is no need for him to lie about the pictures he as sent.
 
The image of Bath abbey was shot on 20th October.

The image looks pretty good to me.
 
so seeing as his advert is three weeks old, there is a good chance it was taken after
 
Ask the guy if the lens rattles if you shake it or if the filter mount at the front has come loose. If it does it may still not be broken as the beauty ring at the front of these lenses has a habit of working loose, but it's a 2 minute job to sort it.
 
thanks i have him on msn, so ill ask now.
 
When was the lens dropped? These were taken on 2nd October 2008
 
lens was dropped on his 400d, he got a new body (50d) from insurance etc. that these were taken from, so there is no way these are before drop, as he didnt have a 50d then.
 
You'd wonder why, if there is nothing wrong with the lens, he would bother mentioning it had been dropped :suspect:
 
Personally I wouldn't bother unless it was a massive saving over new or even normal secondhand value.

It may be working fine at the moment, but it may have weakened something inside and even a very light knock in the future may be enough for it to stop working.
 
Difficult one but personally i think i would steer clear, but that's me :shrug:
 
andrewc said:
Personally I wouldn't bother unless it was a massive saving over new or even normal secondhand value.

It may be working fine at the moment, but it may have weakened something inside and even a very light knock in the future may be enough for it to stop working.
Click to expand...

What he said ;)
 
I'd have thought a decent copy would normally be worth around £175, so it's cheap enough, depends if you like to take a punt or not :shrug:

If it was me (and I could pay by Paypal) then I'd have a punt on it, but I'd put a note in with the Paypal payment that you are buying it on the undestanding that the lens has no known faults or damage and acceptance of your payment confirms this.
 
an EX-demo one of these jsut went on ebay, with a 12 month warranty for £155, think ill leave this one and wait for another ebay gem ;)
 
ok he dropped price to £100, so how can i say no :D
 
the image is on the card and could have been taken two yrs ago and then another two weeks ago same card same difference....I personally wouldnt touch it as its probably fuc.....boll....not worth the hassle
 
Dangermouse1964 said:
the image is on the card and could have been taken two yrs ago and then another two weeks ago same card same difference....I personally wouldnt touch it as its probably fuc.....boll....not worth the hassle
Click to expand...

I bet if turned out to be knackered and you put it up on Ebay and declared it as such you'd still get most, if not all the money back, maybe even a wee profit :lol:
 
well he is a 35 year old IT consultant, jsut had his first kid, i really dont think he is the type to lie, certainly seemed genuine, its paypal anyway, so id jsut do a refund.
 
saxk said:
well he is a 35 year old IT consultant, jsut had his first kid, i really dont think he is the type to lie, certainly seemed genuine, its paypal anyway, so id jsut do a refund.
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Not sure how you come to that conclusion, but good luck anyway ;)
 
saxk said:
lens was dropped on his 400d, he got a new body (50d) from insurance etc. that these were taken from, so there is no way these are before drop, as he didnt have a 50d then.
Click to expand...

How has he managed to drop a 400D, then get a 50D on his insurance, just out of interest? Pretty big price gulf there.
 
I dropped one of my Tamron 17-50's (plus D200 it was attached to) in a Lake!


515982753_0354947b5e_o.jpg

​


Was a bit annoyed really!
 
i bet you puddle duck(ironic name)

rich, he has put alot of money towards getting the 50d
 
Just to clarify ... i'm the seller ... and i've been 100% upfront and honest with everyone who's been interested in the lens .... i put the relatively small amount of money from insurance company towards a full upgrade on the basis it was almost like getting a refund on my initial investment and i wouldn't have otherwise had the oportunity.

And yes .... i could VERY easily have said NOTHING about dropping the camera and just said "oh well ... must have been damaged in transit" to a seller with any problems but i don't operate like that

And i do now feel a little bit played since the buyer told me these questions were coming from "a friend" .... flickr stats jumped on those images yesterday so a quick check of the referrer confirm this thread
 
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