buying a used lens

vickylou

vickylou

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I've been saving for 5 years for a canon 70-200 2.8 II. It is a lot of money so I am very nervous as I can only afford this lens used. Is it safer to buy from e.g. LCE/Wex/Park cameras as I will get a used 6 month warranty? I will pay about £100-£150 than privately more so will have to wait another year. I've bought other used lenses only from a shop with no problem, but £100-£150 would be a lot of money to save!
 
I would have thought shops have more than £100 premium over private ?

Yes it is safer to buy from a business that has 30 day returns obviously
 
In a lot of cases if you search around its sometimes cheaper to buy from a reputable dealer than the likes of e.bay .. I.e one lens I purchached from Wex was £206 with 12 months warranty while on e.bay they go for between 300-500 as people think there items are worth more than they are .
 
Safe depends on your interpretation of risk :)

If I'd been saving for something for 5 years, I'd be devastated if I lost it. The risk is probably low, but not non-existent. Personally, I would wait and get the safety of the guarantee from a shop. Also, you have a 70-300 in your sig - are you going to trade that in against the new lens?

You can mitigate it the risk a little by not buying "sight unseen", i.e. you hope they post it to you. If you're buying from a seller who will allow you to try-before-you-buy - or go round their house - this will reduce your risk of being subject to fraud. If you're going the eBay route, check feedback to make sure they have no negatives. Still - anything can happen. Even an honest seller can sell something that's not up to your standard. There are no guarantees - that's why it's cheaper.

I would imagine prices will come down on that lens over the next 12 months as mirrorless gets an even bigger foothold on the market. Is there a mirrorless equivalent for that lens? As people move over they'll want the native lens and will want to offload the mirror version. Perhaps it won't be a 12 month wait...
 
If you're nervous I would wait and have some warranty behind you. There is of course the option of buying a grey (imported) lens which can come with up to 3 years warranty I believe and tend to be a similar price to UK used, and sometimes even cheeper but it all depends on whether you're happy to do that or not.
 
What’s the benefit over the mark 1?
I don’t use canon any more so I’ve no idea, but I’ve found the mk2 used for £979 and the mk1 brand new for £729.
I see there is also a mk3 out now too

I’ve bought loads of expensive glass used on eBay.
Nikon 70-200 2.8, 24-70 2.8, 105 macro, sigma 150 macro, canon 70-200f4, canon 105 macro and more recently Fuji 10-24f/4. Plus loads more I can’t remember.
I’ve never had a single issue with any of them. We must be talking 30-40 lenses I’ve bought over the years.
However there is a risk of course.

Ironically the only lens I’ve ever had an issue with, was a brand new Nikon 16-35 which broke whilst on my D700 ( also bought used for £1400 off eBay) It wouldnt release of the camera and when it did finally come off, it wrecked the lens mount of both the camera and the lens meaning a £700 repair bill. Thankfully Nikon covered the cost in full a a bit of a fight with their uk manager.
 
I would use one of the reputable dealers, extra 10-15% on the price is worth it for peace of mind.
Camera Jungle are also ok, 12 month warranty, no quibble return and recently offered some very competitive prices
 
TCR4x4 said:
What’s the benefit over the mark 1?
I don’t use canon any more so I’ve no idea, but I’ve found the mk2 used for £979 and the mk1 brand new for £729.
I see there is also a mk3 out now too

.
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If you use DXO as a 'guide' the 70-200mm f2.8L USM II scores 33 mpix sharpness on the 5DSR vs 18 pix for the mk1, that's quite a difference.
 
Always worth looking on Gumtree as well for any that are for sale within reasonable travelling distance whereby you can go and see the lens for yourself and, because there are no fees involved and cash can be paid prices are often a lot more reasonable than on eBay.
 
As above I think it's worth spending a bit more to buy from a reputable dealer with warranty, although I'm sure Ebay would still be pretty good in case of a dispute. It sounds like money must be very tight - is a lens worth potential financial hardship and could you afford to get out and use it once bought?
 
Scirocco_09 said:
As above I think it's worth spending a bit more to buy from a reputable dealer with warranty, although I'm sure Ebay would still be pretty good in case of a dispute. It sounds like money must be very tight - is a lens worth potential financial hardship and could you afford to get out and use it once bought?
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Kinda my thinking. If it’s taken 5 years to save for, you must be on a very tight budget.. is it worth it? You seem to be a hobbyist only, so is spending a grand on a lens going to improve your photography to any massive degree? I know what it’s like, trust me, but sometimes you gotta just realise that chucking money at a hobby doesn’t mean you are going to improve much or gain much from it. There are much cheaper alternatives from sigma and tamron. Maybe consider one of those.

True story.. About 2009/10. like you I wanted the best. I saved up for ages and finally bought the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR. I thought I was the dogs danglies, I had the one of best cameras you could buy and the best lens. Did it make me any better.. hell no. I was massively disappointed with it. Sure it was sharp and the images looked nice, but it just didn’t gel with me. I sold it after a few weeks Thankfully I didnt loose much money on it.
Something then came up that I needed a longer lens for. I couldn’t justify the Nikon again, so I bought a sigma 70-200 f/2.8 dg apo macro. I paid about £300 for it. It has no optical stabilisation and doesn’t look particulary premium, but by god.. Something just clicked. The images looked fantastic.. Sharp, clear and the colour rendition was amazing. The complete opposite experience I got from the triple the price Nikon.
The lens was so good, I still have it to this day.

So I guess the moral is, just because something has a huge price tag, doesn’t always mean it’s going to change your life. Or something like that.
 
I buy the vast majority of my gear used. I’ve bought from Wex, MPB, LCE, Ffordes and Camera Jungle as well as the classifieds here. In 12-15 years the only problem I’ve had was with an LX100 lens motor which went faulty just outside the warranty period so I had to pay for the repair. But the cost of that is significantly less than the money I’ve saved over buying new over the years.
 
vickylou said:
I've been saving for 5 years for a canon 70-200 2.8 II. It is a lot of money so I am very nervous as I can only afford this lens used. Is it safer to buy from e.g. LCE/Wex/Park cameras as I will get a used 6 month warranty? I will pay about £100-£150 than privately more so will have to wait another year. I've bought other used lenses only from a shop with no problem, but £100-£150 would be a lot of money to save!
Click to expand...

I would purchase wiht the warranty from a dealer.. I ahve used LCE and MPB... I would not spend money that I had saved for 5 yrs on anyhting without a proper shop warranty.. Also keep going for the mkII and not the mk1 as suggested.. the price alone tells you how much better it is.. I have had both and the mkII is so much better.....
 
I'm with the majority here. If you've saved for five years to buy this, and your heart is set on it, buy from a reputable/established dealer that offers a decent warranty. I imagine that a faulty lens coupled with an evasive and difficult seller could become a bit of a nightmare for you.
 
I have just noticed that MPB have a number of these marked excellent for £1054, I don't know if that is within your budget but from past experience with MPB if they say excellent its nearly brand new, they also have one marked "like new" for £1134.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Kinda my thinking. If it’s taken 5 years to save for, you must be on a very tight budget.. is it worth it? You seem to be a hobbyist only, so is spending a grand on a lens going to improve your photography to any massive degree? I know what it’s like, trust me, but sometimes you gotta just realise that chucking money at a hobby doesn’t mean you are going to improve much or gain much from it. There are much cheaper alternatives from sigma and tamron. Maybe consider one of those.

True story.. About 2009/10. like you I wanted the best. I saved up for ages and finally bought the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR. I thought I was the dogs danglies, I had the one of best cameras you could buy and the best lens. Did it make me any better.. hell no. I was massively disappointed with it. Sure it was sharp and the images looked nice, but it just didn’t gel with me. I sold it after a few weeks Thankfully I didnt loose much money on it.
Something then came up that I needed a longer lens for. I couldn’t justify the Nikon again, so I bought a sigma 70-200 f/2.8 dg apo macro. I paid about £300 for it. It has no optical stabilisation and doesn’t look particulary premium, but by god.. Something just clicked. The images looked fantastic.. Sharp, clear and the colour rendition was amazing. The complete opposite experience I got from the triple the price Nikon.
The lens was so good, I still have it to this day.

So I guess the moral is, just because something has a huge price tag, doesn’t always mean it’s going to change your life. Or something like that.
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Thank you, my son competes in gymnastics, my 17-50 2.8 is not long enough and my 70-300 VC is not fast enough in the low light gyms. I am using a crop camera so already struggling indoors with smaller sensor, the majority of my lenses are ef-s so would not make financial sense to move to full frame. Unless there is an alternative cheaper lens with fast AF, F2.8, multi-focal length as all gyms are different. I had a lot of problems getting a consistent Tamron 70-300VC it took 3 versions from issues of locking up, huge front focusing and mis focusing. I had a 60D at the time and it took sending my body in with the lens to calibrate. Hence why i'm worried to spend a large amount on 3rd party.
 
viewfromthenorth said:
I buy the vast majority of my gear used. I’ve bought from Wex, MPB, LCE, Ffordes and Camera Jungle as well as the classifieds here. In 12-15 years the only problem I’ve had was with an LX100 lens motor which went faulty just outside the warranty period so I had to pay for the repair. But the cost of that is significantly less than the money I’ve saved over buying new over the years.
Click to expand...

Thank you, the majority of all my photography kit ive bought used, mainly from LCE Guildford as it is very close to where I live. I've never had to return anything, My100mm 2.8 needed a large MFA but apart from that i've been lucky. But i've never spent this amount on anything.
 
I'd look into the Sigma that Tom @TCR4x4 mentioned as I had the same lens when I shot Canon, and to this day it's still one of the best bits of glass I've owned, and one I regret not keeping to use on a convertor on my Sony! I've never got on with Tamron lenses after issues like you've noted in your post too, but I love Sigma glass and have owned a lot over the years.
 
Sigma 120-300 f2.8 is something to consider if you don't need < 120mm.
I have both this Sigma and the Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS II (and the I - now sold). Canon is faster to focus and lighter - but very few 300mm f2.8 zooms out there.
 
Old thread, but not irrelevent - yet. Here's my tupppenceworth for anyone getting this in an archive search.
My experiences on ebay with expensive lenses (for me anyway) ended up - not so great. I bought an EF 300 F4L IS USM and the auto diaphragm died several months later. The lens looked immaculate. The bill from the Canon approved repairer in Glasgow was enough to mean that with the ebay price and the repair I ended up paying not far off the new price - for a repaired lens!
Second experience. The lens often supplied as a kit addition with the 5D2 - the EF 24-105L IS USM. Nice lens. Guess what. The auto diaphragm died some months later. Ditto as above.
So my attitude re used glass is a bit different from what I've heard said many times. My next lens will be a NEW one!
 
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