Have seen a canon ef 500mm f4L lens going silly cheap. however, the problem is that the focus does not work, af or manual. would it be worth a punt to see if could be repaired?

or i was thinking of selling my ef 75 - 300mm f4-5.6 III USM to get the is version. would that be a better idea, rather than take a chance on the 500 f4L and see if can be repaired?

cheers,

matt.

Hmmm depends. Its a great lens with excellent optics so you really need to know how repairable it is. Must have been dropped on its head or something. Fixation in London would be a good bet for repairs but you would want it looked at before purchasing. At least all the parts will be available to repair it as it is a current lens.

That's the thing. I am unsure of how it got broken and i don't think i'll be able to get it inspected before i purchase it. As you say, at least the parts will be available. Tempted to get it and look to repair myself. Well if i can get it for say £30. It's that cheap.

Bearing in mind a brand new Canon 500mm f4 is lens is best part of £6,000, I would say for £30 its definitely worth a punt!!

On the one hand, the value in a lens like this is in the optics, so it might be worth calling a repair centre and asking what the worst case is likely to cost.

However, for £30 I reckon either it's stolen or the owner knows perfectly well it's not repairable.

Yes thats true. If the big optics are truly knackered it could be an expensive repair bill. Stolen as well, perhaps. £30 does seem impossibly cheap. The thing is, even if it cost £2k to repair, it would still be a cheap lens.....but thats a lot of wonga to find.

slight floor to my plan. the lens is on that wonderous auction site we know and love. it's been sat at 99p for the last x days. now it's gone up to £100 since i posted on here. Still only at £100 so might still be worth keeping an eye on as i didn't realise it was worth that much.

Thing is with flea bay though, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is too good to be true. You would have thought a photographer with that kind of damage to his expensive lens would have claimed on his insurance.

I wouldn't bother - if it was repairable, the photographer would have had it done and then sold it, or kept it. Take a gamble if you wish, but as mentioned above, if it seems too good to be true it probably is !!

I sold mine back in 2003 for £4000 (in fact I posted on SN mentioning it was for sale, but no one wanted it :rolleyes: :D)

Thing is with flea bay though, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is too good to be true. You would have thought a photographer with that kind of damage to his expensive lens would have claimed on his insurance.


And so could MNEAME :lol1:

You'd also have to ask yourself if it was worth getting a lens you may not use that often. I sold mine because since going digital 500mm was too long (especially on the early Canon/Kodak DSC cameras which had a 1.6x factor) and was hardly being used.

Its a fantastic lens (when its a proper one !) but unless you're thinking of trying to sell it straight on for a profit after repair, you need to ask yourself how often you'd use it, and are you prepared to carry it around with you !! :D

And so could MNEAME :lol1:

thought hadn't crossed my mind, honest :lol1:

I've just had a look for this one on fleabay - there was exactly such a lens, but it sold on 24th Sept for £1400ish.

Interestingly, the seller (who had over 2000 +ve feedback) is now no longer a registered user. It may be purely coincidence of course, but it seems a bit odd.

If that one's been re-listed than I certainly can't find it.

funny you should say that. i had some other lenses that i was watching in my ebay, some wide angle ones. Now they've been taken out and the seller isn't there anymore. could we be talking about the same seller?

on another note. so far for additional lenses i've only been looking at canon lenses. however, are there any other good brands that may be a little cheaper? i'm not worried about buying brand new. if i can find second hand in good condition then i'd go for that. the 18 - 55 kit lens is ok, but i'd like something a little better without spending silly money.

are there any other good brands that may be a little cheaper? i'm not worried about buying brand new. if i can find second hand in good condition then i'd go for that. the 18 - 55 kit lens is ok, but i'd like something a little better without spending silly money.

I've been more than happy with my Tamron lenses. My Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 is producing some great images, I'm deffo more than pleased with it.

Sigma might also be worth a look.

I did spend countless hours reading all the reviews on FredMiranda before purchasing my last lens.

I've had nothing but trouble from s/h lenses, and they're often not even that much cheaper than new unless they're really tatty. I'll only buy new lenses from now on.

On the other hand, both my 1D and 1DmkII have been s/h and work perfectly.

Maybe you have been unlucky Andy,

My 300L is perfect, or at least it was until I chipped the white paint from the hood:rolleyes:

I saved £600 buying 2nd hand over the new model so am well happy and have never had any problems wiith it....touch wood....

Darren

On the subject of 2nd hand, I bought a lens from Ebay, excellent condition, good seller yada yada, lens arrived and all seemed ok.
I managed to get about 1500 shots from it before I started to get the Err99 error on the camera. After sending the lens away it turns out it was going to cost £150 to replace the diaphragm, that's more than I initially paid for the lens!

Last lens I bought was brand new, I'm not sure I will buy 2nd hand again, it's just to difficult to know how the lens has been previously treated/used...( unless you know the seller )

Very true, it's up to you to decide it the risk outweighs the saving.

Darren

Looks like it's back up on fleabay now, I wonder what was wrong.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180035708503

I hadn't realised this was the original EF 500 f4.5 and not the current 500 f4 IS. It could be that the parts that are needed to repair it are no longer available and it can't be repaired - the seller may know this.

Judging by the look of it and the fact that the seller clearly states that there is a serious problem with the focusing, I'd say its only fit for the skip. TBH even if it was a working lens, looking at the condition I wouldn't pay more that £1500 for it.

We've thrown a Nikon 400mm f2.8 AF into a skip because it was effectively unusable - although the lens was only a few years old, the parts needed weren't available, hence the skip :(

Gareth

Gareth, working or no, I'd be straight in the skip after the lens. A 400mm 2.8 deserves a proper burial and not a skip coffin :( ;)

Darren

Gareth, working or no, I'd be straight in the skip after the lens. A 400mm 2.8 deserves a proper burial and not a skip coffin :( ;)

Darren

We lowered it in carefully with tears in our eyes if that helps - well crying at the thought of the cost of replacement

Gareth