Second hand lenses

zicklurky

zicklurky

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Chris
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Trying to decide if I should buy lenses second hand (when I upgrade my kit later on), or just get them new.

Is there any sort of warranty on second hand lenses, and can you insure them?

I guess I'm just scared that I buy a second hand lens, it breaks, and I'm left with an expensive paperweight.
 
Best advice if you're worried is use one of the used specialists like ffordes, mifsuds, digital depot, mpb photographic, camtech etc, most offer a 3-6 months warranty depending on price.

Bought my 300mm f2.8 (used) mint condition from digital depot and have bought from mpb camtech and mifsuds without problems. My 1D came from the canon outlet on eBay and in the main have had no issues.

Never bought from the forums (nearly did, seller changed their mind as to sell), but the forsale forums are good on TP without too many incidents.
 
pete.rush said:
Best advice if you're worried is use one of the used specialists like ffordes, mifsuds, digital depot, mpb photographic, camtech etc, most offer a 3-6 months warranty depending on price.

Bought my 300mm f2.8 (used) mint condition from digital depot and have bought from mpb camtech and mifsuds without problems. My 1D came from the canon outlet on eBay and in the main have had no issues.

Never bought from the forums (nearly did, seller changed their mind as to sell), but the forsale forums are good on TP without too many incidents.
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I've bought a lot to see a bit of everything. The worst experience was with dealers, I would avoid all of them like a plague (lenses, cars, anything). They are usually either really overpriced, or completely beaten up, and the 'warranty' is not worth the paper they are printed on.
It is best to buy privatelly, using common sense and best testing out. There are duffers sold from new, so there is little difference.
 
daugirdas said:
I've bought a lot to see a bit of everything. The worst experience was with dealers, I would avoid all of them like a plague (lenses, cars, anything). They are usually either really overpriced, or completely beaten up, and the 'warranty' is not worth the paper they are printed on.
It is best to buy privatelly, using common sense and best testing out. There are duffers sold from new, so there is little difference.
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Haven't had any real problems with any of my purchases, swings and roundabouts. Also heard many heartaches from private deals. Guess at the end of the day, do your research on the person/dealer selling the item and use some common sense
 
Alright cool thanks, I feel a bit better about buying second hand now. I'll have a look at the classifieds here on TP once I get access. I'm pretty set on getting a 100-400 sometime (going on safari in August). I'm just struggling to justify buying a new lens that realistically I'll be using very seldomly.
 
if you buy off ebay and use pay pal you are covered
ebay always side with the buyer
just make sure you read the description properly
 
Pretty much everything I buy is used - saves a lot of money. Never had an issue with anything I've bought.
 
I can vouch for MPB. I bought a 70-200 f2.8 last week described as exc ++ with minimal signs of use but on unpacking it's condition was clearly worse than this in my eyes.

Returned it today with no questions asked and courier pick-up. Great service. I've bought from them before and would certainly buy again despite this.
 
if you buy from a shop called 'Grays of Westminster' which is an actually high street shop in London you get a 1 year warranty with ever item bought second hand
 
I have purchased used from MPB, Camtech, Mifsuds, Grays without any problem whatsoever, all offered excellent service, and the items were all as good as new.
 
I was, like you, apprehensive about buying second hand, but have bought two lenses off here and one from a shop. The forum here has been, IMHO, very good. For more piece of mind you can buy from a shop!

S
 
daugirdas said:
I've bought a lot to see a bit of everything. The worst experience was with dealers, I would avoid all of them like a plague (lenses, cars, anything). They are usually either really overpriced, or completely beaten up, and the 'warranty' is not worth the paper they are printed on.
It is best to buy privatelly, using common sense and best testing out. There are duffers sold from new, so there is little difference.
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Blimey do you like or trust anyone:lol: I personally would rather buy from a reputable dealer than privately you do have warrenty and the law on yourside if you but from a dealer, where as you have no legal standing if you buy something privately.
 
callumduff said:
if you buy from a shop called 'Grays of Westminster' which is an actually high street shop in London you get a 1 year warranty with ever item bought second hand
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This may be true, but you have to haggle them down on price just to get close to full RRP...

I jest of course, but I have seen some of their used kit at almost the same level as new prices. They also offer only frazzles (multi-packs) or jelly babies if you want to offload your used kit to them.

I've used MPB, Ffordes and LCE in the past and they have all been great to deal with (Ffordes description wasn't great but I returned it with no hassle).
 
no, that isn't true, i have bought 2 lenses of grays which have been really good value (both in mint condition) and my dad bought 2 lenses, a 70-200 II and a 28-70 both for a bargain price (1 in mint and 1 at exc++)
 
That's right, it's chipsticks not frazzles...

I suppose what you may think is a bargain others may not. They are substantially more expensive for almost every used item than any other of the reputable dealers mentioned in this thread, though as you say you do get a years warranty.
 
I always check how much they are new as a grey from panamoz ,hdew flashcamera etc
 
PeteMo said:
I can vouch for MPB. I bought a 70-200 f2.8 last week described as exc ++ with minimal signs of use but on unpacking it's condition was clearly worse than this in my eyes.

Returned it today with no questions asked and courier pick-up. Great service. I've bought from them before and would certainly buy again despite this.
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That's not a great service IMHO. They have wasted a lot of time, and made an attempt to shift an inferior item hoping you wouldn't bother returning.

You can return on ebay no problems in such case if you pay by paypal.

Oh, and avoid 'favourite' wedding photographer's or journalist' lenses. Uncle Bob is the one you need to buy from.
 
Another vote for the classifieds on here. I've had a couple of lenses from there (one of which was from someone in this very thread), and each was a pleasant, straightforward experience. Some great bargains to be had there.
 
Just received my 2nd hand lens today from another forum.
It's perfect, as good as new...and £250 cheaper than retail...hard to complain
 
grotty said:
That's right, it's chipsticks not frazzles...

I suppose what you may think is a bargain others may not. They are substantially more expensive for almost every used item than any other of the reputable dealers mentioned in this thread, though as you say you do get a years warranty.
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yeah, thats fair, i would rather pay a bit more and have peace of mind that service is excellent and what was described will arrive with 0 problems
 
All my gear is 2nd hand for either this forums for sale or e-bay and been well pleased with what I`ve got .
If you can afford to buy new it`s ok but 2nd hand if you pick up a bargain some times works out half the price of new
 
Just on this forum I'd estimate tens of thousands of £s change hands on lenses / camera bodies and you very rarely hear of any problems.

I really wouldn't worry about it, if the lens looks undropped and cared for, it's probably going to be fine.
 
grotty said:
This may be true, but you have to haggle them down on price just to get close to full RRP...

I jest of course, but I have seen some of their used kit at almost the same level as new prices. They also offer only frazzles (multi-packs) or jelly babies if you want to offload your used kit to them.

I've used MPB, Ffordes and LCE in the past and they have all been great to deal with (Ffordes description wasn't great but I returned it with no hassle).
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I have found that this is not the case. Due to an insurance replacement I recently contacted all of the dealers mentioned in this thread as I was considering selling a body and a lens. Of all the dealers I contacted Grays offered me the best price on the camera body, MPB offered me the worst. Grays offered me £100 more than MPB.

For the lens Midsfuds offered me the best price and again MPB offered me the least, again there was nearly £100 of a difference.

To be fair I ended up selling the camera body on here and the lens is currently up for sale in the classifieds, but taking into consideration postage costs etc I would have got not far off the same amount of money if I had sold the body to Grays.
 
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grotty said:
This may be true, but you have to haggle them down on price just to get close to full RRP...

I jest of course, but I have seen some of their used kit at almost the same level as new prices. They also offer only frazzles (multi-packs) or jelly babies if you want to offload your used kit to them.

I've used MPB, Ffordes and LCE in the past and they have all been great to deal with (Ffordes description wasn't great but I returned it with no hassle).
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I have used MPB to buy from and sell to, no problems whatsoever apart from the battery tray was missing from my Nikon grip which it hadn't mentioned in the blurb but I was planning on using Nikon ELN3's anyway. Generally fine though.
 
I've bought a few second hand lenses, mainly from LCE. They were completely mint and came with 6 months warranties, and needless to say they are still going strong!

As long as you buy well and have a good look / try before you buy (if possible) you can't go wrong IMO.
 
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daugirdas said:
That's not a great service IMHO. They have wasted a lot of time, and made an attempt to shift an inferior item hoping you wouldn't bother returning.
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Depends, others may have been quite happy with the lens. £1000+ is a lot to spend and I expected it to be and look newer. They didn't waste my time just theirs.
 
killwilly said:
The OP is a Canon owner, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Grays exclusively Nikon dealers?
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Indeed they are, but I've found the odd Canon bits and bobs there before but normally as a Canon guy I wouldn't bother looking at Grays.
 
specialman said:
Pretty much everything I buy is used - saves a lot of money. Never had an issue with anything I've bought.
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This, same for me.

All my expensive lens ive bought second hand, twice ebay and once from TP, if they are working and the glass is clean then i wouldnt worry to much. Try and buy local so you can see it or stick to those who you get a good feeling on the seller being honest, good feedback, a tog with some credability...etc

I try and go for stuff boxed and get full size examples of shots taken with it, even better if it on the same body as your own, might help put your mind at rest
 
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