Your best photography bargain
Discussion
Cheap second-hand lenses are often a gamble.
I paid $350nz for a Sigma EX 100-300 f4 late last year, it was advertised with the disclaimer that "sometimes autofocus doesn't work properly" on trademe (NZ's ebay equivalent) so I knew there was a risk with it.
Turned out they really meant "AF doesn't work at all"
, I could have made a fuss and got a refund but it was so good apart from the lack of AF that I paid about the same again to get it fixed and now its one of my favourites.
What I paid for the lens+repair in the end was still quite a fair price for a pro-grade lens of that nature, so I can't really complain.
I paid $350nz for a Sigma EX 100-300 f4 late last year, it was advertised with the disclaimer that "sometimes autofocus doesn't work properly" on trademe (NZ's ebay equivalent) so I knew there was a risk with it.
Turned out they really meant "AF doesn't work at all"
, I could have made a fuss and got a refund but it was so good apart from the lack of AF that I paid about the same again to get it fixed and now its one of my favourites.What I paid for the lens+repair in the end was still quite a fair price for a pro-grade lens of that nature, so I can't really complain.
Used to work for Tesco in electricals. We had a few Nikon D5100 kits and accessories which were being discontinued from our stock (despite still being sold new elsewhere) because we never sold one. They went down to a stock "zero-clearance" price which, combined with a few clubcard points and staff discount, meant I got (from memory) the camera with 18-55 kit lens for £75, a Nikon 35mm F1.8 for £20, and an entry level Nikon flashgun for £15. This was 3 weeks after I'd been debating buying one at what would have been full price...
Kewy said:
Some great stories and bargains here.
Slight update, it seems I started this thread prematurely:
My 24mm 2.8 arrived yesterday and the f'ing thing is broken. Knew it was too good to be true. It hunts back and forth for focus but is constantly out of focus no matter where you are in the focal range.
Safe to say I'm not very happy and have packed it back up ready to send back. The description on ebay said 'working as it should', but at the end of the description said S&R – apparently I was supposed to know that S&R meant spares and repairs, despite the very first line in the description saying 'working as it should'
Had a look for an alternative but nothing under about £130 for the same lens at the moment.
Rant over
Send it back. Slight update, it seems I started this thread prematurely:
My 24mm 2.8 arrived yesterday and the f'ing thing is broken. Knew it was too good to be true. It hunts back and forth for focus but is constantly out of focus no matter where you are in the focal range.
Safe to say I'm not very happy and have packed it back up ready to send back. The description on ebay said 'working as it should', but at the end of the description said S&R – apparently I was supposed to know that S&R meant spares and repairs, despite the very first line in the description saying 'working as it should'
Had a look for an alternative but nothing under about £130 for the same lens at the moment.
Rant over
Tbh it's nothing special - IMHO not in same league as other Nikon primes
Three Lencarta flash heads (complete with reflectors and bulbs), two Lencarta pneumatic lighting stands, two Lencarta softboxes, quite a tidy softbox "tent" for photographing small items, a couple of brollies and a couple of mini tripods.
£100.00 all in from someone local who was moving abroad.
Not the greatest bargain, but pretty good.
£100.00 all in from someone local who was moving abroad.
Not the greatest bargain, but pretty good.
GravelBen said:
The 28mm f2.8D is pretty small too (slightly smaller than the 50mm f1.8D), I picked one up for $70nz recently. Think the 35mm f1.8 is similar size too and can often be found fairly cheap.
My 28mm needed maximum AF fine-tune dialled in to focus accurately which makes me wonder if its had some damage at some point, but very sharp aside from that and nice image quality.
Ah yeh sorry I meant to say that all of those D series primes are pretty small. I'm keeping an eye on all of them on ebay at the moment incase one slips through the net at a lower than average price.My 28mm needed maximum AF fine-tune dialled in to focus accurately which makes me wonder if its had some damage at some point, but very sharp aside from that and nice image quality.
Edited by GravelBen on Saturday 26th January 00:55
Lucas CAV said:
Send it back.
Tbh it's nothing special - IMHO not in same league as other Nikon primes
Interesting? It gets fairly good reviews which is what I based my choice on. I wanted something light, small and wide for travel and street stuff, I already have a 50mm prime so figured that a 24mm would give me a wider option.Tbh it's nothing special - IMHO not in same league as other Nikon primes
What would you recommend then?
Tonight I've won a Canon 5d classic for £155! Very, very happy with that as they're selling for well above that. Even better its local so I can check it over while collecting it. Will be interesting to compare it to my 6d and 70d. Many people say the 5d has a quality that Canon has never really matched with their other cameras.
danllama said:
Tonight I've won a Canon 5d classic for £155! Very, very happy with that as they're selling for well above that. Even better its local so I can check it over while collecting it. Will be interesting to compare it to my 6d and 70d. Many people say the 5d has a quality that Canon has never really matched with their other cameras.
Nice! Yeh I've read very good things about the 5D classic, even in this day and age. Enjoy.danllama said:
Tonight I've won a Canon 5d classic for £155! Very, very happy with that as they're selling for well above that. Even better its local so I can check it over while collecting it. Will be interesting to compare it to my 6d and 70d. Many people say the 5d has a quality that Canon has never really matched with their other cameras.
+1 on the Canon 5dc, it is very much still holding it's own, and I use it alot for paid and commercial work, it's slow but its sensor is somewhat interesting, it doesn't produce noise it's almost like film grain, quite bizzarre really but aesthetically pleasing...I also use a 60d and 7d for work and I go to the 5d more often, paired with good prime lenses it's great!Back to bargains, I bought this the other week for my trip to Cuba, going to rekindle my love for the analogue side...£10!
1985 Praktica ML5B + 50mm 1.8 Pentacon - This was taken on my 5dc with a 40mm EF prime (bokehlicious)...
Edited by DailyHack on Sunday 24th February 06:54
Fuji w3 3d camera
About 5 years ago they were reduced from £400 to £75 on Amazon as being discontinued
I have ‘proper’ cameras , but bought a couple
I use one a lot, other is still boxed. A decent one still sells for say £300 second hand!
I take a few shots at weddings etc for fun, the pics get more attention than most proper ones, especially from 3d TV owners
About 5 years ago they were reduced from £400 to £75 on Amazon as being discontinued
I have ‘proper’ cameras , but bought a couple
I use one a lot, other is still boxed. A decent one still sells for say £300 second hand!
I take a few shots at weddings etc for fun, the pics get more attention than most proper ones, especially from 3d TV owners
I've always wanted an SLR since I was a kid as they looked super cool, but I could never afford one. In April/May last year I bought a BeLOMO Vilia camera for £7 boxed from eBay as I had a roll of XP2 lying around and no camera to use it with. Since then I've fallen in love with film photography in a big way and soviet era cameras in general.
This then led me to a discovery last week of the Zenit EM camera, which is a Soviet SLR. I paid £5 for it - the P&P was about £5 too due to the weight of it - and I purchased an Industar 50-2 lens for it because it didn't come with one. So, for me, to now have a lovely SLR camera for under £20 is a massive bargain for me.
This then led me to a discovery last week of the Zenit EM camera, which is a Soviet SLR. I paid £5 for it - the P&P was about £5 too due to the weight of it - and I purchased an Industar 50-2 lens for it because it didn't come with one. So, for me, to now have a lovely SLR camera for under £20 is a massive bargain for me.
Other way 'round for me ... my trusty old Nikon D80 took a bath while in Stuttgart a few years back and stopped working. I estimated it to be only worth about £100 in operational condition so put it on eBay (with a good but honest write-up and some nice photos) starting at 99p to see what it went for.
Two buyers got in a bit of a tussle about it and bidding stopped at £161! I was very happy to package that one up and post it off to the happy winner!
Two buyers got in a bit of a tussle about it and bidding stopped at £161! I was very happy to package that one up and post it off to the happy winner!
Yes the 5d has surprised me!! The photos look funky/warm on the screen which worried me at first but the sensor is impressive and the camera just works and the photos look great once off the camera! I find myself reaching for it over the 70d, which is fine as I bought that for airshows and motorsports anyway. Will be a nice 2 body set up I think. The 5d can definitely still hold its own!
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