[pezmaker]

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Found this on KEH. May want to try and grab it: Pentax Screwmount 50 F1.4 SUPER TAKUMAR (49) 35MM SLR MANUAL FOCUS STANDARD ANGLE LENS - KEH.com $56 for "bargain" condition. Unfortunately, I don't see any pictures, so it could just be another bad body, but I dunno.

[vladimiroltean]

You may be right, I have to think it over. Look here, this is one of the few times when I think I agree with Ken Rockwell. He actually stole my exact thoughts, including showing cards
P.S. I need a SMC, 8 blades

[pezmaker]

To some extent I agree with what he says, but I'm less emotional about it when I bid earlier than when I try and snipe last minute. When I bid early, my bid is my bid, i'm done. Sure, if I could keep that mindset at the end then it'd be great, but I get emotional, see red, and start over bidding any *@$$*$@@* that outbids me in the last seconds. "TAKE THAT YOU SNIPING @$*(%(@#."

Anyway, whichever bidding tactic you decide to go with, I wish you great success.

[eddie1960]

The thing is, you're not raising your own price. If you bid 50 now or later, you're only bidding 50 total, and it's only showing whatever the next bid is. It's really false logic to think that people bidding to what they'll actually bid now, or later, will raise the price more than it would be in either case. In other words, it's 11 now (I think), if you bid 50, it'll be 12.50 or whatever the current bidder's top bid is. In the end, if someone wants it more than you, they're going to get it. If someone already bidding has bid 35, you're not going to get it less than 35 whether you snipe it or bid now.

I used to think like the snipers, but the more I thought about RioRico's method and logic, and the more I realized I was overbidding on things sniping them, the more I realized it wasn't worth it to me.

agreed. Rio's method makes the most sense. i just enter a bid and set my max. if it exceeds my max then so be it. If it's something i really want i may put in a higher bid, but generally i am cheap and figure if i miss one another will come along. for an item as common as the tak 50 1.4 it's a certainty. for the donor body my max would be very low (no more than $20 puls the shipping cost) . For the Tak I would shop a body kit and sell off the body. Many times the body kit goes for less than the lens on it's own (I'll never get that) my 50 1.4 came with a spotmatic, a variant of the Tokina auto 135 3.5 and a sigma 300 f4 (sigma needs work on the aperture the Tokina auto is stiff focus needs a cla, the body actually had a cla about 10 years back and is in good shape) - price paid $100 for the lot. If I really wanted to I could sell off the body and the 135 and 300 and basically end up being paid to own the tak

[MSL]

agreed. Rio's method makes the most sense. i just enter a bid and set my max. if it exceeds my max then so be it. If it's something i really want i may put in a higher bid, but generally i am cheap and figure if i miss one another will come along. for an item as common as the tak 50 1.4 it's a certainty. for the donor body my max would be very low (no more than $20 puls the shipping cost) . For the Tak I would shop a body kit and sell off the body. Many times the body kit goes for less than the lens on it's own (I'll never get that) my 50 1.4 came with a spotmatic, a variant of the Tokina auto 135 3.5 and a sigma 300 f4 (sigma needs work on the aperture the Tokina auto is stiff focus needs a cla, the body actually had a cla about 10 years back and is in good shape) - price paid $100 for the lot. If I really wanted to I could sell off the body and the 135 and 300 and basically end up being paid to own the tak

One reason that camera body+lens will sell for less than just the lens has to do with the way items are cataloged and searched. Lots of folks trawl the lens only section, fewer it seems the camera body section.

I take a wait and see approach of one of two variants. Either bid early and low, which sticks it in my summary section, or I'll just put it on my watchlist. An item that gets 10 bids on the first day shows me that it has been found by many, and will end in a sniping war. An item that doesn't get any bids, or maybe just 1 or 2 in the first 5 days (of a 7 day auction, for example), will likely go quietly. Somewhere toward the end of the auction I'll rethink my highest price and bid or rebid once if necessary,

As RioRico has pointed out elsewhere, the best auctions are where the item is listed slightly wrong - usually where the filter size has been given as the focal length. Those get missed by most bidders and are where you get the best bargains.

[eddie1960]

As RioRico has pointed out elsewhere, the best auctions are where the item is listed slightly wrong - usually where the filter size has been given as the focal length. Those get missed by most bidders and are where you get the best bargains.

misspellings are good as well. my kit above was on craiglist as a pentak

[vladimiroltean]

You are missing the point. Yes, it's nice to be cheap, but I would actually like to win that auction, essentially regardless of price. Entering your max and then waiting to be outbid is the surest tactic to lose, as you stated yourself. Also, I don't see a particular need to fantasize about a broken SMC Takumar 50mm f/1.4 that would be poorly described or photographed or have its name written incorrectly. I know film SLR kits go for less than individual lenses, but remember that the following is also true: broken lenses should be even cheaper (and also rarer for that matter). But why bother with such a large overhead, when all I need is a lens barrel and I have one that is available for sale?
I didn't mean to be rude, it's just that you are hijacking a thread that hasn't yet found its answer and making it hard for other users to read it thoroughly and see its final state (you almost lost me, for one).

[pezmaker]

I'm decided to bid on this broken lens for its barrel, already talked to the seller. What would be the best strategy to have it for the least money possible? Bid early, snipe it, burn the fields?

I didn't mean to be rude, it's just that you are hijacking a thread that hasn't yet found its answer and making it hard for other users to read it thoroughly and see its final state (you almost lost me, for one).

Also not to be rude, but you hijacked your own thread, and we were, well, I was anyway, responding to your specific question about how to get it cheapest. You didn't say that you were wanting to guarantee that you get it, just that you were looking to get it the cheapest.

I shall bow out, as the advice asked for is not actually desired.

[riff]

Yes, it's nice to be cheap, but I would actually like to win that auction

If you want to win I suggest you set your max and snipe only. You may want to use a snipe site, some even have a few free rolls.
If you want to have 235 lens that cost 1000 bux take RioRico's advice.
Good Luck!

[vladimiroltean]

Thanks for the tip. My experience with automatic bid sites isn't quite positive, I used one once or twice, and it failed to bid I'll be exercising my ability to manually snipe tonight, on another lens, of less importance

[riff]

I used one once or twice, and it failed to bid

Bummer, being in Romania is not an advantage for sniping ebay on your own. I've had no problems with https://www.ezsniper.com/cost.php3. I believe @dgaies uses https://www.bidnapper.com/ and likes them.

[vladimiroltean]

The "bid late" advice worked very well - I won a S-M-C Takumar 55/1.8 for $15.59, and I won it actually because I was the last bidder, in the last 5 seconds. Had some emotions, but I'm a happy monkey now. I am more confident that I can win that dead lens too. Thanks all, and sorry again to pezmaker and eddie1960 if I offended you.

[riff]

That's excellent, great price for a great lens. Congrats!

[vladimiroltean]

The bidding has gone crazy on that lens. It's already at $31, with 10 bids and 1 day and a half to go. Checking the bid history, there's a guy eager to be the leader, who placed 7 consecutive bids. I'm not going to call him insane or noob or anything for that matter, but it's pretty obvious that he isn't going to win, judging from the fact that he doesn't understand how it works. I just hope there won't be any other person to overbid the guy until the last 10 minutes, because that'll startle him and lead to a bidding war for sure. Too bad that I'll probably have to pay my full $50, maybe even more, which is totally insane for a broken lens.

[vladimiroltean]

Update: I won the broken lens too, $51. Good news: my beloved Tak's glass is moving out! Now bad news is that I feel very strange about this auction. It's like either the guy who bumped the price with his early bids had absolutely no idea what he was doing (I was the only bidder in the last hour), or somebody played a prank on me.