[twilli53]

Has anyone bought their bargain rated lens. I have heard that they are ok and have no ill properties other than looks. this is as they state but was looking for some first hand experience. thanks for any help on this.

[roentarre]

Keh in general is reliable with great customer service.

Instead I was never lucky enough to get the lens I wanted in time. Not sure how often everone checked their new arrivals ...

Once I was going to grab a A 135mm f1.8 listed on the website, before I purchased the product in excellant condition, it was already sold to another patron.


No one seemed to have negative experience and the condition + quality of the glass is usually reflected by the rating and its price label.


You can be confident with your purchase over there. With rarer or fantastic lenses, you would have to be quick!

[normant]

Keh grades conservatively. The lenses are typically better than the description that goes with their ratings. I have bought about a half dozen screwmount lenses with bargain ratings from them. The glass on all was flawless. On one, a 24mm f3.5, the aperture ring became loose shortly after I purchased it. I sent it in for repair on the 60-day warranty and the repair was excellent and I think they also readjusted the focus, even though I did not ask for it, as the lens seemed sharper afterwards. The other lenses had no problems at all. And only one of them looked slightly beat up (a 200mm SMC f4 for 49$ US). There is a 14-day return privilege so long as you pay the return shipping.

[SelrahCharleS]

but have bought an 'ugly' lens from them. It was slightly scuffed in spots that didn't matter, but it works fine. Its not a lens that I, or any ebay seller, would have rated as 'ugly', probably more like 'good' or 'bargain'. I hear that they underrate their lenses a lot... so you are safe in buying a bargain lens, but ugly has a bit of luck involved I guess(I was one of the lucky ones).

[volosong]

I've purchased many, many lenses from KEH over the past few years. Some of them look brand new and I'd bet some money that they weren't used more than once or twice. My Tamron macro is one such lens.

Only once was I dissapointed with my purchase, and it turned out to be the last lens I've purchased from them. It is an A 50mm f/1:1.2 that was rated in EX condition. All the other EX lenses I've gotten from them looked just about perfect. Not the 1.2 lens. Optically, it is okay and I have no complaints about its optical qualities nor functionality. It just doesn't look very nice. The white lettering is yellowish and there is some brassing on the aperture ring here and there.

That is what has dissapointed me. All my lenses look pretty much perfect, and this is the only 'bad apple' in the bunch. I can't really send it back and get another copy because they become available so rarely. And to boot, I paid a pretty high price for it too, probably due to the rarety of the lens.

But, at least I have one now. If I can only figure out how to utilize its unique optical qualities better.

[regken]

I have bought 6 "BGN" lenses from KEH. Nothing wrong with any of them optically. IMO they should have all been rated "Good". cosmetically.

Regards,

[twilli53]

Just to follow up. I bought a 300 f4 smc bargain grade. I would rate this lens as good or better. I will buy more of their bargain lens in the future.