[Donald]

March ~ November 2006 I tracked some Pentax lenses on Ebay. I didn't record every lens sold, about 5 - 10 successful auctions in each category. It helped me snipe several auctions at the end by bidding just below the average! The average US$ prices:

15mm 3.5 $539

17mm f4 fisheye $318

20mm f4 M $242

24mm f2.8 K $163
24mm f2.8 A $263
24mm f3.5 K $139

28mm f2 M $227
28mm f2.8 A $72
28mm f2.8 K $117
28mm f2.8 M $61
28mm f2.8 FA $192
28mm f3.5 M $72

30mm f2.8 M $183

35mm f2 A $191
35mm f3.5 M $106

50mm f1.7 A $31
50mm f1.7 F $147
the 1.4a was too varied, a high of $240, low of $72

100mm macro f4 M $129
100mm macro f2.8 FA $382

135mm f3.5 M $56

28-70mm FA $90
28-105mm f3.2-4.5AL IF FA $147
28-105mm f4-4.6AL IF FA $153

35-105mm A $147

70-210mm f4 A $98

[Adam]

Most of those look very low, but they could be about right considering the variation in lens condition and broad time period. Prices have definitely changed since November, though

Thanks for sharing!

[carpents]

The world has changed since November, my friend. Good luck getting an A50/1.7 for $31!

[Toshi]

The world has changed since November, my friend. Good luck getting an A50/1.7 for $31!

Yeah, seriously. Prices have gone way up -- I purchased my excellent condition A50 1.7 for $25 on eBay a while back; now I see them going close to $80 or more.

[Bori]

Ditto. I bought the A 50mm 1.7 for 90 USD shipping included about 1 1/2 months ago. Wish I paid less but don't regret it. It's that good!

[Finn]

Yeah, but Takumar and M lenses are still (mostly) reasonable -- it's much more convenient using an A lens on a DSLR. I recently paid 40 bucks for an A 50/2, which seemed like a fortune for such a middling lens. C'est la vie...it sure is nice not having to manually stop down the lens for metering. It's my "snapshot" lens.

[Jun Park]

Because I'm trying to fill out my lens collection so I don't want the bidding competition! ;-)

I will admit that I've gone a little overboard in the past couple of weeks because here's a list of what I've picked up (only counting the lenses now...)
- Not one but TWO M 50/1.4 (and I already had one so now I'm up to 3 M 50/1.4 lenses!)
- M 50/1.7
- M 28/2.8
- M 135/3.5
- Vivitar Series 1 70-210/3.5 (this one was made by Tokina)
- offbrand M 28/2.8
- Makinon (sp?) 70-210/3.5

And I'm still trying to find a 540FGZ for the weddings I'm shooting this summer!

[Alvin]

- Not one but TWO M 50/1.4 (and I already had one so now I'm up to 3 M 50/1.4 lenses!)

OMG!! What in the world are you doing with 3?!? M50/1.4's?

[Jun Park]

OMG!! What in the world are you doing with 3?!? M50/1.4's?

Here's a list of my 50mm primes:
- (3) M 50/1.4
- M 50/1.7
- FA 50/1.4
- F 50/1.7

Yep, that's 6 50mm primes. I'D like to give Jim King a run for his money but I ain't got THAT much money!

[Finn]

Yeah, I recently bought an old Spotmatic on eBay so I had a screwmount body to use, and a Super-Takumar 50/1.4 was attached to it. Not bad for 25 bucks, IMHO...

But now I have 2 Super-Takumar 50/1.4's, as well as the A 50/2 mentioned above. Now I just need an FA 50/1.4, so I have an autofocus 50. We'll see what the wife says -- she already thinks I'm insane for wanting more than the kit zoom that came with her ZX-M...

[chedoy]

Well, I see who has been sniping my bids.

Funny thing about ebay. I was looking at two SMC 50mm F1.7s. With 24 hours left, one had no bids. The other had three bidders already at $35. The first one went for $31 with two bidders. The second went all the way to $48. I could have snagged the first one, but I went out instead of staying by the PC to snipe.

Then again, the SMC 50mm F2 suffices for me. I decided to save my money for a 16-45.

[FotoPete]

Grr...Am I the only one who consistently fails to get 50s beyond F2? haha.

After the XR 50/2, I got an M 50/2 off an ME auction. Then an A50/2 off a P3n auction.

[skaktuss]

Two days ago I sniped and won M 50/1.4 for 56 £. Not very expensive, but not cheap.

[carpents]

Here's a list of my 50mm primes:
- (3) M 50/1.4
- M 50/1.7
- FA 50/1.4
- F 50/1.7

Yep, that's 6 50mm primes. I'D like to give Jim King a run for his money but I ain't got THAT much money!

I've got:
(2x) Super-Takumar 50/1.4
Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50/1.4
Pentax-M 50/2
Pentax-A 50/2
Pentax-A 50/1.2 (The great one)
Pentax-FA 50/1.4
Yashinon (M42) 50/2

I also have (all M42 mount):
Auto-Takumar 55/1.8
SMC Takumar 55/2
Sears Auto 55/1.4 (<-- This one is pretty good!)
Fujinon 55/1.8 (<-- This one is *really* good!)
Helios 44M-4 58mm f/2

I gave away my SMC Takumar 50/1.4 and Pentax-A 50/1.7 to good homes because I figure I'm covered.

The sad thing, Jun, is that even if you combine our collections I'll bet we're not even half way to Mr. King!

[Mike Cash]

The world has changed since November, my friend. Good luck getting an A50/1.7 for $31!

Some idiot actually put one up with a "Buy It Now" price of 30 bucks a few days ago. Needless to say, it wasn't up there long. Especially considering it was sharing a page with the same item at "Buy It Now" prices of $80 and $90.

I've recently started doing my hunting on Yahoo Japan auctions. Far fewer people to compete with, especially since practically none of the sellers will deal with anyone outside Japan at all. Some of the lenses go for about the same price as on eBay, but a good many end up going for quite a bit less (and I save on shipping). Also, if someone snipes a bid in the last few seconds, they automatically extend the auction 10 minutes.

I learned the hard way that I can't do the "Oh well, someone will come along and outbid me" thing that I do on eBay with things I only half-heartedly want. I'll end up with the sucker!