[BigMackCam]

I think I understrand your situation. All your needs are currently covered, and you have this DA*60-250 unused. You tried to sell your 60-250, but the price offered was too low for what you consider a lens in excellent condition. Do you think you'll use your DA *60-250 in the future? If never use the lens, do you think you'll be able to sell it for a higher price in the future?

My DA*60-250 isn't unused - it just hasn't been used much, and now rarely gets used at all

As for whether I'll use it in future... Well, whilst ever I own it I won't let it sit completely idle. I'll shoot with it occasionally... but honestly, it's heavier than I'd like, so unless I need the extra light gathering I'm far more likely to pick up my screw-drive HD DA55-300 and accept the compromise in image quality (used to its strengths, it's still a very capable lens).

I very much doubt I'll get any more for the 60-250 in future... If anything, probably a little less; but maybe there'll come a point where I want to buy another Pentax product from SRS (such as the new HD DA*16-50), in which case I might try to part-exchange it.. Also, I haven't tried listing it on eBay yet, so I might give that a go and see if it generates any more interest than the Marketplace here...

[UncleVanya]

I’ve shot the D FA 70-210/4 and DA* 60-250/4 side by side on my KP. The DA* offers slightly better image quality in my opinion. The focusing speed in great light is better on the D FA. The focusing speed advantage seems to be reduced as the light gets worse. Your results may differ as sdm perforce seems more variable across samples of lenses than most in lens motors.

On full frame? I’m not sure. I’ve shot both some on my a7R3. I’m not sure if the differences are easy to see in image quality. I feel the DA* unmodified has a lot stronger vignetting, but overall the image quality seemed similar.

[BigMackCam]

I’ve shot the D FA 70-210/4 and DA* 60-250/4 side by side on my KP. The DA* offers slightly better image quality in my opinion. The focusing speed in great light is better on the D FA. The focusing speed advantage seems to be reduced as the light gets worse. Your results may differ as sdm perforce seems more variable across samples of lenses than most in lens motors.

On my K-3, the 60-250 in AF.S is actually pretty snappy in reasonable light, so long as it's already set fairly close to the required distance (as with the screw-drive HD55-300, I tend to preset the approximate distance before shooting). AF.C tracking isn't bad, but a fast subject moving towards or away from the camera is asking too much of it. It's OK tracking a sideways-moving subject with minor or gradual changes in distance. Racking all the way from minimum to maximum focus distance, or in the other direction, it's quite leisurely... but not dreadful (I haven't timed it, but I'd guess 1.5 seconds or thereabouts). I think mine must be a pretty decent copy in that respect...

[biz-engineer]

I very much doubt I'll get any more for the 60-250 in future... If anything, probably a little less;

Typical mistake of individual camera/lens sellers is to be in hurry. You have to distinguish the buyer who just buy as a predator only if the price is very low, and the buyer who buy because he needs/want to buy an item that he doesn't have expecting to pay a fair price. Camera shops selling used items, have the items for sale on the shelf for years before the offer meet the right buyer. For Pentax, the number of customers is rather low, especially in recent years, you may see a genuine Pentax buyer a few times a year (it is so here, I think I could count on my fingers the number of Pentaxians in my area), so if you expect to sell your lens in 3 weeks at a decent price, that's not gonna happen, all you gonna get is the buyer who just want to buy if the price is a steal.

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Last edited by biz-engineer; 06-14-2022 at 05:51 AM.

[BigMackCam]

Typically mistake of individual camera/lens sellers is to be in hurry. You have to distinguish the buyer who just buy as a predator, and the buyer who buy because he needs/want to buy an item that he doesn't have. Camera shop selling used items, have the items for sales for one year, two years, three years before selling. For Pentax , you may see a genuine buyer (not a collector) passing buy a few times a year, so if you expect to sell your lens in 3 weeks at a decent price, that's not gonna happen.

I'm sure you're right, biz. My expectations of demand for the lens were probably unrealistic, and I wasn't patient enough I think there's a buyer for it out there, even at a price I'd be comfortable with... But for now, I'll hang on to it and try to use it more this Summer

[3by2]

I'm sure you're right, biz. My expectations of demand for the lens were probably unrealistic, and I wasn't patient enough I think there's a buyer for it out there, even at a price I'd be comfortable with... But for now, I'll hang on to it and try to use it more this Summer

They don't move very fast on ebay. As for price, well during the pandemic, one came up for auction. It's final selling price....£350. You probably didn't want to read that but they were extraordinary times, so I think when you do sell it, it will be case of waiting patiently for the right buyer, there will be one.

And yes, I missed out bidding at the time because I'd just bought the Tamron 70-200 F2.8.

[BigMackCam]

They don't move very fast on ebay. As for price, well during the pandemic, one came up for auction. It's final selling price....£350. You probably didn't want to read that but they were extraordinary times, so I think when you do sell it, it will be case of waiting patiently for the right buyer, there will be one.

And yes, I missed out bidding at the time because I'd just bought the Tamron 70-200 F2.8.

I'm not that surprised. MPB offered me £335 - which, given the mint condition with hood, caps, bag, box etc. and the fact they need to make a good profit - seemed about right to me. I may re-list it in the Marketplace in a few months, or try a cheeky eBay "Buy It Now" listing at the minimum I'd be prepared to clear on it (allowing for their fees). Anyway, not for now. I'm quite looking forward to making more use of it in the coming months...

[biz-engineer]

I think there's a buyer for it out there, even at a price I'd be comfortable with...

There may be a buyer for your lens who doesn't know you are selling your lens, simply because 1) you aren't selling it and 2) even if you are selling it as an individual you don't advertise like Canon does for its new products, and Ricoh doesn't advertise the DA *60-250 either because it's an old lens. So, compared to when Ricoh, Canon & Co are at 100% product awareness on the day of the press release, your 60-250 lens awareness is at 0.00000000001% , unless you manage to get an interview on the BBC to talk about your lens selling problem. Have you considered making a press release?

[sebberry]

Purchase hesitancy due to SDM failure potential is very much a thing. I don't know if the motor in the 60-250 is different from the one used in the 50-135 and the 16-50, but for me my 50-135 has had 3 SDM motors die and my 16-50 has had 1 die. Both converted to screw-drive with the 50-135 missing focus about 50% of the time as a result of the slop in the screw-drive system. Using either of them with the screw-drive in a social setting is frankly embarrassing with the noise.

Do I send it away for repair again for its 4th motor? Do I wait for the rumored 50-135 with PLM or a revised SDM?

I tend to prefer zooms over primes for their flexibility so the DA* 200 and 300 have never really been on my list, but certainly SDM failure and to a lesser extent speed is certainly a factor in why I haven't looked for one on the used market.

[BigMackCam]

There may be a buyer for your lens who doesn't know you are selling your lens, simply because 1) you aren't selling it and 2) even if you are selling it as an individual you don't advertise like Canon does for its new products, and Ricoh doesn't advertise the DA *60-250 either because it's an old lens. So, compared to when Ricoh, Canon & Co are at 100% product awareness on the day of the press release, your 60-250 lens awareness is at 0.00000000001% , unless you manage to get an interview on the BBC to talk about your lens selling problem. Have you considered making a press release?

You may be onto something here. In a way, the lack of interest in my lens is a form of discrimination; it's suppressing my rights to sell the lens at the price I want... #SixtyMeTooFifty

[UncleVanya]

Purchase hesitancy due to SDM failure potential is very much a thing. I don't know if the motor in the 60-250 is different from the one used in the 50-135 and the 16-50, but for me my 50-135 has had 3 SDM motors die and my 16-50 has had 1 die. Both converted to screw-drive with the 50-135 missing focus about 50% of the time as a result of the slop in the screw-drive system. Using either of them with the screw-drive in a social setting is frankly embarrassing with the noise.

Do I send it away for repair again for its 4th motor? Do I wait for the rumored 50-135 with PLM or a revised SDM?

I tend to prefer zooms over primes for their flexibility so the DA* 200 and 300 have never really been on my list, but certainly SDM failure and to a lesser extent speed is certainly a factor in why I haven't looked for one on the used market.

It’s much rarer to hear of a 60-250 failure. Also 50% failure due to “slop” in the screwdrive system? Not my experience or the experience of hundreds of others. Either your lens is screwed up in other ways or something else is going on. The DA* lenses are not as loud as quite a few popular screwdrive only lenses and while not silent they aren’t obnoxiously loud. There are settings ( like a quiet church wedding where I’m not the official photographer ) where I would only manually focus and not sdm or screwdrive and I would also use electronic shutter to avoid any excess noise. Most situations don’t require this level of noise abatement.

[sebberry]

Not my experience or the experience of hundreds of others.

I don't know if it's related, but how much can you turn the manual focus ring before the focus scale in the little window moves? How much can you manually turn the screw before the focus scale moves?

I can't think of what else it would be.

[UncleVanya]

I don't know if it's related, but how much can you turn the manual focus ring before the focus scale in the little window moves? How much can you manually turn the screw before the focus scale moves?

I can't think of what else it would be.

The manual focus system on those lenses is strange. The screwdrive and sdm are also weird. The interconnections and clutch system are very complicated. It’s absolutely possible for a lens to be messed up in a way that affects one but not the others but that’s atypical. I can say with confidence there’s more going on than we realize. If the lens rom file was tampered with inaccurately that too can cause issues particularly focus issues.