[RioRico]

Thanks for sharing ... and post away. I don't think anyone will hate it, personally I'm adding these to my "wanted" list as we go along May I ask where you find all these little treasures?

The only one that wasn't eBay was the Kilfitt Makro-Kilar-E 40/3.5 which I bought a couple weeks ago at a local antique shop with a minty Exakta Varex SLR, US$72 total. That's been my ONLY local photo-gear deal. As with the previous list, many were in batch-lot sales, but most were just straight-up auctions. In some cases, sellers don't know what they have. In others, nobody else bids! Go figure...

How to get them: I run searches on eBay, and scan exhaustively through all the LOTS and OTHER areas, and use PicClick.Com [ Lenses - Cameras & Photo Vintage Movie & Photography Lenses ], with results sorted by LOWEST PRICE. If I see something tempting, I bid low, and make a note of my upper limit for it. A couple days later I may raise to that limit. If bidding goes US$5 over that limit, bye-bye. If it's an especially tempting item, I may snipe at 10 seconds. Otherwise I just await the news.

All sorts of interesting stuff falls into my lap that way, like an Ernst Leitz Varob (enlarger version of an Elmar) 50/3.5 for US$19.50 shipped; or six enlarger + projector + copy lenses for $7; or four Tomioka-made M42 Sears lenses for $9: 28/2.8 and 55/1.4 and 135/2.8 and 3X TC. And I lose 98.5% of the auctions. Big deal. My shelves overfloweth already.

Most of what I get are M42; much is PK mount; many recent buys have been various odd enlarger etc mounts; and I also seek out OM, C/Y, Nikon, and Exakta mounts, because those are easy to adapt to PK. Petri bayonet is a bit more trouble, but is do-able. As less-desirable mounts are 'discovered' by Canon and NEX and m4/3 shooters, their prices rise. Such is life.

[photocanadian]

I appreciate the info. I've converted a few lenses (with lathes/tools and no tape ), so this site will be a usefull outlet for me.

The only one that wasn't eBay was the Kilfitt Makro-Kilar-E 40/3.5 which I bought a couple weeks ago at a local antique shop with a minty Exakta Varex SLR, US$72 total. That's been my ONLY local photo-gear deal. As with the previous list, many were in batch-lot sales, but most were just straight-up auctions. In some cases, sellers don't know what they have. In others, nobody else bids! Go figure...

How to get them: I run searches on eBay, and scan exhaustively through all the LOTS and OTHER areas, and use PicClick.Com [ Lenses - Cameras & Photo Vintage Movie & Photography Lenses ], with results sorted by LOWEST PRICE. If I see something tempting, I bid low, and make a note of my upper limit for it. A couple days later I may raise to that limit. If bidding goes US$5 over that limit, bye-bye. If it's an especially tempting item, I may snipe at 10 seconds. Otherwise I just await the news.

All sorts of interesting stuff falls into my lap that way, like an Ernst Leitz Varob (enlarger version of an Elmar) 50/3.5 for US$19.50 shipped; or six enlarger + projector + copy lenses for $7; or four Tomioka-made M42 Sears lenses for $9: 28/2.8 and 55/1.4 and 135/2.8 and 3X TC. And I lose 98.5% of the auctions. Big deal. My shelves overfloweth already.

Most of what I get are M42; much is PK mount; many recent buys have been various odd enlarger etc mounts; and I also seek out OM, C/Y, Nikon, and Exakta mounts, because those are easy to adapt to PK. Petri bayonet is a bit more trouble, but is do-able. As less-desirable mounts are 'discovered' by Canon and NEX and m4/3 shooters, their prices rise. Such is life.

[jeffshaddix]

aren't you glad that people can afford it?

I am indeed! And I've been recommending it to all those who could use it! Sometimes the way prices are set just baffles me; it doesn't mean I don't appreciate the discrepancy.

[JVi]

A K version 50mm 1:1.2 for $174 shipped. Not bargain basement but only a step off the floor.

[Digitalis]

biggest score in the past year (literally speaking) - Sigma 180mm f/3.5 APO EX Macro which I bought for less than a quarter of the list price- and it was(still is) in mint condition.

most unusual find - Hexanon-M 60mm f/1.2 -yes, 60mm. Bought from a colleague of mine who was upgrading to a Leica noctilux.

Best freebie - people know me too well around here to give me lenses for free. But that didn't stop me from getting a FA35mm f/2 for free - because it had an epic fungus problem - I suppose it did cost me some time because I did have to clean it.

[bassek]

What was the price for the Sigma 180mm macro used? Or what was the list price, I recall $1000 or so?

[RioRico]

Oh yeah, well, my biggest PHYSICAL scores:

* Lil-Bigma 170-500 (1270g)
* Rubinar Makpo 1000/10 mirror (1760g)
* Meade #4504 910/8 telescope (14.1kg)

And the Meade was only US$75 complete! Such a score!

And I suppose if I were to accept the Bronica system my bro-in-law wants to give me (because it ain't worth selling), that would count as a big score, both financially and physically. But where to store that stuff? The Meade is bad enough, but at least we can hang Xmas lights from it.

[photocanadian]

Now you're just showing off ... great lenses, even the russian mirror "macro" lens haha. I have a similar scope (Meade 4500) and the kids have used it as a clothes hanger too many times...

Oh yeah, well, my biggest PHYSICAL scores:

* Lil-Bigma 170-500 (1270g)
* Rubinar Makpo 1000/10 mirror (1760g)
* Meade #4504 910/8 telescope (14.1kg)

And the Meade was only US$75 complete! Such a score!

And I suppose if I were to accept the Bronica system my bro-in-law wants to give me (because it ain't worth selling), that would count as a big score, both financially and physically. But where to store that stuff? The Meade is bad enough, but at least we can hang Xmas lights from it.