[Michael Piziak]

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Of course one advantage of owning Pentax is that you can buy older lens for bargain prices. I wander if as time goes by and more and more of the older lens are bought up, will we see prices going up. One example is this Asahi Pentax extension tubes that are way over priced, at $254, and listed as "rare." 3 RARE Asahi Pentax Manual Extension Tubes Set K for K7 K5 Close Up Accessory | eBay

[boriscleto]

Never pay attention to BiN prices on evilBay. Look through completed listings to see what things actually sell for.

[jatrax]

There are also sellers trying to get $1,600 for 50mm f/1.2 lenses. Don't go by what one optimist thinks something is worth. However, your example is rare, not many OEM k-mount tubes out there. I won't argue with overpriced since you can get new ones for $25 but to a collector OEM tubes, or any vintage k-mount stuff commands a premium.

However, in general Pentax prices have increased over the last few years. When I first bought my k-x things were simply ridiculously cheap. And prices have gone up ever since. I have a nearly full set of Takumars and I'm glad I bought when I did because at current prices, I would not.

A number of reasons for the increase, first back in 2010 the rumor was Pentax was close to going under and our cameras might be the last. Not much incentive to buy lenses. Second, the video capabilities of Canon cameras became mainstream and lots of budding videographers snapped up premium Pentax and Asahi glass at thrift store pricing. And third, I think the price increases in the used market are the clearest indication that Pentax is making a come back and gaining new customers. Somebody is buying those lenses at ever increasing prices and I don't think they are all going to collectors.

[blackcloudbrew]

Occasionally, I've seen older lens prices jump around for odd (and good) reasons. I recall that prior to the release of the Pentax 645D older 645 A lenses were relatively cheap but when the new 645D was announced, the 645 A lenses got more expensive. I know that when I'm selling lenses, I'll check the price history here on the PF lens data base for starters and also I'll check KEH.com to get an idea (based on lens condition) of what the commercial price should be near. Then I'll go to ebay and shop around a bit. Usually ebay has the weirdest and wildest price variations. That said, as jatrax has indicated, there have been market forces working at different times that affect used lens prices. Caveat Emptor I guess is the rule.

[Michael Piziak]

Nice post.

I think it's simple economics. There are a limited number of older Pentax lens. There's an increasing number of new Pentax dslr's bought. The increasing number of DSLR owners looking for the older lens and current Pentax dslr owners like us also looking for the older lens can only arrive at one result - a diminishing number of older lens and the fewer available will demand higher prices.

[ironlionzion]

Another factor is the economic principle of substitutes. Old manual lenses can be considered a rough substitute for new, AF lens (obviously not perfect substitutes). Pentax increased the prices of their new lenses within the past few years, shifting the demand to used, MF lenses. Interestingly, it seems like the price of the M50 1.7 has decreased in the past few years, perhaps due to the introduction of the DA50 1.8 at a very nice price point.

[vonBaloney]

I think the prices already went up and peaked for most older stuff (manual focus) -- I've been seeing prices come down somewhat from their highs a year or two back.

[6BQ5]

I have some eBay searches saved in my account that I use to shop for used lenses on the cheap. Each of the searches is capped with a price limit. The number of hits has been going down as time progressed. Where I used to get a healthy mix of F, FA, and FA-J lenses I now get a lot of A lenses or M 50mm f/2 lenses. I've had to raise the price cap to get more hits. Most of my purchases in the recent past have been camera/lens/accessory bundles. Those go for less. Maybe people get turned off by the idea of getting too much stuff because they don't know what to do with what they don't want.

I don't go for BiN prices unless they are really good, which is rare. I only bid on items ending within 24 hours and only if there are other bids there already. Most of those items started off low in the beginning and the market is finding the price. Zero bid items usually have very high starting bids.

The higher prices are a mixed blessing. On the one hand supply is drying up because there could be more Pentaxians or more Pentax lens fans. The user base is growing and that is a good indication of a healthy system. On the other hand that means prices will go up for everything - new and used.

[PPPPPP42]

I was going to say what vonBaloney said, it does seem like most A lenses being offered at the crazy peak prices of a year or two ago are going unsold now and its leading to people having to keep slowly dropping prices to get anything to sell. Still very much higher than when I first started rebuying an A lens collection though. Shoulda bought more back then.

If you have been watching KEH for a lens stock report like I do you will have seen a large number of usually more rare lenses start to pile up in their inventory and prices are falling as they try to get rid of them. I think this is a good trend.

I see more people that don't do film finally dumping all the old stuff for one or two capable newer lenses lately too. I see FA and DA more in demand now I think.
There also seemed to be a "get them before they are all taken" trend for awhile, possibly started by this site (we have that much influence) but people ran out of money and interest before the market ran out of lenses, and lately the Japanese have started selling abnormally large numbers of formerly rare and desirable Pentax lenses and equipment in used but near mint condition here mostly on Ebay which is also keeping supply above demand.

[vonBaloney]

There is also less stuff in the used marketplace. After the economy tanked, I think a lot of people cleaned out their closets and there was a flood of stuff coming back into the market at about the same time people realized they could adapt these old lenses to their modern cameras. Now there is much less of that (but still a normal amount from estates and such) and it is just collectors passing things around. There is also a seasonal aspect. In Oct-Dec, you'll see a lot of deals because people are selling things to raise money for the holidays (so what closet cleaning does occur is just before Christmas), but people buying around that time are mostly interested in the new models. But in the summer the used lens prices creep up and there are less people selling things. But still the general trend is downward for older things (as it should be) -- there are so many attractive top-notch brand new lenses that aren't all that expensive coming from Sigma, etc that it except for certain cult lenses keeps the general prices down...

[tomwil]

Vintage lenses are being purchased and driving up prices, for the anticipated release of a Pentax FF camera.

[6BQ5]

Vintage lenses are being purchased and driving up prices, for the anticipated release of a Pentax FF camera.

That, and I think people are coming to the conclusion that these older lenses are actually pretty darn good performers in the digital age! They delivery good IQ and some people really like the full metal construction too.

[Michael Piziak]

That, and I think people are coming to the conclusion that these older lenses are actually pretty darn good performers in the digital age! They delivery good IQ and some people really like the full metal construction too.

Yes I believe there is a consensus that the older Pentax lens are of higher quality all around - from the glass to the metal.

[Lowell Goudge]

Vintage lenses are being purchased and driving up prices, for the anticipated release of a Pentax FF camera.

I guess I am partially to blame, with 19 M42 lenses and roughly an equal number of K &M lenses I must be partially responsible for the shortage

But it is not just Pentax digital users (I have a full frame pentax already, 3 of them actually, a Ricoh XR2s, a pentax KX and a pentax PZ-1,) and there are a lot of cannon users here on the forum, who use pentax lenses on the canon digital bodies, because the canon engineers decided that they could offer a shorter regestry distance and attract manual pentax and Nikon glass owners to their body with cheap Chinese adaptors

[beebs]

I will confess to beginning to buy up every different "M" lens I can find now (does that mean I'm part of the problem? )...and I'm grimacing at the sight of $300+ extension tubes on FleaBay as well.

I'm totally blown away by using these great old lenses with my K-30. It's a whole different world than using the all auto-everything 18-135 kit lens, and I'm lovin' it.

I guess I'm glad I haven't thought about trying the screw-mount Takumars yet.......yet...