Gear Talk > Lenses
What to look for when buying a used lens in person...?
cayenne:
Ok, I've decided to go try maybe the 70-40MM f/4 lens I posted about earlier.
I'm supposed to meet him and examine the lens tomorrow (Sunday) and if it looks good....buy it for $500.
As you might guess...I'm a 100% noob. I got my first DSLR (5D3) last month.
I've never bought a used lens before...so, what should I look for when examining the lens? What kinds of questions should I ask? As I understand it..this person bought the lens from someone else, so it is at least a 3rd party buy here.
I'm guessing to look carefully at the rear element for scratches? How much is too much? Front lens?
I'm bringing my camera to hook it up..and see how it works, but as a noob, aside from taking some shots to see if AF works....what else should I look for? I'm meeting in a public place....I figure smart for a high dollar item and cash transaction....etc.
Anyway...thoughts on buying a used lens from someone in person?
Thanks in advance, I truly appreciate all the input and advice I've gotten here so far...
cayenne
Radiating:
--- Quote from: cayenne on June 09, 2012, 07:41:22 PM ---Ok, I've decided to go try maybe the 70-40MM f/4 lens I posted about earlier.
I'm supposed to meet him and examine the lens tomorrow (Sunday) and if it looks good....buy it for $500.
As you might guess...I'm a 100% noob. I got my first DSLR (5D3) last month.
I've never bought a used lens before...so, what should I look for when examining the lens? What kinds of questions should I ask? As I understand it..this person bought the lens from someone else, so it is at least a 3rd party buy here.
I'm guessing to look carefully at the rear element for scratches? How much is too much? Front lens?
I'm bringing my camera to hook it up..and see how it works, but as a noob, aside from taking some shots to see if AF works....what else should I look for? I'm meeting in a public place....I figure smart for a high dollar item and cash transaction....etc.
Anyway...thoughts on buying a used lens from someone in person?
Thanks in advance, I truly appreciate all the input and advice I've gotten here so far...
cayenne
--- End quote ---
Canon stuff is generally bullet proof until you start doing physical damage to it, except for their micro motor USMs on older lenses (does not apply to the lens you're looking at).
Pretty much the only thing to worry about is physical damage. Check it for physical damage, especially bumps and dings, if that's good then check the glass. If that's good then all you have to worry about is the AF. Get a tripod, mount the lens on a tripod and then have it focus on a brick wall, wait until it locks focus and beeps if you have beep enabled then go into live view and zoom in and then adjust the manual focus ring to see if it's in focus, if you can get it any sharper the lens has focus issues, if not it's good. Do this at various focal lengths. Make sure to switch out of live view when focusing because the camera uses a different system to focus in live view where it just tries to guess and check the focus instead of phase detection.
If the AF and physical condition are good you should have no issues even with a lens 10 years old.
Hope that helps.
neuroanatomist:
Meet outdoors in daytime - better conditions especially for a slower lens. Test AF, shoot sky and see that vignetting looks symmetrical, shoot something flat with detail across the frame and check that the corners are similar (equally sharp or less sharp). Check the zoom and focus rings move smoothly.
cayenne:
--- Quote from: neuroanatomist on June 09, 2012, 09:17:36 PM ---Meet outdoors in daytime - better conditions especially for a slower lens. Test AF, shoot sky and see that vignetting looks symmetrical, shoot something flat with detail across the frame and check that the corners are similar (equally sharp or less sharp). Check the zoom and focus rings move smoothly.
--- End quote ---
Thank you one and all...making notes for when I meet tomorrow afternoon.....
Please, if anyone has further suggestions...keep posting them!
C
bkorcel:
Look for signs that it may have been dropped. Check the filter ring for dents. Examine the glass. Should be clear with no haze or spotting. Check the external surfaces for scratches or fungus spots. Small stuff on the front glass may be ok like dust speck sized spots but not too many. Make sure any manual focus rings or zoom rings operate smoothly and dont bind anywhere in the full cycle of the ring. Electronically, make sure the AF will switch quickly from it's closest focus to infinity and back....do that several times in a row. If the lens has IS you need to test the IS capability in landscape and portrait mode (hold the camera with the top facing the left and again facing the right). IS should function smoothly in all three positions and it should hold firmly without jumping or wiggles. Take some shots with the aperture wide open..check the sharpness wide open. Take some shots stopping the lens down each time to F/16 (most people wont shoot smaller than that). Make sure all images are exposed properly. Also check the edge of the images for chromatic aberations (where the colors dont seem to line up in the same place) some call it color fringing. On the wide setting you might see some color fringing at the edges. There should be none in the center of the image.
All in all Canon lenses are hard to break no matter what you do to them. The IS systems are somewhat sensitive so you should make sure that works perfectly if the lens has it. Other things to look for are signs that it might have been in water or if you see ANY and I mean ANY sand particles anywhere. Sand and salt will kill electronics. If you see any sand, walk away.
Good luck...If you can try to stick with L lenses with that 5DMIII. They perform to their full potential with L glass.
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