2nd hand lens advice

Hi,

I have seen a couple of Pentax fit lenses in a local 2nd hand shop and wondered if they were any good –

Petri 50mm f/2
Miranda 70-210 f/4.5 – 5.6 (macro)

They want £10 for the 50mm and £20 for the zoom

I would be really grateful for any advice on these lenses, so that I don’t buy something that ends up being a waste of money!

I did try them out on my K-X in the shop, but I reckoned that this wasn’t the greatest opportunity to see what results they could give.

Thanks

I agree with the comments re Miranda - Mind you they have been around an awfully long time

I agree with the above, and would add that if you don't already have a 50mm prime then the Petri might be a nice introduction to prime lens photography.

Also if you match it to a reversing ring it will give you a very cheap and relatively high quality introduction to macro photography.

you might not need either of these things, but if you are interested in both it would be £10 well spent.

Take a punt on the 50mm at a tenner. Better still, offer them a fiver and see what they say.

Mongoose's point re: reversing ring is a good one too. If you can get the lens and a reversing ring (try ebay) for under £20, that is a seriously cost effective portrait (without RR)/macro (with RR) set-up!

Miranda started life in 1946, and in the early days was a very innovative camera maker.

"The Miranda T was the pioneer of a new breed of camera, a 35mm SLR with a built-in mirror housing and upright image pentaprism. It was the first modern Japanese SLR as we know it today."

So, don't knock Miranda. They were ahead of Canon, Nikon, Minolta, and yes, even Pentax, for a while.

G

Why not just buy them for £10 and £20? You might find them fun and useful
If they are not what you want then bung them on fleabay.
For that price I would give them a go.

I love cheap lenses and would go for the 50mm if you have a use for it.

Not sure the Miranda is worth anything myself though, might not even sell on ebay. For £5 it might be fun if its clean enough

For £20 or less ebay try a Tamron Adaptall 80-210 103A with mount - a pretty good lens made by the lorry load. Lots about, so hold out for a good one - its my fave 80mm portrait lens

hefty1 and George L are both right.
Miranda (the company) made very good SLRs way back. They ceased production in 1978. They never made any lenses.
Miranda (the brand) is a name owned by Dixons. They never made any lenses either.
This does not make the zoom a bad lens as such - as an example, the Olympus OM lens range was made by several different companies. The real question, surely, is whether the lens in question is worth £20. Offer the dealer a £20 pound note as a deposit, take the lens outside and try it across a range of subjects, return the lens and get your £20 back. Now negotiate a returnable deposit while you go away and look at the results. If you have a laptop, you could do this in the shop. If the dealer does not want to play, then walk ...
Geoff

Years ago I had a Miranda 135mm which I used on a Ricoh KR10. I really liked it but, but then again, things have moved on in lens design an awful lot since then......Petri of course are more famous for making little flat glass dishes to grow nasty bugs in.

Got to be worth a go at £30 though.....