I know, I'm stupid!

I'll be interested to read how many negative comments I get, but here goes. I just bought my first lens on Evilbay. No laughing allowed-it's a tokina 70-210 f4 tele. Oh flip, I can almost hear the sniggering. The thing is, it cost me £5.52 inc postage. Whaddya reckon??

not from me my first tele was the older f4.5 version..nice lens..

It's worth having a play with to see what it's like. At £5.52 there's not much to complain about!

At that price you can't go wrong - at worst you've got a reasonably cheap paperweight!

Phil

Well I can't imagine you'll find a better lens for the price! Its a starting point and a reference you can use if you decide you need something else, good for comparisons.

Oh dear, you're looking for super bargains...does this mean
you've spent all your budget on a new CAMERA??

Okay, I don't feel too stupid. As Nigel says, it'll do for comparisons. No, no new camera just yet. I'd forgotten that we had to pay the final payment for our week in Torquay in September, so I'll have to wait a couple of weeks before making the BIG decision, K50 K5 or K511s. Luckily ,I'm a fairly patient soul (it comes with age). lol.

That Tokina was one of the first lenses I ever owned. If you have a good example - you may be quite surprised by the results. It was never a world beater but in my view was better than the price tag may have suggested.

Let's be honest - at £5.52 - if you can see through it - it was a bargain - and if you can't see through it - pick up a screwdriver and have a couple of hours fun seeing how many of the elements you can get out of it without using a hacksaw

Carl

I paid more for mine at around £35 a 95 - 210 mm and it has done well. OK some draw backs with my K10D either wide open, or manual as the camera does not know setting of lens.

But I go an added bonus found when I reverse the lens the zoom becomes focus and the focus becomes zoom so quite good for close-up work.

On odd thing when reversed needs to be wide open or centre has a light spot.

I've got a Tokina SZX SD II 70-210mm and its an excellent lens, very compact and no purple fringing at all due to the APO front element. Cost about £40 and was mint condition. Its PKA too so all exposure modes work.

Snoops27 wrote:

Yes, i think you are stupid.

You bought a lens for an incredible cheap price.
You bought a lens you may not anywhere being able to buy, where it not for Ebay.

But then you knock Ebay. If it is so bad, (evil) why bother?

That is stupid.

Regards, Horst

Hey, you never know, might have just been an autocorrect mistake on a smartphone ...

I would have thought a "Smart-Phone" would be smarter than that.

Regards, Horst

You could have paid more at a car boot sale. Have fun, and don't forget to post some results on here

To get serious.

It really does,t matter how much a lens cost (or how little).
Every lens will give you a picture.

I have a lot of very old lenses, from early bellow and similar cameras.
All bought on ebay. I modified the back to 42mm Pentax thread , or drilled a hole in to a 42mm camera cap. Then I use Pentax bellows and I can focus any lens from about 60mm onwards.

I like playing around with this and taking pictures when I have the time to spend.

Most pictures are not really worth while to keep, but every now and then a really great one happens. (not much different for me with a 1000 dollar lens )
The main thing, if you have the time and inclination, to fit the lens you bought so cheaply on to your camera and take pictures.
Even lenses with some fungus on the glass can have something you may like.
The main thing is to use it and photograph with it. You'll may be surprised.
Specially in this digital age, it costs you nothing extra.

Here is an example of a lens head I found in an light beam detector to indicate if someone walks in to a shop.
The lens head was a Printing Ektar f4.5 125mm . This lens has no diaphragm and is always used wide open.
It is a little bit soft.

I liked the resulting picture and had it framed and hung




Except of a bit of cropping, this is the original. (no Photoshop etc)

Regards, Horst

Not stupid at all in my opinion

The postage and lens prices are good - the lens itself may surprise you on how good it will be - I love old lenses - so much so my newer ones are the least used ones

Ebay can be brilliant but like anything else it can have it's down sides - I refer to it as evilbay as sometimes its very existence enables me to buy stuff I don't need - especially if I have had a beer or two

I know self control is the issue but evilbay is known to weaken my will

I have also had issues with items bought from evilbay but to be fair they have been excellent at sorting the issues out when I have had an issue - thumbs up from me - but not my wallet

Enjoy your new toy - it may suit a wander around the footpaths along the Dee Estuary as they are so close to you

Regards



Stu