Used lens prices shocking!

Please correct me if i am wrong,haveing just bought a pentax 18-250 for £249 , Brand new, 12 months warranty.But why the ludicrous prices on second hand used pentax lenses, It just baffels me, That people demand such high prices for these items, Yes its there perogative to sell at that price , I just dont understand it, I work in IT a computer that cost £1000 a year ago you are lucky to get £400 for it now, So why the difference in pentax lenses?. My friend is a pro photographer and he uses cannon 5d mk1 and 2 and he says even the canon lenses go for peanuts compared to there pentax counterparts, is this supply and demand ie cannon flooding market place? Please enlighten me.

Cannot your problem with this.
If I advertise something over the going rate it either sells or it doesnt. Presumably the buyer is happy to pay the price, whatever reason.
If it does not sell, then all I have wasted is my time, and a listing fee, if on ebay.
If you can get it cheaper elsewhere then do so. Nobody is forcing you to buy at over the odds.

Davex.

Thanks Davex, couldn't have put it better myself, this guy asked me to take a photo with my sigma 10-20 to compare with something else that someone was selling, I tried to help him out but that's what I got for it.

Must be the added desirability over their Canon counterparts.

Seriously though market forces dictate the price and if they are consistently sold at a premium then that will become the going rate

I actually had an estate agent refuse to sell my house at 10 grand less asking price than similar local properties, he wanted to keep the prices up.
Had a real bargain that I wanted to buy and needed a very quick sale. Soon found one more than happy to deal and the house went to the first viewer.

Thats fine, Its just that the stigma with pentax gear is crazy. I know plenty of people who have jumped ship from pentax to cannon or nikkon just because the cost of the second hand lenses. Just seems crazy thats all , But ys its all very well demanding top whack but thats only if you get it!

Hang on, I wasnt going to buy any lens as i have stated its a ludicrous price for a second hand item, Just mearly wanted to verify the difference between the 28mm and the 10mm if thats to much of a problem for you then why even comment? Oh yeah at what stage did you try to help me? please advise

Recent purchases on ebay;
Sigma 70-210 Auto focus, vgc £18 inc postage.
Vivitar 2x teleconvertor with aperture control £5.00 inc
Tokina 70-210 manual zoom £9.00 inc
Pentax M 50mm f2, £8 inc.

The point I am making is with Pentax you can get bargains, if you look.
If you want brand new with all the gizmo`s then buy from the shops, they are still cheaper than the big two.

IMHO anyone who choose Canon or Nikon on Lens price has something wrong with their heads. What about the added cost of shake reduction for a start?


Davex.

Some of the older lenses are actually great value in comparison to Canon and Nikon. Where could you get such a brilliant lens for the above like the A 50mm f1.7 for 50 quid or in many cases a lot less

Davex i agree,hence why i went pentax, weather sealed antishake etc, just from the realist side of me , i just find it crazy that people can demand such a high price for 2nd hand gear thats all. My problem is unless its a bargain, id rather by new. I value my warranty more than anything else, as i have been stung in the past. And really itts a pity that people are jumping ship from pentax just because of priceing of the 2nd hand lenses

Its called supply and demand .. simple economics.

Why do people pay thousands for a painting? It's just stupid to pay so much for a piece of old cloth with oil paint on it which has been owned by a lot of people before.

Back to lenses, it allso has something to do with quality. Some of the older lenses are of very high quality and quality is worth money.

Market share figures for first half 2008

Nikon: 40.7%
Canon: 40.6%
Sony: 8.6%
Olympus: 5.3%
Pentax: 4.4%

Yes so basically people dont buy pentax as a rule they go for nikkon or cannon hence why the market is flooded with there lenses hence lowering there prices. Just seems crazy thats all.Dont want to cause problems just mearly raising a point. I have a few pms from people about this subject already

Lenses are high quality items that remain highly useful for many years or even decades. A used lens can easily be just as good as a new lens. Therefore they retain their value well - as long as the market is not saturated.

New lenses are expensive. People who can't quite afford a new one will take some risk buying a second-hand one, even when the price is nearly as much. No point in calling it ludicrous. It's just the way the market is. The prices are driven by what people are prepared to pay.

Computer equipment goes out-of-date much more rapidly, and the market is saturated, therefore depreciation is much higher.

I hardly know about Canon lenses, but I doubt the decent quality ones go for peanuts. There may be millions more of them than Pentax lenses, but there are also millions more users.

It's a pity these people don't come and join the discussion.

Mods please can you remove this thread certain people getting far to excited