how many new lenses do you have?

Well, I've got 10 lenses: 5 were bought new and 5 second-hand.

New: Sony 20, Minolta 50/1.7 RS, Tamron 28-75, CZ 85, Sony 100 Macro
2nd hand (all Minolta): 28-135, 35-70/4, 35-105 Old, 70-210/4, 135/2.8

I think I'm done with the 2nd hand lenses... lenses I might be interested in like the 28/2, 35/2, 100/2, 200/2.8, 80-200/2.8 are fetching ridiculous prices at least in UK.

Some examples:
35/2: Minolta L443.05 (+ import duty? it's from Japan) ebay , Canon brand new EF 35mm f2.0 L215
100/2: Minolta L680 ebay, Canon brand new EF 100mm f2.0 USM L373
200/2.8 Minolta L740 ebay, Canon brand new EF 200mm f2.8L USM L630

Admittedly I know nothing about the Canon lenses, perhaps they are totally outclassed by the old Minoltas...but on paper, the old Minoltas are not looking good value.

Cheers
Phil

One of the biggest issue about 2nd hand lenses is the quality. The new ones may have less problems or can be fixed under warranty. A lens if in good shape can easily serve us over 20 years, and one of the advantages of 2nd hand lenses is much more cost-effective than the new ones. For this reason, I tend to put my money on used ones but only for good quality ones.

Fortunately all my lenses have given me no headache so far - knock on wood

Due to my fleabay buying and selling I have been rather lucky for the most part on used stuff. Had a blantant "not as described" which led me to start a flickr page dedicated to returns which I would upload the item, call Paypal, walk them through the photos on flickr so they saw what I was talking about and very quickly would end the nonsense. I have more than 25 lenses from 8mm Peleng to Mino HS 600 APO I just purchased Sat. for alot less than fleabay prices. The new lenses I have bought have always been at some sort of discount where I looked and looked and would not buy until I had exhausted the marketplace for the least expensive pricing. $400 new for Sony 11-18 Feb 2008, $600 for Sony 70-300G from the Circuit City closings, $1337 for Sony 70-400G from Chinaarts in Hong Kong, $1350 for A700P kit with the 16-105 April of 2008 that ended up costing me $600 due to a $750 coupon from fleabay as I had about 6 returns in a one month period of stuff for about $2k and they did not want to lose me as a customer (that was when I'd started the flickr page for returns.)

Being non-partisan and equidistant I bought 4 new lenses, one tamron, one sigma, one K-M and one sony... way to go! (and btw never had problems with the bargains I got on few ol' minolta geisers). Would't mind getting some more Sony primes if given the oportunity

The CZ16-80, 70-300G, Tamron 90/2.8 & 1.4x TC are new
The 300/4 G, 50/2.8, 24-85 and 24/1.8 are second hand.

Some of this is down to timing. I'm not sure I'd have got the 300/4 G if the 70-400/G had turned up earlier. Well, I probably would have but agonised over it more...

my lens.....8 , 17, 24, 50, 85, 100, 135, 400 ....

all is used lens,.. except the kit len... hehe.. now i don't even have the kit lens... Kit lens already sold along with my KM 5D.

Funny, I think of myself as a used lens buyer and had mostly used lenses until a couple years ago. I'm still a bargain hunter, but it's easier to find bargains in new lenses these days than used
New:
400G - bought new by my wife years ago (for much less than you can buy it used now)
70-300G - bought new on Circuit City closeout
16-80 - hmmmm ... did I actually pay the going rate on this one ?
28/2 - new old stock from an eBay seller shortly before they skyrocketed
Sigma 70-200/2.8 - new from eBay with one of those Microsoft cashback deals.
KM 28-75/2.8 - new when Adorama had them dirt cheap for a day or two.

Used:
85/1.4 original
50/1.4 original purchased recently with a Maxxum 7000 at a yard sale at a "too good to pass up" price.

I'm not counting a couple other lenses I own that I keep meaning to sell as soon as I get around to taking pictures of them :)

Edited by CTYankee - 09 March 2010 at 03:18