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Steve's Used Canon EF Lens Guide: Be A Smart Bidder!

by: canon_treasures( 4504Feedback score is 1000 to 4,999) Top 5000 Reviewer
78 out of 84 people found this guide helpful.
Guide viewed: 3004 times Tags: Canon EOS | Digital Film | EF Lens USM Lens | Canon 10D 20D 30D | Canon XT XTi


Many Unknowingly Have Grossly Overbid On Used Canon Lenses  Sometimes In Excess Of 200%-400% Due To Deceptive Guides, Reviews And Ad Descriptions! This guide assists the less experienced bidder in avoiding such costly mistakes.

Sellers that write favorable "reviews" and "guides" about the same products they sell in their auctions should be viewed as clever sellers with obvious conflicts of interest... never as caring mentors. Their "guides" and "reviews", often  technically flawed,  become nothing more than disguised sales pitches favoring only what they just happen to sell in their auctions every week. Later in this guide, we'll offer you some genuine reviewers who don't sell the Canon gear they review.

We are resellers of used Canon photographic products... on eBay since 1999.


“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”
Mark Twain

If you are new to eBay and read this guide in its entirety, it is unlikely any seller can fool you into bidding more than you should for a used Canon Lens or any eBay item....ever!

Please don't be shy about voting "helpful" after you've finished reading this guide.  Your helpful vote at the bottom of this page will help spread the word to other new buyers and to those on eBay responsible for overseeing Guides & Reviews.  It takes less than 1 second to check mark the box, it's anonymous and it won't cost you even 1 penny.

Here is a letter  written by a reader that explains what we  hope to accomplish when you read this guide. A letter like this "makes it all worth while".  If you are new to eBay, or even if you are experienced on eBay,  perhaps you will feel the same way after reading this guide.


"Dear Canon_Treasures.

 I owe you a great deal of thanks because your article (Be The Smart Bidder) was the first one I read when starting this venture. In my searches for lenses I have run into and experienced every single statement and phrase you mention.  …I just read the article again and everything is laid out in the open. It’s kinda like the old taking the horse to water story. You can take him to it but you can't make him drink. You laid everything out there possible (at least in my mind) to keep people from hurting themselves. You saved me a lot of money. I don't think I got hurt on any of my purchases. My 100-300mm USM I paid $175, the 28-135 IS USM I paid $296 and the 50mm 1.8 II I paid $85. I know I didn't get the best prices or the best lenses but I'm the impatient type. (He in fact did quite well,  C_T).

You have given us the tools, it’s up to us to use them. I did and your guidance was a godsend for as I mentioned in my first email, this is all new to us. No telling what I would have bought without your help and the links you provide. I especially like the "Fredmiranda" review site. A lot of times someone will post actual pics taken with a particular lens and that helps in the decision making process.
 
When you say I already have a nice compliment of lenses to start with I really owe that to you. No, you didn't tell me which lens to buy but you did show me "How" to buy and that makes all the difference in the world.

Thanks for your help Steve.
Sincerely...DM”

Being The Smart Bidder...

•     This guide was written to provide the less experienced with information on eBay's Two Key Bidding "Tools" that will shield anyone from ever overbidding on a Canon Lens!

•     With these simple eBay tools, anyone can bid like a pro and have the best chance of getting the best price.


The main rule for smart bidding...Thoroughly comparison shop on eBay before you bid. eBay makes it very easy to do. Here's how.

First... As most know, always use eBay's "Items Search" and see what other sellers are currently offering for the same model lens.




Just type or paste the lens model description in the item search box at the top of the eBay Auction page. Example: We used Canon EF 70-210mm Lens. Click on this link now and see what comes up. You'll get an entire Item Summary Listing of all comparable lenses at auction on eBay.

Now you can see with this link what is available from all vendors offering this lens model and make a more informed choice. Some vendors offer "buy it now" pricing, lots of details, less details, great pictures, few pictures, warranties, no warranties, but now you know all the players who offer your lens !

Second...Use Google! Use Google! Use Google! ...and paste or type the same model lens that you are considering.

You will find prices and the real reviews with impartial professional reviewers.  You will also find amateur "reviews" that are once again opinions that are not substantiated by objective testing. But at least these kinds of opinions are made by users, not sellers! We have a listing of three professional reviewing sources below in case you have difficulty or want more sources.


Third... And the best of all!  We'll walk you through the following: Always, but always check off eBay's "Completed Listings" feature page for the same model Canon Lens that interests you.


Using the same example as above, click on the link , Canon EF 70-210 mm Lens only this time it looks different. If you look closely, you'll now see all prices in green that represent the recent selling prices for that lens.  How  was this page found? Very easy. Look to the left hand margin. Scroll down past the following headings (you may want to jot these down): Camera Lens Finder...Related Guides...Search Options and under Show Only...Scroll to Completed Listings. Check off the box next to Completed Listings (in this example, we had already done that for you), Scroll down 5 more lines and click on...Show Items( Again, we had already done this in advance). 


What you are seeing are all the final bid prices for all the Canon EF 70-210mm Lenses sold recently on eBay.  This feature tells you exactly what others recently paid for the exact same lens that has caught your interest. Now you will always know before bidding just what you should expect to pay and how high to bid! This feature provided by eBay is the single most valuable bidding asset available to us all.


Congratulations! For those new to eBay or not those not aware that such bidding tools existed, you will never again over bid, unless it's your conscious decision to do so. There's more!


Below Are Listed The 8 Most Common Traps and Baseless Claims that are "shouted" at us in ads,  causing buyers to bid higher than the seller's Used Canon Lenses are worth when Compared To Real eBay Market Prices Found In The Completed Auction Listing Pages Discussed Above!

  

1. “VERY RARE” CANON LENS AT AUCTION" Used incessantly by some sellers to escalate the bid price. Through 2006, Canon sold 30 million lenses. No Canon EF Lens yet is ever truly "rare", but some models are indeed less plentiful than others. Checking the completed listings page that was discussed earlier will prove out whether or not the lens that interests you is truly rare.

Rule Of Thumb: Within any 7- 14 day period on eBay, you can generally find your model either sold singly or with a camera body attached. If you can’t find what you are looking for, email us and we’ll either list it for you or find you an eBay vendor that can.

2. "OUR LENS AT AUCTION IS: “AS SHARP AS AN L LENS” or “NEARLY AS SHARP AS AN LENS” or “SOME EXPERTS (never footnoted or named) RATE THIS LENS SURPRISINGLY CLOSE TO AN L LENS”…Equally overused by the same few sellers  to imply that you’re getting the performance of an expensive professional Canon  L lens for the cost of an average consumer lens.
Can pictures taken with a non L lens look "nearly as good" as those taken with an L? Under certain conditions, of course. Just the way a Toyota Corolla and its "Luxury" counterpart, the Lexus, can both safely transport us from point A to point B at the same speed.
 But the simple truth is that if the lens has no expensive fluorite low dispersion glass, it will not perform "exactly" like an L lens ". Comparisons made to an L lens, for any validity, must be qualified and quantified! 
Always look for genuine reproducible proof statements and or reproducible tests to back up comparative performance claims against an L.




3. “THE APERTURE BLADES OF THIS LENS ARE OIL FREE AND SNAPPY...THEY WERE CAREFULLY CHECKED AND ARE FREE OF DEBRIS"

Fortunately for Canon Owners since 1987, debris and oil have never been issues with the aperture blades of any modern Canon EF Lens! The phrase "oil free and snappy" has as much technical relevance... as stating that the aperture array of a particular Canon EF lens displays no symptoms of "chicken pox" and therefore, if you buy only their lens, you will be safe! Thank the stars for that, right?

The term "oil free and snappy" morphed on eBay into a meaningless sales gimmick phrase parroted  by the few but vocal "Herd Sellers" implying that their lenses were safe from this "dreaded" non existent condition. (Note: Even before the introduction of EF Lenses in 1987, Canon used a synthetic lubricant  that might over time dry out, but would never migrate to aperture blades as some organic lubricants might have with lens made before 1960). The only oil that would ever show up in an EF Lens would be if someone of questionable competency (or honesty), took apart an EF lens and deliberately lubricated the aperture blades.

So back to being the smart bidder and reality. Immediately try your lens when you get it. Look at the pictures and if they are satisfactory, believe that Canon makes a durable product and get a good nights sleep so, more importantly, you can get up early and take lots of  great pictures with your newly purchased lens.


 4. “OUR LENSES HAVE A METAL BASE NOT THE CHEAP (CHEAPO) PLASTIC BASE” The engineered plastics which are used in Canon Lenses are first cousins of the high tech plastics and composites used in today’s most sophisticated military weaponry including the Stealth. According to Canon, you would have to mount and unmount their lenses made with these engineered plastics 15 to 20 times a day for ten years to create any measurable change in tolerances. Even then, there would be no change in the quality of the photos. Metal bases are perhaps needed for pro lenses that are heavy, but not for the light walk-arounds used by the majority of consumers.

 5. “THIS LENS IS A QUALITY LENS MADE IN JAPAN, NOT THE CHEAP (CHEAPO) EQUIVALENT MADE IN TAIWAN”…Not one shred of evidence to support this ridiculous claim! When you examine the facts, quite the opposite is true! For the record…First... Canon’s Taiwan Plant, one of their most modern in the world, has precisely the same ISO 4002 Quality Certification as their older Japanese Plants. Second... Canon’s Taiwan facility has invested heavily in the latest & most expensive state of the art manufacturing equipment. Third... the plant operations management and key operators overseeing production are Japanese. There is absolutely no difference what so ever in the performance of the lenses made in the Taiwan or Malaysian Facilities. Because of continued escalating labor costs in Japan, it  will be no surprise when the day comes that L Lenses are being made in Taiwan or even... China?!  One more reality check! Which is better, a Toyota Camry made in Japan or a Toyota Camry made the US? ...If you said "expect the same quality from either", you would be 100% on target!!




 6. “THIS LENS AT AUCTION IS A MUST HAVE LENS, I JUST WOULDN’T BE WITHOUT IT”! If that were true, considering how many different lenses are claimed to be “must haves” by some sellers, they would need to mount their bloated camera bag on a pack mule just to lug around their “must have” pile of lenses they're trying to sell you.With a 5-6 megapixel camera or greater and the 1.6 crop factor, an inexpensive Canon EF 28-105mm Zoom for under $200 easily does what is needed on most vacations to come back with  consistently decent e mailable  4 X 6 photos or 8 X 10s that are printable.

Rule Of Thumb 2: Only after you have discovered what your current lens lacks and know the kind of subjects that interest you, should you then consider buying an additional prime, zoom or macro lens.

That way you take the rifle shot approach, get the right lens the first time and save money. Taking the shotgun approach that seller/reviewers like to recommend, i.e. ....buying their pile of  "must have lenses".... is both costly and unnecessary. There are too many in a rush to get the perfect lens and wind up wishing they had waited.



7. “THIS LENS AT AUCTION OFFERS THE BEST IN BOKEH AND PERFECT CIRCLES OF CONFUSION”... BUT YOU MUST GET 7 APERTURE BLADE VERSION FOR THE BEST RESULTS, NOT THE INFERIOR SIX APERTURE BLADE VERSION "THE FIVE APERTURE BLADE 50MM f/2.5 COMPACT MACRO CREATES THE BEST BOKEH I HAVE EVER SEEN".... “DON"T GET THE LENS WITH THE FLOWER”... "IT'S OK TO GET THE LENS WITH THE FLOWER”...!

Facsimile contradicting & confusing hyperboles like these have cost bidders to needlessly pay as much as an extra $200.00 for the lenses based on buzz words & contrived hype." "Bokeh", a Japanese derivative literally means "delusional" and is used to describe blurred backgrounds in photographs. "Circles Of Confusion" refers to a lens with "out of focus highlights" creating in a photo, tiny light "droplets" or small light "circles".

Whether the "circles of confusion" give the appearance of softened diamond facets supposedly with a 5 or 6 bladed array or the roundness of a blurry water droplet supposedly with 7 blades or more, it is strictly a matter of preference. The fact is that the real contributor to creamy bokeh and softened COC is the manner in which a picture is taken and the spherical aberration inherent, but different in every lens model. This is a fact confirmed directly by Canon!

How important is bokeh? Simply put, bokeh is to a photograph as a stage set is to a stage play. Both bokeh and the stage set should be “neutral”. Generally we go to a stage play to see the play, not the set. When we take a photograph, we shoot the subject, not the blurred background behind our subject.
 Experiment with your current lens with tight close-ups at the most open f stop (lowest number) you can manage and see what happens. You might like what you see regardless of its number of aperture blades and save a bundle.

8.  And finally, the most costly to the inexperienced of all the seller /reviewer /guide writer hypes..."GET RID OF YOUR FUZZY KIT LENS" decree some "Herd Sellers" on eBay.  A "kit lens" is a term that refers to a lens that is often included with an SLR camera body, along with additional accessories, all in the same box (or as a "kit").

Of the 30 million lenses Canon has sold through 2006, it is estimated that 20 million of those fall into the category of a "kit lens". If we are to believe  the "fuzzy kit lens claim", then there must 20million people world wide with Canon kit lenses, totally unaware, that they are taking 20 million fuzzy photos each time they hit their shutter releases.
 
Yet Canon still manages to elude detection and somehow continues to prosper as the world's largest camera manufacturer! "So what's wrong with this picture?" Nothing, it's with those few sellers "advising" you to get rid of a perfectly serviceable Canon Kit Lens in favor of whatever it is they happen to have for sale this week in one of their auctions. You don't need get rid of that kit lens and you certainly don't need buy from those that suggest otherwise!

As Elegant As Any Lens Can Be!

To enlarge the image, paste the link below into the URL Box of your browser

http://i5.ebayimg.com/05/i/001/09/f2/8323_10.JPG



Fact: If you are interested in near flawless resolution.....One of the finest lenses ever made by any company for under $350.00 (then in 1987)  was the Canon 50mm f/1.8 metal mount MK I ...KIT LENS, the BUTTERFLY LENS! This was one of Canon's very first "kit lenses" included the EOS 650 as was its more common cousin, the 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 1:4 Macro. There is also a MK II version ( "fantastic plastic", some reverse it) for about $90.00 with decent optics. The build quality, however, is significantly lighter duty and unlike the MKI, the MKII feels and sounds kind of loose and sloppy right out of the box, but never the less produces sharp images.
 
Fortunately, the more ruggedly built  metal based, 50mm f/1.8 MK I Kit Lens is still plentifully available today and can be purchased used for under $229 (or less in average condition). You can Google this lens until the cows come home and you will find nothing but praise for his lens by both the pros and serious amateurs alike. For the record, I do sell this lens, recommend this lens and use this lens and have done so since 1987. I consider it to be the best prime Consumer 50 ever made for image sharpness and color...regardless of price and it is truly an "honest f/1.8.

So, ignore the call of the  "lens herders" and don't get rid of that "fuzzy kit lens" just yet as Canon has made some other decent kits as well and you probably have one of them!
Before you spend one penny on anyone's lenses, (ours included), use the one you have to its fullest! Use it for at least 10-20 hours of solid picture taking. Use it under all conditions; good weather, bad weather, bright sun, morning sun, afternoon sun, scenics, close-ups...etc. Take notes, so you can remember the conditions & settings. Using a camera and lens before you really know their capabilities is like trying to hit a target with a rifle before you adjust the sights.

By running your own "evaluation", you'll learn for yourself first hand what it lacks and then you'll buy a lens that fills the void that suits your needs, not what someone else tells to buy. You may also find you have one heck of a great performing kit lens. Remember, the majority of mediocre pictures taken have absolutely nothing to do with the camera or the lens! It is "we" behind "both" that are the culprits!

OK, for those that I can't convince and who must have a new lens for that great newly acquired body, here is a list of real reviewers and those that really "guide" for the sake of guiding.

Professional Review Resources For Evaluating Which Canon Lens Or Canon Body Best Suits Your Needs.

Here Are Several Of The Most Respected Web Based Canon Camera & Lens Reviewers.

These recognized industry experts are used by camera store owners, professionals and amateurs alike. None sell what they review!

Fred Miranda Reviews        
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/  
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=3&sort=7&cat=27&pag

DP Review / Phil Askey
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0508/05082207canonlenses.asp

An excellent and readable site for Canon EOS Cameras and Lenses, as well as others.

Bob Atkins Reviews
http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/
http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/telefoto.htm


Newly added...updated 01/31/09...More of an all around digital camera tutorial site with helpful hints, great photography and a little something for both pros and amateurs

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/

Newly added.... updated 03/26/09. Ken Rockwell, who really delves into comparisons of Canon & Nikon lenses, keeps current, works hard at providing great visual comparisons (see his work on ISO comparisons, outstanding) and is a photographer who works at his craft, not just an arm chair review writer.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/index.htm

The MIR Site below is often used by interested amateurs seeking anecdotal information on older Canon Lenses & Bodies and by people writing ad descriptions and reviews.
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/eos/EF-lenses/index.htm

I am grateful and give thanks to two special people (one customer and one interested reader), Brian Moran & David Moore who gave their encouragement and ideas that contributed so much in making this guide & future guides better.
 
Lastly, a thought below inspired by a  gentleman I met quite by accident outside of Yosemite in the 60's and whom I mistakenly took for a “kindly prospector”… His name: Ansel Adams.

“With any camera, with any lens regardless of price and make, there is a winning photograph just waiting to happen. You can make it happen with yours.”

 © 2008 Canon_Treasures …Thanks very much for visiting… …Steve… Canon_Treasures…On eBay Since 1999



Guide ID: 10000000003652747Guide created: 07/18/07 (updated 06/23/09)

 
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