Any experience with this eBay seller?

Yes. Lots, as do many here. Totally reliable. Have bought from him in the past and very satisfied with products, prices and service.

/T
 
Gilo25 said:
His lenses though are all quite old, early 60s late 50s'.
... and the problem would be????

Actually, he even has a fourth version of the 35/2. I have picked up quite a few items from Kevin, I'm a very satisfied customer.
 
I wouldn't describe his prices as cheap, but he does select stock carefully & describe it thoroughly. It's probably best to select from the website, not on ebay (or rather, select on ebay then look for the item on the site & email Kevin)
 
No problem at all, but if you are looking for newer versions it looks like he doesn't normally have them. You may have been lucky to get a fourth version of the 35/2, but of the lenses I was looking for (Summicron 90/2 and Elmarit 90/2.8) he had only serial numbers between 16.. and 23.. Since the question was ' I noticed his prices are lower' the reason may be that in some cases he may be selling older versions which indeed cost less.
 
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Kevin seems to specialize in older glass and prices his stuff more reasonably than some of the other dealers out there (Hollywood and Arsenal come to mind) and he is an active trader. Some of us have lost eBay auctions to him - At least I have a couple of times, and I think LeicaTom recently. 100% reliable guy IME.
 
I've bought from Kevin several times. As others have said, he is very reliable and his merchandise is always well described. If he says that an item is in great shape, it will be. But his prices are not bargain basement. You pay for peace of mind.
 
jamiewakeham said:
So that's why Pentax 85mm f/1.9 lenses are so hard to find - he has them all...
It would seem like it, but I have one too. :)

I have bought from Kevin, and his gear is well-described and extremely well-illustrated. Prices seem a bit on the high side, but he's got the goods, and he's reliable.
 
You people must be loaded to pay Kevin's outrageous prices, and his photos are appalling. There are a lot of decent sellers out there who let the market dictate the price, show excellent detailed photos of the items and post internationally at cost. So why bother with "Buy at my price" Kevins (and Arsenall's, etc) unless you are rich or desperate.
 
If you find his prices outrageous, just don't buy from him.

He's got unique inventory, often with good selection of varying condition from average to mint, and has it available for immediate purchase; don't have to wait for an auction to end, only to find you missed out by $1. And many times I've seen auctions go way beyond the prices he's got listed...plus, he will negotiate.

Lastly, he backs up the sale. I bought a 50/1.4 Nikkor from him that shortly thereafter developed difficulties with the aperture; he did a CLA for free and turned it around in less than a week. Try that with various ebay auction sellers...

Highly recommended.
 
I have had many transactions with Kevin...buy and trade....and I always ask for 10% off and usually get it.... he has great, hard to find stuff....and yes, he has higher than ebay prices, but he also KNOWS what he is selling and takes returns. Thumbs up.
 
What's with his collection of Tomioka 55/1.2s?

What's with his collection of Tomioka 55/1.2s?

One thing I have never understood is why he appears to be trying to corner the market on the Tomioka 55/1.2?

About a year ago I read Mike Johnston's SMP article on the 'Glow' and thought it sounded like something interesting to try. So I went on eBay looking for one of the longish large aperture lenses MJ recommended and noticed this merchant, always with BINs for the Tomioka, but always for what seemed to me to be ridiculous prices. IIRC, when I first started looking, he was selling mint ones for about $650, and beaters for around $350. There was no way I was going to pay that much to try the experiment, so I went for a Super-Tak 50/1.4 for all of $50. But every once in a while, I run that search again. Now I see he's trying to get something like $900-1200 for them. Does anyone ever actually buy them? This may seem naive on a forum of Leicaphiles, but I simply can't imagine paying that much money for a 40 year old M42 normal lens just because it's half a stop faster than the more common ones. For that much, I could get my choice of Canon/Nikon/Minolta/Pentax 50/1.2 and a nice body to mount it on.

Or is there some Japanese cult market around that lens that he's selling to? I just don't get it.
 
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