Estimated worth of an UGLY lens?

[nanthor]

Hi, I have an opportunity to buy a set of gear from a friend and one of the pieces is a 50mm chrome summilux. It's the type 2 with serial number around 300xxxx. The lens surfaces and insides look very good with no evidence of scratches or fungus, a little dusts, pretty good. I took pics with the lens and they are sharp with nice smooth bokeh. Here's the problem...some previous owner took a black magic marker and tried to make the lens black, probably to keep it stealthy. Most of the black has worn off but it is still obvious in the focus ring grooves and in areas where the fingers never touch, next to rings and such. It is VERY ugly to behold and looks like this will never come off unless the lens is completely disassembled and professionally cleaned, even then I doubt it will look good. None of this affects performance, aperture is nice, focus smooth. This lens should cost about $1000.00 in nice shape. What do the readers here think an ugly lens like this is worth? It would definitely be just a user. I can't figure a price for the package because of this lens. Thanks for any help here. Bob.

 

[nanthor]

C'mon now, there's lots of people reading this, I just need some opinions, not accurate assessments. I was thinking that it was worth maybe 2-300 dollars as just a lens that could be used and probably never sold for more than a couple hundred due to the look. Any ideas on those prices? Too low/high? In other words, is there anyone out there that would buy a 50mm Lux for $3-400.00 if it functioned properly and the lenses were good, regardless of the exterior look of it? Thanks, Bob.

 

[Krosya]

Bob, it'd be easier if you could post a pic of it. Can you?

 

[nome_alice]

it's worthless. if it looks ugly all your peers will laugh at you. best you should just send it over to me and i'll take pictures with it, probably all its good for now.

 

[Ronald_H]

Let's put it like this: I'd buy it for half the market price of a mint example and shoot it 'as is'.

Edit: But I already have a 'cron and prefer the extra image quality over the extra stop.

 

[LeicaTom]

I say $250/300, that`s fair enough, while UGLY is aok to shoot with and your not getting it for nothing, so you don`t have to feel gulity about it. (I would buy it off you or trade for it in that price range)

I don`t understand how stupid people can be sometimes, I`ve seen some very rare stuff ruined by markers, engraving etc. etc......God what were they thinking?????

Personally I`d like to try out a Summilux sometime in my Retro PinUp work, I`d like to see the real difference between it and the Summarit

Tom

 

[nanthor]

Thanks so far, I'm thinking about maybe getting the whole kit and then selling this ugly lens for ~$300.00. It's the other items in the kit that are of interest to me. Thanks, Bob.

 

[steverett]

I would definitely pay $300 for a summilux that took pictures fine but had ugly chrome. I can't see what the lens looks like when I'm looking through the VF anyway. In fact, if you decide to sell it, could you send me a PM?

 

[feenej]

$300-$400, I'd say.

 

[Al Kaplan]

Somebody is going to get a bargain. A few cotton swabs, maybe some teensy bits of cotton with toothpicks for the fine details, and some lighter fluid should get the Magic Marker off. I'd probably just get enough off so my fingers would stay clean when using the lens and figure that it'd be less likely to get stolen looking like that. Or maybe not. The real question should be does the purchaser want or need the lens to USE? If you clean it up you'll probably get a bit more money for it though.

 

[BillBingham2]

Bob,

I was going to give you my 2c last night, but figured it might not be well received. As you've asked here goes.

Are you buying it to use or to sell? It looks like sell so pay as little for it as you can, to you it's worthless. There are a great number of people here who would LOVE to get a great user lens for a reasonable price, say $200. You can price it higher, but remember there are lots of high priced lenses here (the classifieds and on EvilBay) that sit, reasonable prices move fast. The idea of flipping it is to recover your money. There are lots of people who will look at it the same way as you are so the more you need/want/thing-you-can recover the less likely you are to get it.

Get pictures of it and with it so a better guess can be made.

B2 (;->

 

[Beemermark]

Sell it on Ebay and you'll find out what it's worth. I sold an accurately described 50 Summilux that the front lens must have been cleaned with a Brillo pad. It wasn't even a user in my book. At the time clean good Summiluxes were going for about $600. A Japanese camera store paid me $425 for it. I assume they had a front lens to replace the damaged one. And contrary to many people's opinion an ugly cosmetic piece of equipment doesn't bother a lot of people. Many of us buy a lens, or camera, to use. If the lens is mechanically decent (and depending on the version) I'd probably buy it for $600.

 

[nanthor]

pictures FROM the ugly lux

pictures FROM the ugly lux

B2, I would buy it to use, replacing my summicron, and the package also has a 35 lux in it. So the cosmetics wouldn't bother me too much, but I am a fickle person and someday would sell and wouldn't want to get stuck with something that has no value to others, hence my inquiry. I didn't take any pictures of the lens but I took some with the lens, here are 2 taken wide open at 400ISO with the high jpg setting of my R-D1, although I had to change them to very low quality to get them on this site but they should give some idea of the sharpness, color, bokeh. Thanks, Bob.

 

[nanthor]

By the way, the 35mm Lux has a loose front assembly, about a 1/8 inch play when either moving the aperture ring or just holding the front and jiggling it. I've heard that the version IV cron has this sometimes and this feels like the same thing, I assume this can be tightened without too much trouble? Bob.