What to watch out for when buying used lenses?

P

pukupi

Guest
Apart from the obvious marks and mould on the lens and movement of focus and aperture rings, what else should I look out for when buying a used lens?
 
Dust in the elements, oil on the blades, wear on the blades, dents on the filter ring.
 
Look through the lens at a strong light to check for haze. Also look at the element edges carefully for the beginning of separation.
 
doubs43 said:
Look through the lens at a strong light to check for haze. Also look at the element edges carefully for the beginning of separation.
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If you shine a light through a lens you may never buy another one again!
 
pukupi said:
Apart from the obvious marks and mould on the lens and movement of focus and aperture rings, what else should I look out for when buying a used lens?
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Buggered screw heads. That means someone has been in there. Someone like me, with ten thumbs and all of them someone else's. Run away when you see that. Believe me, they're not selling it because the operation was a success.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
On CameraQuest Stephen Gandy has placed an extensive piece just about this subject. You might find it useful.
 
Any splotches inside the lens resembling a fine spider-web or dried water-marks, those are happy little fungus colonies etching away the glass.
 
Excess oil on the blades is bad. The oil can find its way onto the lens elements and cause coating problems or hazing.

What does it reveal? A poor repair?

Any smart people out there, help me here please.
 
rover said:
Excess oil on the blades is bad. The oil can find its way onto the lens elements and cause coating problems or hazing.

What does it reveal? A poor repair?

Any smart people out there, help me here please.
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Possibly. I have also read it is a condition that may come from storage in excessive heat, such as vehicle glove boxes.
 
Or that the lenses haven't been opened for cleaning in a while, or the lubricant has migrated to the blades...

Not all lubricants sublimate in such a way to redeposit on glass and have an optical effect. I had a Nikkor f/2 85mm that had oil on the blades, and yet produced fine images with great detail, without flare or haze around specular highlights.

My Jupiters have it. Most of 'em anyway, and they too take very nice pictures.

I think my Summicron had oil on the blades but I don't remember.

Oil on the blades only bother me for SLR use, where sticky blades slow the aperture's rush toward what I preset.
 
Thanks for all the advice. The reason I ask is I stumbled across a beautiful, used Summilux-M 35mm f1.4 ASPH going for half the price they sell for new in Japan. Yum, yum.
 
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