Buying a USED Lens - What to look for

[AndM]

Hi All,

I am wondering if there is anyone on here who can chime in about buying a used lens and could comment if there is anything in particular to look for. I am planning to pick up a Nikon 55-200 Af-S VR f4-5.6 lens specifically.

Hope this hasn't been discussed before as I used the search function before posting. Thanks.

[yray]

a) fungus
b) oil on blades (not likely on this lens tho)
c) physical damage

Bring a small flashlight with you, shine light through other end and look inside for fungus, major scratches and dust. do not look directly into the light

There will be dust for sure because of the plastic construction, these should not affect image quality unless its a huge chunk.

There's a tab on the mount, flick it while looking inside; the aperture should open and close smoothly and blades align together. Run the zoom and focus a few times to test for smooth operation.

If possible, bring a camera to do some test shots. Take pictures of a everything and zoom in and out in your lcd to see for weird marks.

Do ALOT of research on market pricing and have fun.

[AndM]

Thank you,

I had no idea that fungus should be something to generally look out for. Will update later.

[yray]

^never know
brings a lens from hk without proper storage during fall... fungus galore


but if you see a strand, u can bring down the price on a noob seller

Spoiler!

a few spots/strands does not affect IQ, one of my 28/3.5 has fungus on one of the elements and still shoots pretty nicely

[J____]

also another big factor to look for is that the lens focus properly. ie not front/back focusing. Bring a camera to test

[AndM]

So I picked up the 55-200mm. Seller bought in October 2011 and only used it once with a filter on. Brought a flashlight to check for fungus and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. No oil on the aperture blades either. Thanks yray and J____ for chiming in!