"Does not effect image"

[BrianShaw]

Don't lawyers get paid by the word?

Only when their lips are moving. Otherwise they get paid by the minute.

[Jim Galli]

jim
what you didn't realize that calling something a "terd" is slang in some circles
NOT for a useless piece of $-ite, but something good..
besides you lovingly called the lens a terd, which is no different than when katherine
called henry fonda "an olde poop" in --- "on golden pond"

so ... the buyer knew it was code for something good, not something bad ...

Dangit! I should have asked for more for the old dear.

[fishbulb]

Another test, similar to Kurt Munger's, but testing for lens dust: http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011...e-of-lens-dust

And another test, with scratches: http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008...ment-scratches

Long story short, unless you are stopping down quite a bit, using a very wide angle, or focusing very close (i.e. so that your DOF comes very close to the lens itself), you really aren't going to see most lens scratches/dust/fungus/etc. in the final image.

[goamules]

Good extreme examples of "Condition 5" damage. I'd never sell a lens in condition 3-5 though. So if I sell one with condition 1-2 damage, my description of possible image affects will be unchanged.

[Leszek Vogt]

Perhaps this may be way too obvious...if it 'does not effect image', how about showing several images (recent) taken with this particular lens. Visual confirmation is not everything, but it can be golden.

Les

[djdister]

Perhaps this may be way too obvious...if it 'does not effect image', how about showing several images (recent) taken with this particular lens. Visual confirmation is not everything, but it can be golden.

Les

You could certainly ask, but this would not be a solution if the seller is deceptive. They could post anything, from a different lens, to a shot that does not have any sharp detail, and etc.
It comes back to trust - a trustworthy seller wouldn't need to post proof of his claim, and an untrustworthy seller could not be counted on to show honest proof.

[jp]

Perhaps this may be way too obvious...if it 'does not effect image', how about showing several images (recent) taken with this particular lens. Visual confirmation is not everything, but it can be golden.

Les

That's crazy; owning a lens to be used to make photographs? Just kidding.

It works though. Although the lenses I use I don't want to part with. The lenses I sell come from cameras or deals from which the lens was not of interest to me and legitimately aren't going to be used by me. But if someone's got the time and the lens is valuable, it's helpful.

[Mark Sawyer]

Technically, wouldn't one have to test the same lens, both before and after the damage, with a variety of lighting conditions, apertures, and focal distances, to be sure there's no effect?

[Tin Can]

.