Buying soft focus lenses in Europe

[Darryl Baird]

Does anyone have sources, suggestions or leads on where I might find soft focus style portrait lenses in either London (anad westward into Wiltshire) or Paris. I'm interested in lower prices (of course) and maybe something fun to do while the wife and kids are shopping.

I'd planned on cruising Portobello Market next Saturday... I recall a couple of photo shops on that street, but that's all I know.

I made a cheat sheet of all the lenses for sale on Igor's camera site... so I have a reference point.

-db

[Ole Tjugen]

They show up quite often on ebay - .co.uk, .de, .fr, and so on - if you happen to know what you're looking for. The American lenses you mostly find on Igor's are rather rare here.

[Miguel Coquis]

If you come to Paris, try "le grand format" au boulevard Beaumarchais (use to be the photo-street). Ask for Daniel. Serious guy. He is LF cameras and lenses specialist and have lots of second hand.

[Ash]

Darryl, last time I went to Portobello (a couple weekends ago) I found it a nightmare. You'll also pay over the odds, from what I found simply because they are 'vintage' or because they're on one of the most famous market/streets.

MW Classic occasionally have some nice lenses. Their customer service (mail order) can be a bit rubbish, but generally for the price they're worth a gander.

[Pete Watkins]

Don't mess about, go to Camera Eccentric. Nice products and a great bloke to deal with. Just remember that some of those lenses are massive so it could be worth asking for the dimentions before buying. According to my son Portabello Road is good for its fruit and veg and not much else.
Best wishes,
Pete.

[Ash]

Pete,

That, and street photography: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...ogid=282788284

[Pete Watkins]

Hi Ash,
I couldn't live with that stuff on me wall though. I must be honest I've not been there since the '60,s though my son did shop there in the last couple of years. Three Repromasters went for less than £25-00 on U.K. E-bay a couple of days ago, where were you?
Best wishes,
Pete.

[Ash]

Pete,

It was a horrible dismal rainy day too. Typical English weather

I was tempted by a pair of old RAF flying goggles (blame the video for Closer by NiN).

Darryl can't be far from me (mentioning Wiltshire in his post) - I'm in Swindon, and I still keep missing those cheap lenses on the bay.

[Darryl Baird]

Portobello was fun, but rainy off and on. Not much of what I wanted, but did manage to find an old lens (unmarked, unknown focal length) with f/6 waterhouse stop.

Ash how are you with the flooding? ... Swindon was in the news as badly hit by the rains.

Stonehenge was cold and soggy, but the grandkids still had fun. Ice cream works wonders. We got stuck on the M4 for a long time, but managed to escape any real problems.

Thanks for the au boulevard Beaumarchais suggestion, looks good from a Google Earth search.

[Richard Kelham]

You could try Mr Cad in sunny Croydon. Good stock, but rarely any bargains.


Richard