raptar price

**Mark_3632** · 1-Jun-2004, 20:04

A couple of days ago, Sunday, a 135 raptar closed for over 400 dollars. Is this normal for this type of lens? Just curious.

Here is the lens?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3817105573&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

**Mark_3632** · 1-Jun-2004, 20:11

ooops forgot to tellyou what was up. I bid as a curiosity, to get an idea of what the initial bid was. I knew it would go higher. I have seen these in Shutter Bug for around the 250-300 range, that was a while ago though. Is there something special about this or was it a case of bidding frenzy? I know about the lens and it's coverage.

Has anyone else noticed the final bids on lenses going up? In some cases I have seen prices that were over what KEH charges.

**Ernest Purdum** · 1-Jun-2004, 20:28

I thought I was going to tell you it was way out of line, but when I went to that sale, I found myself looking at a Wide Field Ektar, which is quite a different animal than a 135mm Raptar. Unless there is a problem with the item number, I'm not particularly surprised at the price for the Ektar, though I imagine the seller was pleased. Wide Field Ektars are popular amongst backpacker types who want good coverage without a lot of weight and bulk. (The usual 135mm Raptar, on the other hand, is a relatively fast (f4.5)lens with hardly any excess coverage for 4X5 at all.) Apparently, this one is quite clean. This is the problem in looking for W.F. Ektars. Too many of them have had a long busy life and show it.

Although everything seems to be getting more expensive these days, I don't think used lenses have gone up all that much.

**Mark_3632** · 1-Jun-2004, 20:43

My mistake. It is an ektar. Sorry. I'm tired.

**K. Praslowicz** · 1-Jun-2004, 22:44

I wish the 135 Raptars suddenly started going for $400. I have two of them, one I just bought for about $40.

**Dan Morgan** · 2-Jun-2004, 23:06

K. are you interested in selling that $40 Raptar? And for how much? I have a very limited budget considering I just spent $700 on my Sinar, but it would be a nice addition to my new large format...

**K. Praslowicz** · 3-Jun-2004, 01:18

Sorry, its not for sale. I bought it because it had x-sync so I could use electronic flash handheld, where my other one didn't. But the one without the x-sync works on speeds lower then 1/25th, so I use that for tri-pod work. Plus, I'm thinking having two identical will be good when the winter months roll around again since my good at all speeds raptar likes to get sluggish in very short order in the cold. I'm thinking that I can keep the accurate at all speeds shutter in an insulated bag with a handwarmer, and do all the composition/tilting on one that I can keep cold, and just swap to the warm on for the exposure.