Who the heck is buying all the lenses?

[David Honey]

...and when are they going to stop!

;-)

The way I see it, there must be an army of addicts out there, caffeined-up, eyes permanently glued to eBay waiting for the final countdown or in search of the next near-mint Schneider.

Hordes of bug-eyed amateurs, equipment resellers, collectors, and other obsessives with too much time and money on their hands! (but I'm not guilty, of course not!)

I'm just wondering where they all come from, what's happening to all these lenses, and how many times must they change hands? I imagine many of them spend their whole lives on shelves between UPS shipments. Seems a pity.

What are the economics of this? It doesn't seem there could be that much profit in it as they are never at any point 'cheap'.

I know there has been a surge of interest in LF lately. Will a saturation point of lens ownership eventually be reached?

[John Kasaian]

David,

Thanks a lot, David! You just let the cat out of the bag! Everyone here knows the secret to retiring rich with LF photography isn't by taking great photographs.

What you do is get an old lens off eBay that no one has ever heard of---the more german sounding the name the better--- claim it possesses either:

1) rare earth glass

2) a world famous reputation for bokeh

3)Ansel Adams used one

4)Edward Weston used one

5)Sally Mann used one (only it was in better condition than yours---hence yours is worth more)

Then you relist it on eBay and watch the money roll in. You can even buy and sell the same lens over and over if you wish. At least one successful LF photographer nobody has ever heard of and who never had an exhibit is now living out his golden years at his waterfront estate in Grand Cayman after doing just that.

...But YOU had to go blab it on the web! ;-)

[David Starr]

5)Sally Mann used one (only it was in better condition than yours---hence yours is worth more)

And if Sally Rand used it, it's worth WAY more. (on a camera!)

[jonathan smith]

"...this lens was dropped by Ansel Adams, here's the dent right here...

...and that's Weston's thumbprint there etched in the coating, you can check it with the FBI...

...and you can see the Virgin Mary in the reflections when it's set at f22 and you hold it at an angle..."

[David Honey]

LOL John. I suspected there must be more to photography than just taking lousy photos! Sorry to have spoiled all you poor old shutterbugs' retirement plans!

Anyway, I just got me a shiny mint Fujinon 90/8 SW for $100+ less than the KEH price (sorry KEH).
eBay can be pretty cool -- if you keep your cool, and know exactly what you want. No room for the wishy-washy!

[QT Luong]

Kerry bought them all, to research his series of lens articles :-)

[David Honey]

BTW, I have an idea this particular Fujinon was used by that famous guy um, what's his name, you know... some say he was a legend in his own mind back in the day, etc etc...

Just for the record, so when you see it up on eBay next..

;-)

[Victor Samou Wong]

I suspect that thousands of bored camera store owners pan the web when they have nothing else to do.

But besides that, anybody have a 100mm wide field ektar with good glass they want to sell me? I'm buying! After this I will never need another lense ever again... I promise!!!!!

Yeah with some of these ads you would think that Ansel's farts would make anything remotely photographic valueble.

Cheers
-vic

[David Honey]

'After this I will never need another lense ever again... I promise!!!!!'

Yeah right! You're one of those that's causing all this lens-flation then? I thought so!

(BTW, I got my lens -- why am I *still* watching eBay countdowns??)

[Michael Graves]

I've got all the lenses I can use right now; except maybe a wide for the 8x10. I'm the guy who's been sneaking up at the last minute on all the good darkroom gear.