14 General rules for buying photography equipment on eBay, Etsy, etc.

I love shopping eBay and browsing other photography marketplaces. They have taught me a lot about cameras, lenses, and other photography equipment. They’ve helped me clear out some old gear and helped me get replace the gear I wasn’t using with things that I needed.

Flip through some examples made with lenses that gave me square bokeh, or the inspiration and materials to make the dreamy Ektoplasmar converted projection lenses.

The first five photography equipment shopping rules

It’s not quite the Wild West anymore, but it’s still wild. So I’ve started trying to condense some of my general rules for buying used lenses.

I thought I could fit them into one tweet.

Draft Rules for Lens-Buying on eBay

1. -UG
2. It’s not rare
3. Mirror lenses resolve nothing
4. Don't L@@K or READ move on
5. Lenses that don't say Tomioka, aren't made by Tomioka#photography #vintagelens #ebay #photographer #photographylovers @SimonFor

— Theodore Tollefson Photography (@thetollart) December 13, 2021

But I wanted to add more detail to my rules for all the photographers reading this.

1. -UG

Include in a search if you want to exclude “UG”. UG is commonly used to abbreviate ugly condition. Unless you’ve got a specific reason, ugly lenses aren’t very useful.

2. It’s not RARE!

It’s funny to see claims of rarity in a (sometimes multiple-page) list of identical lenses! Well, it’s funny at first anyway.

3. Mirror lenses resolve nothing.

Mirror or reflex lenses focus light using a mirror element. They are notoriously dark (small apertures like f8 and f11) and so hard to focus. They seem mostly to have been a cheap way of making very long focal lengths (500mm, 1000mm), and these long focal lengths are also susceptible to vibration. Even more susceptible because they lack the mass of the more numerous and larger elements in a glass lens. Finally, even when they are properly focused and aren’t blurring images with vibration, they don’t seem to be very sharp. So they aren’t a good solution: They resolve no problems and they don’t resolve sharp images either.

4. Don’t “L@@K” or “READ”, move on.

“READ” and “L@@K” (“look”) are words added to listings trying to grab attention. “READ” may also mean that the discription contains some important information about the item’s condition — this information is seldom good. Hence, you can scroll right past without L@@King or READing.

5. Lenses that don’t say “Tomioka” aren’t made by Tomioka

Tomioka made some very good lenses, including aparently some for other companies, and there are often listings claiming that a lens was made by Tomioka, but it’s probably wise to be skeptical about that. This general rule applies to other desirable brands too.

More rules for buying photography equipment

And then I thought of some more…

Draft Rules for Lens-Buying on eBay

6. -BG
7. There is no AIS mount
8. There is no fun in fungus
9. “As is” has many meanings
10. If you don’t see the KMZ logo, it’s Valdai#photography #vintagelens #photographer #photographylovers @SimonFor

— Theodore Tollefson Photography (@thetollart) December 13, 2021

6. -BG

This is what you use in search to exclude “BG”. BG usually means bargain. Bargain lenses are just barely better than ugly lenses, depending on the seller, they may be the same thing. Not likely to be worth even a very low price.

7. There is no AIS mount.

For a very long time Nikon made lenses and camera bodies with F-mount lenses. Some of these lenses were designated AI-s. Some sellers confuse AIS with the name of the mount. AI-s meant that the camera body could change the aperture, and of course it had to do this through the lens mount, but those lenses are still F-mount lenses.

8. There is no fun in fungus.

Fungus can start to grow in a lens. When it does, it often damages the coatings, and some say can even harm the glass. With some patience, practice and dexterity, you can sometimes clean a lens of fungus, but don’t count on this fiddly, delicate, tedious work paying off.

9. “As Is” has many meanings.

Some sellers list their lenses “As Is” whent they just aren’t able to test, and hope to avoid a hassle if something isn’t as it appears. Other times, a seller uses this term to say that a lens is broken and being sold that way.

10. If you don’t see the KMZ logo, it’s Valdai.

Several different factories made the most popular Soviet lenses — like the Helios 44, 44–2. Of Soviet factories, KMZ made some of the best and Valdai made some of the worst, but most common. If you can’t see the KMZ logo, you should probably assume some other factory made that lens — probably Valdai, at least that’s what I’ve seen a lot of when I’ve looked. (List of Soviet factory logos.)

And some more good general rules

And another Tweet that hasn’t gone life as of this writing

11. Three colors of fringing!?

Usually cheaper lenses are cheaper for a reason. Vintage lenses were made with less advanced technology, and third party lenses are not made to the same standards. One place this really shows in in fringing. A little purple fringing is common, and not that hard to deal with in applications like Photoshop or Affinity Photo. But the worse a lens is, the more likely it will fringe in a greenish color too. And sometimes, it seems like after removing two colors, there’s still a little more fringing. You get what you pay for.

12. Parts might be chemically welded.

Corrosian can lock dissimilar metals together. Parts like steel screws in aluminum parts can become almost fused. If you buy something hoping to modify or repair it, or even just use it as intended, this can be a real problem. If it looks corroded, be careful!

13. Rear threads are not all m42.

While M42 was a common, 42mm-diameter threaded lens mount, you cannot assume. There are different thread pitches (number of threads per millimeter) and differend diameters for lens mounts. Like M39, which is 39mm in diameter (I think. Haven’t measured one). Some movie cameras and CCTV cameras use even smaller diameters. You can’t see threads and assume m42!

14. Lenses look better after 12am, but they work the same when they arrive.

There’s something about online shopping for photography equipment late at night. It’s fun, but it makes purchases seem like a better idea than they actually are. Have you been there?

Since you made it this far

Try following me on Twitter to get the latest in (sometimes possibly a little sardonic) photography equipment-buying tips, or contact me another way.

This is a post in the Create category, but I also write about Meaning and encourage people to Meditate on the good.

Anything incorrect or omitted? Tell me in the comments.