U.S. prices

[raymo]

I am in the unfortunate position of not having deep pockets, and being
a skinflint to boot, and therefore went looking for a camera lens on
U.S. ebay. I was surprised to find that the prices were the same as here,
but in U.S. dollars of course.
raymo

[inertia8 (Australia)]

Must be just about the only thing other than Rancilio Silvia espresso machines..

[dannat (Daniel)]

Th camera/lens pricescare no longer cheaper with conversion/import..even HK is hardly cheaper, as we can buy direct from online HK stores, my other pursuit cycling is the same, can buy as cheap online here as anywhere. Some of the big scopes still have a diff, eg celestron are US cheaper, and binocs/spotting scopes etc

[michaellxv (Michael)]

I have also been looking recently and your post confirms what I was finding. Which leaves the question where is the best place to buy from?

[Nico13 (Ken)]

And unfortunately the postage from the US can be through the roof for a lot of items even things that don't weigh a lot and are in small packages, $50 is not unusual.
Adorama or B&H in New York were where I would normally go but I did get a good deal from a Canadian camera shop a few years back when the exchange rate there was favourable and that was on a $1500 dollar lens though.
I don't get too many like that.

[blink138 (Pat)]

if you know what you want raymo, gumtree can be a very very good place to look for second hand bargains
i myself have had two rippers, a samyang 35mm f1.4 $280 and a tokina 16-28mm f2.8 for $450
my brother has had two copies of the excellent canon 28-105 f4 for $560 all from gumtree
pat

[raymo]

All I want Pat, is a simple EOS 50mm about f1.8, any brand, but
people seem to be bidding through the roof even for used ones.
raymo

[blink138 (Pat)]

Originally Posted by raymo

All I want Pat, is a simple EOS 50mm about f1.8, any brand, but
people seem to be bidding through the roof even for used ones.
raymo

well the canon one is less than a 100 raymo, the canon f1.4 is less than 300
pat

[raymo]

It just surprises me that with so many 50mms on ebay, they sell for more than the 28-80, 35-76 or 70 or 80-200 zooms.
raymo

[tileys]

If they're the mk I then they have the metal mounting collar and as such are better regarded so may be bidded up - makes no sense to pay too much for the mk II as they are pretty cheap to begin with - mind you - for a wide field lens (and gen/full length portrait lens) they are hard to beat.

I've been looking at new prices and Kogan seems to be very competitive - never bought a lens from them but have bought other stuff and generally pretty happy with the service. Lenses are covered worldwide under warranty aren't they as opposed to bodies which (I think it's still the case) have to have their warranty honoured in the country of purchase ? Hence the cheaper lenses ultimately leading the way to cheaper distribution of grey market bodies as well.

[dannat (Daniel)]

if its the 50\1.8 just use dwi or camerasdirect - someone like that, no sense in US shipping for a low cost product

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

I quite like my nifty 50, not least because it was cheap

Stop it down to about f/3.5 or 4 and the corners become reasonably well tamed. Better corrected lenses cost a lot more.

[raymo]

Thanks everyone.
raymo