Quote:

On 2004-03-14 15:12, Nick wrote: But that's my point. A lens with a great rep isn't always a great lens. Some one may have driven over it with a tank. Who knows? Until you actually have the thing and can test it some how the rep is at best a guide. Maybe you can find a Holga user to buy it? Call it broken in? Well aged?

Agreed, and with vigor. You may have noticed my many posts here and elsewhere advising people that the only way to know whether "this lens here" is any good is to ask it. Asking strangers who aren't well acquainted with the thing itself is a waste of everyone's time.

The only safe question to ask is along the lines of "is the Super Optimar a better bet than an Ultra Pessimar?" I don't know your practice, but when shopping for photo gear I don't go against the odds. Nikon, not Miranda. Graphic, not a rare and totally unsupported press camera. Taylor, Taylor, and Hobson, not, say, Aldis.

As for my, um, unintended TTH blunder, all I can do is start various protest processes in the hope that they'll at least cost the miscreant time and energy. I'm not going to send it back at my expense. If I do that I'll end up nearly as far behind as I am now.

We'll see how the thing shoots. It may have a future as someone's soft focus lens.

Cheers,

Dan

I tend to take a dollar weighted view towards risk. If the item is cheap I'm willing to gamble. You never know what you'll get. OTOH I've seen people pay fairly high amounts of money for older lenses of unknown quality. Little more money would have bought a brand new modern lens. Same thing with cameras. If I ever buy another 4x5 it's likely going to be new.