Purchasing second hand - hints and tips?

[Liney]

I've been looking at the sales for a new lens I can use for Macro, and they are few and far between for Pentax unless I want to spend more money than my financial advisor would be happy about. I did find one but with most of the local dealers not stocking Pentax I had to search far and wide and stock is limited, so for the first time I'm looking at pre-owned lists in the local dealers and other sources the likes of cash-convertors.

I picked up a Sigma 28-90 this morning for a very decent price, and almost purchased an old Tamron SP2 Adaptall mount zoom but it would not fit my camera, but it got me thinking about purchasing second hand lenses. I'm glad I had the old body with me when I viewed the Tamron or it would have been wasted money, but apart from checking everything like the focus, zoom and aperture works, what other hints and tips would you have?

Saying that I would say that cash-convertors had a decent choice but you would need to check the website regularly and see what was around. Allegedly they would deliver to a local shop if what you want is interstate, however I would never spend more money than I could afford to waste if the lens fell apart in six months.

And before anyone says it, I'm not changing to a different manufacturer who has more dealers...

[Tannin]

Do you do your macros using auto or manual focus? If the latter, then there should be a whole world of grand old Pentax glass available for spare change. That said, modern lenses really are fantastically good. For (e.g.) a general-purpose zoom, I'd go with a recent model every time. But for macro, I don't think the art has improved all that much because, from a design point of view, macro lenses are pretty simple and they were already making great ones way back before they had the giant computers used today.

[Liney]

Tony, I currently use a manual focus lens for the tabletop macro work, it means I can add extension tubes and/or reversing rings at will. I have used that setup hand held but it takes time to get the focus right when chasing insects.

The lens I picked up today has an auto focus macro mode, not as much magnification as the table top setup but it should make chasing insects easier.

I agree there are some bargains out there, it's just a case of finding them. With anything imported now subject to GST I'm restricting my searches to within Aus.