I will be out here in Hong Kong for another 2 weeks before heading back stateside for thanksgiving and came across this used EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 via craigslist. I managed to talk to seller down to $780USD from $870USD based on some prices around this forum as well as the fact that he has a lot of dust in the lens (see pic attached) and is about 2+ years old.
My questions are:
1) does this look like alot of dust to be worth the money?
2) do you guys usually send used lenses off to canon for a check up once you recieve them?
3) does anyone know how much canon will charge to clean and recalibrate the lens?
4) can the lens be recalibrated without my body?
5) lastly...are any of these questions totally dumb and make no sense lol? I am a noob...this is my first "expensive" lens.
well you havn't even got it on your body yet and your talking about recalibrating the lens. It may be spot on when you try it.
As for the dust I would not bother getting it cleaned yet as it doesn't look too bad (by all means make it seem worse when buying it).
I would try the lens for a while before jumping in and sending it off.
As for price I cant help as I'm in the UK and UK prices are much different.
What to look for would be make sure the IS works and make sure it can AF both close and far objects (at all mm's).
As for Calibration without body (I've never had calibration done) I think they just make sure its to spec (which it could be already).
I will be out here in Hong Kong for another 2 weeks before heading back stateside for thanksgiving and came across this used EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 via craigslist. I managed to talk to seller down to $780USD from $870USD based on some prices around this forum as well as the fact that he has a lot of dust in the lens (see pic attached) and is about 2+ years old.
My questions are:
1) does this look like alot of dust to be worth the money?
2) do you guys usually send used lenses off to canon for a check up once you recieve them?
3) does anyone know how much canon will charge to clean and recalibrate the lens?
4) can the lens be recalibrated without my body?
5) lastly...are any of these questions totally dumb and make no sense lol? I am a noob...this is my first "expensive" lens.
I think the price is very fair on the lens even with the dust. You'd be suprised on the amount of dust and junk that can be in the lens and still not show on an image. If you buy it try it out prior to sending it off to be cleaned, the dust is probably a non issue and this lens is known as a dust collector so wait till it gets really bad. I recently had a lens in for cleaning at Canon USA service (no calibration) and the fee was about $90.
Pass it.
The lens may be a continuous collector of dust......so even if you have it cleaned, the problem will probably re-emerge within a few months. That will likely pose a constant irritant plus it will affect the price when you try to sell it.
My lens copy was practically dust-free after two years of use. Some copies seem to have an ongoing dust entry problem. I am not sure if the protective filter solves the problem or not.
does it look bad to you? maybe he just didnt keep a filter on it the time he has had it? im pretty meticulous with my stuff so in the event that I did have it cleaned i dont think it would get that dirty...i think...u said urs is 2 years old and has no dust..how often is it used?
