p.5 #2 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
mikekeating wrote:
B&H is wondering why their refurbished tab has been getting so much traffic the past few days.
Great find.
Thanks and
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Max Power wrote:
I am just surprised nobody at B&H knew the true value of this.
I wonder if their sales agreement with Nikon prohibited them from selling it for anything over retail. I think if it were used, then they could have increased the price. When I originally called to check on the order to make sure it was what the web page said it was, I told the salesperson the last one sold for $25K on eBay, and while I didn't mind getting such a great deal, I wanted to make sure everything was copacetic. He went and checked on it, and verified it was an accurate listing, "We don't joke around," he said matter of factly. So that was that
[Edit: B&H said there was no price control on these things, and they could have sold it for whatever they wanted. Where they came up with $8500, I have no idea.]
p.5 #3 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
Donzo98 wrote:
You going to hang to it for a while, or sell it soon??
I'm thinking I will sell it on eBay, but I'm not 100% sure yet. If I do, I'll put a link to the sale in the for sale section here as an "off site auction" post, then update this thread with my decision. The last one of these to sell in this condition was an "A-/like new" sample with pristine original box, and it sold for over $50K at the current exchange rate. I have the original "refurbished box" – not as good, but unlike the other one, this one's never been used or mounted on a camera, and has been certified by Nikon to be in as-new condition. I would probably set the "Buy it Now" price high, then also have the "or best offer" activated. It will also depend on what I learn is the history of the lens. Also, if B&H expects to get more of these, I may wait for them all to "disappear"
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charles.K wrote:
Congratulations !!! Thank you so much for sharing your excitement and journey
Thank you, and you're welcome!!!
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geekcop wrote:
The lens is a thing of beauty. Wow! If and when you sell it I hope you get what the lens is worth and can use the money to buy something(s) that you can use. I love a bargain. Thanks for the great pics. Seeing it was half the fun for us.
Thanks, I'm pretty exited to have even seen one in person, held it, and technically owned it for however short a time
p.5 #4 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
geekcop wrote:
The lens is a thing of beauty. Wow! If and when you sell it I hope you get what the lens is worth and can use the money to buy something(s) that you can use. I love a bargain. Thanks for the great pics. Seeing it was half the fun for us.
100%... I was so pissed we had to wait till Monday
p.5 #5 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
Donzo98 wrote:
100%... I was so pissed we had to wait till Monday
I was sad it didn't come on Friday, but I was afraid to get mad and thumb my nose at good fortune – and then the Universe would send me a box of rocks as punishment
I called B&H just now, and basically the answer to how this came to be was, "our buyers bought it from one of our sellers, and we sold it in the new department since it was an unopened refurbished product" So it sounds like it may have been a case where the seller and buyer both didn't fully realize what they had. Probably was bought in bulk with a bunch of other lenses, but I guess I'll never know for sure. It's good news for me, though, because this means it wasn't sold to them directly from Nikon, meaning there shouldn't be any more like this coming.
p.5 #6 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
I don’t know if you know much about the Nikkor 15mm f/5.6–from the same era. I got one of those after I got my 13, and it’s like a baby brother to the massive 13. Known as the Nikkor 15mm f/5.6 QD-C, it’s just a smaller version of the 13. While the 13mm goes to an angle of view of 118 on the diagonal, the smaller 15mmm covers slightly less at 110. Due to the rarity and expense of the 13s, the 15 QD lenses have been going up in value, too. Mostly, it’s wishful thinking on their part, to get $1000 for one of those.
If I were you, take plenty of photos of it so others can better appreciate it. Shoot it with things near it for scale. Most still have no idea how massive a piece it is. Several years ago I went to Europe with mine. I left my 14 behind. The 13 was such a conversation piece. Everywhere I went people asked about it. Many thought it was a fisheye with that massive front element, and then you spend s lot of time explaining what a rectilinear lens is.
In the perfect world you would have two. One mint to hold back, and another to use.
Mine is pretty close to mint, and started out as mint when I got it. However, I’m fundamentally a photographer so I had to use it. Maybe it’s mint- today. Still beautiful.
As you know, the AIS lenses started in October 1981, beginning with 175901.
Mine, at 175918, is a relatively early AIS. Don’s is 175964. The one pictured in Peter Braczko’s book is 175962. Ken got to borrow 175933 for his website, (Rockwell). While I have seen other serial numbers above 176xxx I think yours at 176090 may be one of the last.
Mine is featured on the Wikipedia entry for the 13mm Nikkor. I also posted a photo I shot with it demonstrating the straight lines it’s capble of. I also had a shot from it on that Malaysian website on Nikon.
p.5 #7 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
Edgy01 wrote:
I don’t know if you know much about the Nikkor 15mm f/5.6–from the same era. I got one of those after I got my 13, and it’s like a baby brother to the massive 13. Known as the Nikkor 15mm f/5.6 QD-C, it’s just a smaller version of the 13. While the 13mm goes to an angle of view of 118 on the diagonal, the smaller 15mmm covers slightly less at 110. Due to the rarity and expense of the 13s, the 15 QD lenses have been going up in value, too. Mostly, it’s wishful thinking on their part, to get $1000 for one of those.
If I were you, take plenty of photos of it so others can better appreciate it. Shoot it with things near it for scale. Most still have no idea how massive a piece it is. Several years ago I went to Europe with mine. I left my 14 behind. The 13 was such a conversation piece. Everywhere I went people asked about it. Many thought it was a fisheye with that massive front element, and then you spend s lot of time explaining what a rectilinear lens is.
In the perfect world you would have two. One mint to hold back, and another to use.
Mine is pretty close to mint, and started out as mint when I got it. However, I’m fundamentally a photographer so I had to use it. Maybe it’s mint- today. Still beautiful.
As you know, the AIS lenses started in October 1981, beginning with 175901.
Mine, at 175918, is a relatively early AIS. Don’s is 175964. The one pictured in Peter Braczko’s book is 175962. Ken got to borrow 175933 for his website, (Rockwell). While I have seen other serial numbers above 176xxx I think yours at 176090 may be one of the last.
Mine is featured on the Wikipedia entry for the 13mm Nikkor. I also posted a photo I shot with it demonstrating the straight lines it’s capble of. I also had a shot from it on that Malaysian website on Nikon.
Great info, Dan. Thank you! I found this web page that shows a photo of your lens at the bottom: http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/ai1356.html It shows the serial number spread for all the variants, but not sure how accurate the information is. Based on this page, if the orders for the 13mm were fairly steady, mine could have been made around 1989/90. It's hard to know, though, since the lens manufacture dates could be spread out anywhere on the timeline.
I'm excited mine is in such good shape, but part of me was hoping for Ex+ condition so I could try it out on the GFX without affecting the value. Maybe lightning will strike twice, and I'll find another one at a garage sale one day
An interesting personal perspective on the 13mm lens designer from a Nikon page:
p.5 #8 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
You definitely have a great story you can tell having owned a legend. With your profit you can get yourself a D850 and a lens or two to give that GFX a run for its money with plenty left over.
And speaking of stories how did you come to be browsing the B&H Nikon refurbished section? I would have never thought to look there for something like this and would never think of B&H as somewhere you could find a hidden gem type bargain.
p.5 #9 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
jpelt78 wrote:
You definitely have a great story you can tell having owned a legend. With your profit you can get yourself a D850 and a lens or two to give that GFX a run for its money with plenty left over.
And speaking of stories how did you come to be browsing the B&H Nikon refurbished section? I would have never thought to look there for something like this and would never think of B&H as somewhere you could find a hidden gem type bargain.
I wanted to look at the price for a refurbished Nikon D810, so I searched for "Nikon refurbished", then sorted by price high-to-low so the D810 would come to the top. Well, right above the D810 was this lens, at which point I made that head tilt that dogs do when they try hard to understand something
But yeah, I'd never have thought to find something like this on their site, not in a million years. It was completely my dumb luck combined with whatever the Universe conjured up to get it there.
p.5 #11 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
rdcny wrote:
is there any way to determine when your lens was first advertised for sale on the B/H site?
Not without calling them again. But I searched for "Nikon refurbished" several times over the day or two leading up to me seeing it, and I never saw the 13mm. I may have stumbled across it not long after it was made available. It did have the "New Arrival" banner across the corner of the listing, so that may be a clue – not sure how long those banners stay there.
p.5 #12 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
Nice score! YOu might make over 20k on this flip.
I found a few others that sold the past few years and yours is by far the nicest copy. If I was you I would debate listing with nikon refurb. Not sure if that would help or hurt.
p.5 #14 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
mysh wrote:
Nice score! YOu might make over 20k on this flip.
I found a few others that sold the past few years and yours is by far the nicest copy. If I was you I would debate listing with nikon refurb. Not sure if that would help or hurt.
p.5 #16 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
Donzo98 wrote:
I was thinking the exact same thing...
As new... would cover it I think
So you're saying "as new" and "appears to have never been used or mounted on a camera" would be more valuable than the generic refurb box with matching product and serial number?
Petapixel is publishing my story on this in the morning as a guest post, so the whole world is about to know it's a refurb I asked them to link back to this thread for details. I'm kinda thinking the bitterness of knowing I bought it for only $8500 might hurt my chances on eBay Maybe I'll hold on to it for a year or two, who knows! Feels like it's a good luck charm at this point
p.5 #17 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
highdesertmesa wrote:
Not without calling them again. But I searched for "Nikon refurbished" several times over the day or two leading up to me seeing it, and I never saw the 13mm. I may have stumbled across it not long after it was made available. It did have the "New Arrival" banner across the corner of the listing, so that may be a clue – not sure how long those banners stay there.
It's always nice to get a little bargain. Ask Henry P who lost their job on this one.
At $6600 or whatever you spent, I'd keep it and shoot it. No one is ever going to walk up next to you with one of those. It's never going down in price. I read KR on the lens, and he said he only saw 2 in 30 years, and he was looking for one ( to see at least ). And the 2nd one took an invitation from Dubai to come and see it.
p.5 #18 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
T-O Shooter wrote:
It's always nice to get a little bargain. Ask Henry P who lost their job on this one.
At $6600 or whatever you spent, I'd keep it and shoot it. No one is ever going to walk up next to you with one of those. It's never going down in price. I read KR on the lens, and he said he only saw 2 in 30 years, and he was looking for one ( to see at least ). And the 2nd one took an invitation from Dubai to come and see it.
Good points. The future "Mint-" condition if I shoot it might be more than the current "As new" price. Tough choices. Part of me wants to try in on my GFX soooo badly.
Is Henry P their manager? I called the next morning after ordering it and literally told them I didn't mind getting a bargain, but they should be sure since the last one sold for $25K on eBay in not as good condition. They were pretty matter of fact about it all, like it wasn't a big deal.
p.5 #20 · Nikon 13mm f/5.6 AI-S "Holy Grail". Did I get a good deal?
mysh wrote:
Nice score! YOu might make over 20k on this flip.
I found a few others that sold the past few years and yours is by far the nicest copy. If I was you I would debate listing with nikon refurb. Not sure if that would help or hurt.
Yeah, not a bad return on investment, is it? I think I should go out an buy some Lottery tickets!!
Regarding the refurb thing, this thread already shows up in Google at a decent ranking, so a potential buyer is likely to see the matching serial numbers and put two and two together anyway. For me, seeing it was a refurb from B&H carried a lot of weight, and I knew it would be as-new. But I suppose buying it from a random individual on eBay, the refurb designation is going to create more questions than I have answers. It's too bad I don't know for whom this one was built originally, or how it came to be a refurb. My gut tells me someone custom ordered this, and upon receiving it, they noticed something like a dust speck inside and asked Nikon to make them a new one. Nikon then would have cleaned it and boxed it up as a refurb. But then from that point, what could have happened that it never got sold? Maybe someone bought it and never opened it, then it was purchased at an estate auction or something. I guess I'll never know, and it will remain a mystery.
