Let me reinforce what most everyone is saying. I've been a regular customer of KEH over te years and probably have over two dozen purchases from them. On average they rate thier items conservatively in my opinion. Most every lens I've bought from them in EX or better condition has appeared brand new to me. I've only returned one item over the years and that was a 800/8 mirror lens that just was not sharp enough (not a surprise). The return was painless. I also had one item missent to an old address. They caught the error, corrected it before the item was actually delivered, rerouted it to me, and reimburshed my shipping. Top notch service by phone if you call them. All and all, I consider them my safe choice when it comes to used products.
I purchased plenty of gear from KEH and they in general are right on on their
ratings. Still within the rating there is some range which in general is acceptable.
Read the meaning of the rating carefully.
Spyro P. wrote:
I'd never touch an EX or LN lens from KEH or elsewhere.
I reckon if a very old lens looks unused, it probably is, which I find a little suspicious. Sharp copies get used, a lot.
KEH is very honest with their ratings but they dont do optical tests, they only inspect externally.
Overall I'm very happy with KEH and my BGN lenses I bought from them.
Interesting thought. There are many people though who purchase new equipment and hardly ever use it, then turn around and sell it. I have a few lenses I purchased new that I hardly ever use. When I purchased them it seemed like a good idea at the time, but I soon realized that I didn't like their focal range. A perfect example of this is a Nikon 85mm 1.8 AF-D I have. I thought I would like it, but the focal length is one that I don't feel comfortable shooting at; it's too short to be a decent telephoto, too long for portraits (of two or more people in the frame). I think I have used my 85 about 2 or 3 times, but for the most part it remains in storage. If I were to sell it I would indicate that the lens is in LN or near mint condition, and it truely is.
Same thing happened with a Nikon 300mm 4.0 AF-S I purchased new; I hardly ever use it, so it looks like a new lens. Like me there are countless others who buy stuff on a whim or because we didn't do sufficient research in advance, so we end up hardly ever using the equipment. These lenses sometimes end up at places like KEH and are sold in LN, LN-, or EX+ condition.
Similar situation with cameras. I have a brand new Nikon D200 in its original box in storage. I only shot about 6 frames with it when I purchased it new, after that I placed it in storage as a back up. The idea was to buy it as a back up for my "user" D200. I shoot weddings and I always need a spare back up camera
in case my primary camera fails. If I were to sell this camera I would indicate that it has less than 10 shutter actuations and I bet no one would believe it. A similar thing happened with a D1X I purchased from KEH in LN condition; I kept it in storage as a back up but thankfully only had to use it twice. It now remains in storage in LN condition next to the D200.
p.s. I have learned to shop better now, so I don't just buy stuff without knowing that I am really going to use it. Someday I might sell all of the stuff I don't use, but for now I am hoping that when my kids grow up they will develop an interest in photography and I would be very happy to give them all the cool old (like new) stuff!
My biggest complaint about KEH is that they charged me $85 for shipping a 600/5.6 lens (worth $375) because the yahoo who packed it used an oversized box (about 3x the size of the lens) and a lot of brown paper.
I bought 3 lenses from them all rated as Ex+. One looked like an Ex+ until I examined the rear element, it had a scratch caused likely by repeated mirror hits (most probably a 5D ), another one had a bad focusing ring (a lot of play and clicks while turning, which denotes some rough handling). Only one was exactly as advertized. I also ordered a few Ex to Ex+ UV filters and other accessories and they were very disappointing, scratches and all. To be fair, they offered me to replace both lenses, or have the one with the problematic focusing ring repaired in bangkok on their expense, but I declined.
Deals can be had at KEH and their grading is pretty accurate. Purchased a Leica 80 Lux ROM from them a while back and it was at least $800-1000 less than what they were going for on ebay.
I thought it was a typo and that the lens was pre-ROM but they confirmed that it was indeed the newer ROM version.
Having said that, they don't always have the best price but they also don't have the worst, most of the time.
), another one had a bad focusing ring (a lot of play and clicks while turning, which denotes some rough handling). Only one was exactly as advertized. I also ordered a few Ex to Ex+ UV filters and other accessories and they were very disappointing, scratches and all. To be fair, they offered me to replace both lenses, or have the one with the problematic focusing ring repaired in bangkok on their expense, but I declined.