whats a fair price?

[Mark Kemp]

I have the option to buy an old Tamron 500mm f8 mirror lens. Its adaptall fit but has the EOS adaptor. This makes it manual only of course, no autofocus.

I can use it occasionally for the long focal length and the relatively small size.

This is being sold secondhand in aid of my camera club and I want to offer a fair price for it.

I can't seem to find anything similar in second hand ads, has anybody got any idea roughly what these things are worth?

[tim]

There was another thread on these today, you might do a quick search and find it - sorry in a rush.

[ron chappel]

The canon adapter will make it worth more than normal because that adapter particular is quite rare.
Epay shows them selling for us$130+ for non EOS mounts so figure on us$200+ for the EOS equiped version in mint condition

One thing you should check before buying-the secondary mirror has a habit of delaminating on mirror lenses so be on the lookout for *any* marks on it's surface.
Mine had very subtle marks that were difficult to see and diagnose,but that was enough to completely ruin the optical performance
The secondary mirror is the small one that sits right in the middle of the front glass.It faces backwards of course so you have to carefully look into the lens and check out it's reflection in the main mirror.Held at the right angle it's reasonably easy.

[Andy_T]

Epay shows them selling for us$130+ for non EOS mounts so figure on us$200+ for the EOS equiped version in mint condition


That might be true, but there are cheaper options to mount an adaptall lens on Canon EOS. The Adaptall mount for M42 was available for 25~50$ when I checked it the last time I thought about acquiring an adaptall lens, and M42-EOS adapters run at $25. Bottom line ... you might not be able to sell the adapter (if it really is an EOS adapter) for the price, because there are cheaper options available.

I would ask for sample images, as there was a thread on a Vivitar mirror lens that had *horrible* performance (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=53614&highlight=vivitar+mirror).

Best regards,
Andy

[ron chappel]

Yes i forgot about that Andy

[Andy_T]

On the other hand, I am just following an eBay auction for a mint Carl Zeiss (West Germany) 500 mm mirror lens in Contax mount myself that has a new price of $ 2500 ... will probably go for about 250-350$.

I assume it might have quite decent image quality :lol:

Best regards,
Andy

[Mark Kemp]

Thanks for the advice guys - I have borrowed the lens so I will try a couple of test shots. It has no obvious major defects but its a bit dark this evening for a proper test so I will get some more shots tomorrow to give it the best chance.

[ron chappel]

By the way-here is a test using one of those lenses and a canon 500/4.5L http://photo.net/learn/optics/mirrors/