18-135 Worth?

A freind of mine is making the switch to Nikon for some reason, so he'll be selling his 60D and 18-135 kit lens. I'm trying to figure out if I should buy the lens from him or not. He's asking $300 for it, that seems a bit high, what are your thoughts?

On B&H's site, it's listed new for $450. How old/in what condition is the lens?

-Pat

Look at the prices in the buy/sell forum here. The full MSRP on the lens is $500.

A quick look at that forum seems to show that something around $270-$300 is the asking price. I'd offer $275 and see if he'll take it. The price difference on the 60D body only vs. the kit is $300. How much has it been used?

It's hard to say how it's been used sinc ei haven't seen him for a few months, I will in 1 month once we get back to school. But i know he takes care of his stuff, so i'm sure it's up there in condition. He bought it this past January, so it's pretty new. I would get the 60D too, but i don't have that kind of money to spend. Is the 18-135 only for EF-S, or is it EF too? If it's EF i'll jump on it, since i want to get a full frame camera in the future.

It's an EF-S lens, so crop only.

-Pat

Lenses don’t lose much value over time, unlike the camera body; $250-$275 would be a fair price.
Should you elect to go FF at a later date, simply sell it?

Yea i'll see what he says; I really don't need it because i have a nice range of lenses, but it would be nice to have the range it gives for the price.

I sold mine with hood for $350 so $300 is in the same ball park. BTW I didn't like the lens, it was soft and had major lens creep.

Yea that's what people were saying on on B&H reviews that it does creep. I might just save my money then, luckily none of mine have that now.

I don't have much trouble with it and my copy is pretty sharp. I haven't noticed it creeping yet, but the zoom barrel doesn't have a lot of resistance so it probably would if I jostled it enough. It doesn't really bother me, even fully extended the lens isn't THAT long.

Yea 135 isn't bad in terms of the barrel length. i definitely can say there has been times where i wish i had that length with my 18-55. But then again, 5.6 isn't too great 135, that's what my 300mm extends to.

135mm isn't all that great but I rarely use it past 100mm.
Still a great carry around lens.

I recently bought a Canon refurb from B&H for $299. Looked absolutely new. I have noticed no creep yet and it is reasonably sharp. I am perfectly happy with it. It is a great walk around lens.