Buying a second hand 100-400mm

Hi,

I've been looking for a tele to give me more reach, and the various Canon 70-200mm models + the 100-400mm has been considered.

Even though the lens is a more demaning when it comes to light than for an example the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS - I think it can provide a very versitile lens having that much reach "all in one".

I do not shoot sports. It's primarily for people (e.g. family on vacation), urban photography (buildings, details, abstracts) and some nature photography. I like to go hiking, so it wouldn't hurt having a lens capable of capturing a few birds and other small animals.

Soo.. Getting to the point;

I've been given an offer for a 100-400mm second hand. It was bought two years ago, and the date stamp is UU0615. According to the seller it has only left his house a few times, and has taken less than a thousand pictures alltogether. It has always been used with an S-HMC Hoya UV filter for protection, and has no visible marks of wear or anything like that. Condition is suppsedely "as new".

The price is roughly $1275 USD, while the new price in store here is from $1800-1950 (at special offer) and upwards. The Hoya S-HMC UV also comes with the lens.

According to local law, I will be protected against "production faults" (i.e. any faults not caused by misuse) for two years in relation to the person selling it to me - and 5 years from original purchase date (i.e. 3 more years) from the store it was originally bought from. I get the receipt and have cleared with my local store that I can take any issues I have via them as long as I have the receipt.

The sale is via a big auction-house here, pretty much like ebay.

Any thoughts? Decent offer? Should I go for it?

I'm just a bit... wary.. when it comes to buying something this expensive used/second hand...

Not too bad a price...on Amazon it is $1225.00 USD with no filter.

I love this lens and have used it for fast jets on the deck, sports car races, surfing shots, birds in flight and sniping shots of people.

Buy it. You won't regret it. Unless...you try shooting sports in doors or late falling outdoors light. It is not fast at the far end. But that is so that Canon can sell you the 400 fast prime, or the 500 prime, or the 600 prime, or the new 800 prime, or you can mug someone with the few remaining 1200 primes and then try running away with it (hilarious visual).

Canons not stupid.

-rang

rang wrote in post #7288572
Not too bad a price...on Amazon it is $1225.00 USD with no filter.

I love this lens and have used it for fast jets on the deck, sports car races, surfing shots, birds in flight and sniping shots of people.

Buy it. You won't regret it. Unless...you try shooting sports in doors or late falling outdoors light. It is not fast at the far end. But that is so that Canon can sell you the 400 fast prime, or the 500 prime, or the 600 prime, or the new 800 prime, or you can mug someone with the few remaining 1200 primes and then try running away with it (hilarious visual).

Canons not stupid.

-rang

Wow..i just had the image of someone trying to run away with the 1200...i think i could barely WALK carrying that thing!

$1275 is a good price, i see them new online for $1400...used they drop to $1200 sometimes sans the filter [Which is a god one]

But right now lens prices ARE going up..so I'd grab it while i can..

Yeah, and if I purchase from amazon I get 25% tax on top of that when it passes through customs here. The cheapest I can see it for at amazon is ~$1400 USD, so that would be around $1750-1800 inc. tax and customs in the end. This would also mean quite a lot of hassle if I for some reason needed to return the lens, and the warranty time given would be less than the protection provided by law in my country.

I am also thinking that if I buy this lens used and end up not being completely happy with it (e.g. if I find f/4.5-5.6 too slow) - I can sell it again with minimal loss. If I buy the same lens new and come to the same conclusion, I will end up selling it with a much higher loss. If I am happy with it, I got a lens cheaper than what they are in the stores - and can be happy with that. If it fails within 3 years without damage that can be proven to be a result of misuse, I can have it repaired or replaced by my local photo store.

And it is indeed an excellent filter - the same I use for my other lenses - and costs around $130 alone here.

I have been pulling my hair out for the past two months trying to decide which tele to go for, so I should probably just suck it up and go for it before I have none left!

Thanks for the replies.

Hoesi wrote in post #7289087
Yeah, and if I purchase from amazon I get 25% tax on top of that when it passes through customs here. The cheapest I can see it for at amazon is ~$1400 USD, so that would be around $1750-1800 inc. tax and customs in the end. This would also mean quite a lot of hassle if I for some reason needed to return the lens, and the warranty time given would be less than the protection provided by law in my country.

I am also thinking that if I buy this lens used and end up not being completely happy with it (e.g. if I find f/4.5-5.6 too slow) - I can sell it again with minimal loss. If I buy the same lens new and come to the same conclusion, I will end up selling it with a much higher loss. If I am happy with it, I got a lens cheaper than what they are in the stores - and can be happy with that. If it fails within 3 years without damage that can be proven to be a result of misuse, I can have it repaired or replaced by my local photo store.

And it is indeed an excellent filter - the same I use for my other lenses - and costs around $130 alone here.

I have been pulling my hair out for the past two months trying to decide which tele to go for, so I should probably just suck it up and go for it before I have none left!

Thanks for the replies.

At the very least you will probubly break even, As I said right now, the prices on all lenses are shooting up because of the strong Yen...so the used prices will also go up because people will be looking to save what they can basically and the used market will possibly dry up a bit more..

I'd get it if i had the money RIGHT now...

Hoesi wrote in post #7287187
Hi,

I've been looking for a tele to give me more reach, and the various Canon 70-200mm models + the 100-400mm has been considered.

Even though the lens is a more demaning when it comes to light than for an example the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS - I think it can provide a very versitile lens having that much reach "all in one".

I do not shoot sports. It's primarily for people (e.g. family on vacation), urban photography (buildings, details, abstracts) and some nature photography. I like to go hiking, so it wouldn't hurt having a lens capable of capturing a few birds and other small animals.

Soo.. Getting to the point;

I've been given an offer for a 100-400mm second hand. It was bought two years ago, and the date stamp is UU0615. According to the seller it has only left his house a few times, and has taken less than a thousand pictures alltogether. It has always been used with an S-HMC Hoya UV filter for protection, and has no visible marks of wear or anything like that. Condition is suppsedely "as new".

The price is roughly $1275 USD, while the new price in store here is from $1800-1950 (at special offer) and upwards. The Hoya S-HMC UV also comes with the lens.

According to local law, I will be protected against "production faults" (i.e. any faults not caused by misuse) for two years in relation to the person selling it to me - and 5 years from original purchase date (i.e. 3 more years) from the store it was originally bought from. I get the receipt and have cleared with my local store that I can take any issues I have via them as long as I have the receipt.

The sale is via a big auction-house here, pretty much like ebay.

Any thoughts? Decent offer? Should I go for it?

I'm just a bit... wary.. when it comes to buying something this expensive used/second hand...

where in the world are you? in the u.s. that's an okay deal but not great. i've seen mint 100-400Ls selling for about $1100 recently here in the u.s., and i paid $1125 for mine 1.5 years ago from a POTN member.

ed rader

Hi ed,

I am in Europe; and where I live it costs - as I said - from $1800-1950 on good offers as a new lens. The normal going price for the lens here after the quite dramatic price hike from Canon is more along the lines of $2250 USD.

The cheapest I can get it new from the US is around the same as the asking price for this second hand lens - however an additional 25% of that will be added on top by the government in form of consumption tax/VAT/GST or whatever you would like to call it. At that point it would be not far from the price new here, but with considerably less rights as a consumer.

If I buy it new here - I essentially have a warranty by law (simplified, only it is stronger than a classic warranty) for 5 full years from the purchase date. If any part of the lens fail within that time period and they (the seller) cannot prove I am to blame through serious misuse (which would have to be physical, visible damage obviously caused by me) - I am entitled to have the product repaired to full "as new" functionality. If they cannot correct the fault in two more attempts, I am entitled to receive a new or better product - or alternatively full refund of the original purchase price.

The beauty is that if I buy a product like this second hand I have the same rights for two years against the seller (even though it is a person and not a business) - and I also have full right to go after previous steps in the chain of sales from the manufacturer to the end user. This means that even though I have bought it off another person, I have full rights to go after the store this person originally bought it from as long as I have the receipt.

Since the lens was bought two years ago, I will be safe against malfunction for another 3 years from now. This provides far more security than what I would get if the lens was bought through for an example ebay from a seller in another country. This extra assurance is to me well worth paying a little extra for - so I'd much rather buy a lens from a local seller at $1275 USD than paying $1000 at ebay and being completely screwed if I am unlucy and for an example the focus motor dies the next month.

It is also far less hassle being able to relate to a local store in case of trouble, than having to ship it back to the US and wait one or more months to get it back.

The only part I am a little conserned about right now is whether this lens will be fast enough for my use. For an example to get decent bird shots early or late day, not only in full-bright sunlight?

As I can probably resell it with minimal or no loss, I'd say it wouldn't really hurt to give it a try providing the product is 'as advertised'. Unless anyone else have better recommendations for one or more good lenses to better cover my long end within the same price range?

Where in Europe are you?
I don't know about the current exchange rates, but I bought mine new for 1229 euro here in the Netherlands.

According to xe.com (which is a pretty handy reference for currency rates) - that's ~$1580 USD.

Nice lens. Have fun with it

Thank you Brad, I'm sure I will!

I decided to go ahead with the purchase - just sorting the fine print of the purchase contract before we proceed. Also using a secure payment method that'll hold the money until I have received and confirmed the item is as specified. The seller seems like a honest/decent person as well, so hopefully the chances of getting screwed somehow is fairly slim.

Hmm... Where did I leave my tinfoil-hat..

Bah... Now I'll be like a small child on christmas eve looking forward to delivery of that lens!

Hoesi wrote in post #7289087
I am also thinking that if I buy this lens used and end up not being completely happy with it (e.g. if I find f/4.5-5.6 too slow) -

The 100-400 is slow on the far end but there are some tricks. I had to shoot a football game outdoors at night. All I had was the 30D/100-400/ 580EXII combo on a monopod.
But I did have a Better Beamer (shot the game right after hiking and shooting birds) to throw light out as far as possible.

It worked. I actually managed to get off a bunch of decent shots and freeze some action.

Obviously NOT the best rig for this situation but it worked.

So if you're resourceful ... sometimes you get lucky.