70-200 2.8 IS (UT0710) loose at the end

I have had email and phone contact with a local seller of a 70-200 2.8 IS (UT0710 .. 2005).

The seller claims he is selling the 70-200 because two days ago he purchased the mkll version.

He says he has kept a uv filter on it since he purchased it and the glass is clean. The body is clean too.

He claims the auto focus and IS work as they should.

The only thing he notes is it seems to be a little loose at the end. He said he felt he needed to note that in advance, even though he said it has never caused him to miss a shot. He claims that it feels like something is wiggling around a little at the end, and whatever it is, he feels could benefit from being tightened.

I think he said it would cost him around $250 to send it into Canon and have it tightened and he thought it wasn't worth it to do that.

He is about 18 miles away and said I could come down and mount it to my camera and test it before making a decision.

I got a good vibe from him on the phone, but still, you never know. I was hoping to get a newer 70-200 but he lowered it from $1300 to $1200!

Is this the IS wiggling around? What should I look for if I go and test it? I mean even if it seems to function perfectly, I hate to think this could lead to a problem in the future.

Just want to note.

He was trying to sell this lens with a body and factored that the lens came to $1300. I told him I wasn't trying to low ball him, but I only had $1200 right now, and if he could wait a few days until I sell my lens, I would give him $1300 if I liked the lens. Today he said he thinks he has a buyer for the body, so he would just sell the lens to me for $1200 since both items he wanted to sell will have been sold. Just wanted to note why he is telling me he will sell it for $1200.

If he can "feel" that it's loose, chances are that that he's talking about the manual focus ring. The IS mechanism isn't towards the front of the lens and it's internal, so he wouldn't be able to feel it being loose. If he hasn't missed a shot, then I would assume that it's not one of the elements that is loose.

$1200 is a fantastic price for that lens. You will also have the ability to test it out to make sure that it's working as it should. If it bugs you, you could send it into Canon for them to fix it and you'd still end up with the lens at the price that they're selling for, with an additional Canon warranty on the repair in case something were to go wrong with it in the next few months.

I ended up buying a 17-40 one time for $250. The guy told me that the front element was scratched, thus the price. Since I hardly ever use the 17-40, i figured I'd go for it. Ended up that the front element was just dirty. 5 minutes with a lenspen, and I had a like new 17-40 for a great price. Moral: Sometimes full disclosure makes it sound a lot worse than it is.

Loose at which end? Try mounting it to your body and see how it feels. It could have just been a little play in the lens mount which isn't all that uncommon.

Yep. Sounds like a bit of play in the lens mount which if this is the case isn't an issue. Sounds like a great deal.

Just go look at it. If it's no good, you lose nothing but a little time. If it's something superficial, you get a good deal