Periodically there is discussion about the merits and demerits of various mail
order businesses, esp. those in New York City. While B&H gets high praise, I
thought it was worth relating something I just learned of today.
About two years ago I talked a neighbor into ordering a OM-4T from B&H. His
son had his ideas regarding a suitable lens, which turned out to be the 50mm
f/1.4 That is what was ordered.
In getting together lenses for the next round of lens testing, I decided to
ask him if I could borrow his f/1.4 I always assumed that it was a multi-
coated one, since he bought it so recently. Low and behold, it turns out to
be a single coated with a silver rim. Hum, why would B&H be selling one of
those in 1997? If any store would have sold fresh stock (i.e., the
multicoated one), it would have been our old trusty B&H, right? Well, . . .
My data shows the 1.4 to have been announced as multi-coated February, 1980.
It was dropped from the OM line on my August 1990 Olympus Photographics
Products Suggested List Price sheet. Thus, either B&H sold him a 17 year old
new lens or it was a Like New they got in and pawned off on him. At any rate,
they sold as new a lens out of production for 7 years.
If he hadn't put a black rimmed UV filter on that lens, I probably would have
spotted the bait and switch. Like the time another shop tried to charge me
for the Olympus lens case. Or another the Olympus focusing screen. Buyer
beware.
Gary Reese
Las Vegas, NV
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