Hi,
To support Brian's opinion of Columbus Camera:
> Sorta both. When the 4 was on the shelf, it had a price of
> $300 on it. The 300 Zuiko was, I believe, also $300. I remember
> telling Olaf I was sure I could get it for less than $250 and was
> very pleased to get it for $150.
I was so amazed that the price could drop that far! The lens had (and still
has :( ) two tiny specks of fungus and it had obviously been taken apart
before. Also, cosmetically it's not in mint condition, but apart from those
minor things the lens is great and it gives excellent picture quality! :)
> When they shipped the lens to olaf, a filter was also sent
> separately, got lost, they resent. Both eventually showed up.
> I like dealing with them, just don't ever pay the sticker.
I have had several talks with them via telephone and found them very
pleasant to deal with. IMO the reason why their prices are (were?) low is
that they are a bit disorganised and not so well informed. The matter with
the filter already demonstrated that, but they have also had items on eBay
with incomplete descriptions. For example at one point they really messed up
with a description of a bellows; this one also had a slide copier (and a
focusing stage?) included with it, yet they forgot to mention that, or they
mentioned it in a hardly noticeable way (don't remember exactly).
I would be very, very surprised if they are selling "hot" (i.e. stolen)
stuff, simply because I can't imagine them to be the kind of people who do
that (also their obvious lack of knowledge of prices of Oly gear to me
doesn't seem to fit with the profile one would expect of sneaky
sellers/dealers). Well, one can never know for sure, but to me it seems they
are simply not all that well informed about the Oly prices. Unfortunately
they too have discovered eBay now, and it looks a bit like they're putting
all their stuff up on eBay now. This is really a pity as there are simply to
many people out there who are totally rocketing prices on eBay sky-high by
their way of bidding. So it might be difficult to get some more good deals
from them, but who knows. I guess if you check with them often, they may
have some new arrivals that aren't listed on eBay yet...
Either way, if another nice item becomes available from them, I'd do
business with them again.
On another note: there was another seller who had a few steal-of-a-deals,
and that's the seller Tomoko pointed us to. Finding a 35/2.8 Shift in 8-9
condition for only $199 is a dream of course. A pity I was too late to also
snatch the 85/2 ($75) and the T32 ($29).
When buying second handed gear, patience is the key. Similarly (as John
Petrush is aware of) I'm lurking for a Zuiko 500/8 reflex for around $300.
This might be a bit too ambitious, but I think if one has enough patience,
eventually something will show up somewhere.
Finally, the internet, and this list in particular, has proven to be an
excellent weapon in the hunt for Oly gear. If it weren't for list members
like Brian and Tomoko I would now not have two great lenses which I like a
lot. Also, I obtained my 4Ti + F280 from Carsten, who posted an ad of his
items to this list.
As far as eBay is concerned, well, the good deals typically all get messed
up because people bid early. Steal-deals hardly ever seem to be possible,
although I have found some interesting things for not too much money (e.g. a
50/3.5 macro incl. shipping for $115 - it is still to arrive)...
Cheers!
Olaf
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