Stumbled onto a interesting collector of one lens. What am I missing?

trythis · Aug 24, 2014

Lens one
Lens two
Lens three

Lens four
Lens five

In summary the guy is buying Tokina RMC 17mm lenses in multiple camera mounts.
I stumbled into a guy buying many of the same lens from all over the world. Is there something special here I dont understand? Prices are very high for these...

Old-N-Feeble · Aug 24, 2014

I had a 17mm Tokina RMC in Nikon mount. It was okay but nothing "special" about it, IMO.

Alan W · Aug 24, 2014

The Canon 17mm f4 beats this thing.I've had both-if you look you can get the Canon original for less than $200,but it takes time-having said that one is enough for me.Maybe someone with too much money?Are you sure it's the same person buying all these?I could only see the ID of the first auction winner.

Dr Croubie · Aug 24, 2014

Not sure what the question is. You mean someone else has bought all of these, how can you tell? Only the first one, which was an auction, you can see the bidding, the rest of the BIN listings you can't see who bought it (or I can't, maybe you can?).
As to their motivation? Dunno, some people collect weird things, or maybe they've got a project in mind. Or they're trying to corner the market and buy them all cheaply to force prices up then sell them for a profit later.

I've got one in OM mount that I rarely use, anyone want that for $300?

trythis · Aug 24, 2014

I can see the listings through the recent feedback of the buyer on my ebay mobile app. I cant see the previous feedback item numbers online either but its the same guy. Two of them were won on the same day.

trythis · Aug 25, 2014

I know more of whats happening. One of the lenses is mine so I can see who bought it now that I got paid. Its being used in engineering and technical work. Form the looks of the buyers web site, they are stripping the lens from the housing and putting them in specially designed optical equipment. I don't wanna share the site and cause unintentional harm to the company that paid so much for my lens.
So not a collector, as such.

Vilk · Aug 25, 2014

the most fascinating piece of investigative forum team work i've seen in a while dead serious

David A. Goldfarb · Aug 25, 2014

Interesting. I had one and it was a pretty decent lens until I had to have it cleaned (fungus problem as I recall) and it came back with a broken rear element.

I ended up salvaging the Canon FD mount for another project, and I have the front group in front of me on my desk, destined to become a very high-end peephole for a door or maybe a homebrew wideangle viewfinder one day.

trythis · Aug 25, 2014

Vilk said:
the most fascinating piece of investigative forum team work i've seen in a while dead serious

Thanks. My investigation services are available anytime! [emoji6]

StoneNYC · Aug 25, 2014

How did you even notice this pattern in the first place?? I agree very neat, even cooler that a forum member was one if the sellers, random!!

Ektagraphic · Aug 25, 2014

Very cool, interesting, and seemingly random, but makes sense for the purpose that they may have.

trythis · Aug 25, 2014

StoneNYC said:
How did you even notice this pattern in the first place?? I agree very neat, even cooler that a forum member was one if the sellers, random!!

I noticed the pattern when the lens I was selling went over $200. I was suspicious and feared a non paying bidder so I looked to see what feedback they had and on my phone I could actually see the previous auctions. Imagine the surprise of seeing 5 consecutive purchases of the same lens for $300 us dollars or more. After getting paid on Monday morning I could see that the email was for a business and the address confirmed that on google maps. Their website made it obvious what was happening. I figure they are making loads of money selling a special piece if equipment they invented. Good for them and me! Lucky break since I found the lens I sold for $24 at an antique store. I have been trying to sell gear to buy a bronica rf645...this helped!

Dr Croubie · Aug 25, 2014

Yep, I'm definitely convinced I need to sell mine now. Paid a bit more than $24, but a lot less than $300 for it.
I've always got the Sigma 8-16mm and Mir 20/2.5 to use instead...

trythis · Aug 25, 2014

What's weird is there are others on ebay that are going for less. I think they must have a saved search that brings up certain ones and they just bid high and pay when they win. It couldn't be worth their trouble to spend all day sniping auctions.

Stumbled onto a interesting collector of one lens. What am I missing?

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