looking for primes under 10K

[TJ Hellmuth]

Hey I'm looking for a set of cine primes under 10K ideally with PL mount and gears. I know these days that's hard to find, and I'm not sure where I can find them, but I thought I'd make a post just to put it out there. If anybody has any advice for where to look other than ebay and reduser, I could use a tip.

thanks,

TJ

 

[Evin Grant]

Lomos are you're best bet.

 

[albert rudnicki]

Hi
Just found this on ebay, it's an old set, but it looks clean and well taken care of.
It should be within your budget.
Cheers

 

[Rob Gardner]

Late model LOMOS with PL mounts and a re-build from Duclos are going to cost you $1000 to $1500 per lens (depending on how much you pay for the lenses in the first place and how much work Duclos needs to do on them) and the results are very good. I'm sure you saw the set for sale from Sergey, with mounts.

These are true cine lenses and after Duclos sprinkles their magic fairy dust on them they are fine lenses.

You need to locate lenses in good shape from someone you can trust and go through the limited risk of buying from Russia or the Ukraine with no chance of getting your money back if you get skunked (unless you can find some in the States), but if you are willing to do this, you will end up with a serious set of lenses for a truly reasonable price. If the lenses are in good shape (smooth mechanics and clean glass) you might not have to send them to Duclos, but when you consider that they would not have been used after 1991, and that their Soviet lubricants would have been sitting inside hardening up for all those years, its really a better idea to have them cleaned and adjusted.

I think the set Sergey has for sale looks like a pretty good deal. And we have dealt with him before and its always worked out well. He is a good guy.
Rob Gardner

 

[TJ Hellmuth]

Rob, thanks for the advice on the Lomo's and buying from Russia and Sergey. I did see those set, and wrote him, but I don't think I will be lucky enough to get the set. I was too late I think. very handsome set though. I'm curious how often those sorts of sets come along. I've not been searching for lenses seriously for more than a few days now.

Albert, thanks for the link. I had seen the zeiss arri set before. each set seems to require different modification and cleanup to work well. Those would need gearing, so I need to find out how to modify the lens and where I can buy the parts or services to put gears on. Nice that they are a matched set.

Evin, I think your right about Lomos being a the best option for the money. Thanks.

 

[Rob Gardner]

I think you just have to keep your ebay eyes open and check out Sergey's stuff when he posts it here. The serial number begins with the year of manufacture and the best lenses are going to be very late '80's or preferably 90 or 91. Watch out for mold or damage. And try to buy (if you are getting them from Russia or the Ukraine) from people with good feedback and a good reputation. Many of these Russian sellers will not use Paypal, so you have to use Western Union or a bank wire, and once that money leaves here, it is gone, you are not getting it back. To me, the biggest risk factor is poor descriptions from the seller, because in the end you have to take it on faith. Very good photos (like the ones Sergey has on his set) tell you a lot, but until you have that lens in your hand, you just don't know. Lomo's are for the adventurous (unless you can find them in the States or Western Europe).

There are a lot of Lomos floating around out there, but a relatively small number are late models and it really good shape. You can get stainless PL mounts made for them in Russia for about $350, and they are pretty good mounts, but not as good as Duclos can do. Finally, I think the Duclos re-build should be considered a must-do for these lenses. They really strip them down and go over them with a fine tooth comb, cleaning and adjusting every part of the lens. I would think you would do the same with a Zeiss lens from 1991 that had been sitting on a shelf for 18 years...

 

[TJ Hellmuth]

Duclos sound great. I'm glad to have found out about them here.

 

[TJ Hellmuth]

BEWARE of those ebay arri zeiss lenses mentioned above! The same pictures of the same lenses are being listed on craigslist here:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/ele/1019096020.html

New York craigslist
California Ebay
same pictures. Different prices.

Not to mention the fact that none of his 25 reviews are from buyers. Does not look like that guy has ever sold anything on ebay. super sketchy I say.

 

[Jonathan Stevenson]

BEWARE of those ebay arri zeiss lenses mentioned above! The same pictures of the same lenses are being listed on craigslist here:
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/ele/1019096020.html

New York craigslist
California Ebay
same pictures. Different prices.

Not to mention the fact that none of his 25 reviews are from buyers. Does not look like that guy has ever sold anything on ebay. super sketchy I say.

Wow! Nice catch... It's GOTTA be some kinda scam... Unless the seller just wants to keep his location private and is trying to reach both coasts as best he can?

 

[TJ Hellmuth]

my fear is that someone is going to get ripped off badly on ebay or somebody is going to get jumped from craigslist. I wrote the seller to find out which was the case. hopefully lives in both places, or he's selling it through a CA seller.

bottom line - always inspect the actual ratings and the dates of those rating, numbers can be deceiving. I don't think people would have driven the price up had they looked at the ratings.

 

[albert rudnicki]

Whew, good catch indeed.

 

[TJ Hellmuth]

just a funny follow up -
ebay seller auriga2909 says:
"I don't have anything to do with that, I am in California."

Craigslist seller frank statham says:
"thats my lenses, my uncle put the ad on ebay for me because i dont have id user"

very stealthy cover!!