El-Cheapo Lenses

Thanks for the reply. Appreciate the help.

I don't see any El Nikkor's at better prices on ebay. I guess I could wait for a new listing to come up or an auction.

Is that particular Simmon Omega a good deal you think? I've never used any camera with a lens in my life, so I'm just trying to make sure I'm getting a quality product, and I'm a little unsure how to tell if it's in good shape from the listing.

I was googling this morning to find an El Nikkor 75mm to buy outside of ebay, and one of the results was this thread from 2.5 years ago https://goccf.com/t/98494

That helped me have greater understanding of what I'm looking for. Going to look for more lenses and reevaluate a little bit tonight. Thanks!

I might buy it if I don't win the El Nikkors I'm bidding on tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up!

Thanks for the heads up Ray. Have been thinking of putting together a 2nd set-up. This will be the first piece in place.

Wow, has 2.5 years passed since that shootout? I suppose that's the nice thing about good quality optics...they will stay good quality. All the lenses in the test were at least 10 years old, and many were probably 25+, so 2.5 years later they are still the same. Coin photography has changed a little in that time, though not a whole lot. Many more folks are shooting coins, and many are using lenses like the ones in the shootout. Many are also using smart phones with high quality cameras, though those images don't compare with what you can get with a DSLR and a good enlarging/duplicating lens. An area that some smart phone users try is using loupes for higher mag shots, with varying levels of success, some quite excellent. It has certainly brought more folks into the macro photography arena.

There is a seller on ebay that has 5 good looking EL-Cheapo lenses for sale. His shipping a little expensive, so I had considered buying all lenses to have them shipped together, but alas I have too many EL-Cheapos on-hand already! Here are the lenses:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40056240037...RK:MEBIDX:IT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/35086425390...RK:MEBIDX:IT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/35101089360...RK:MEBIDX:IT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/40055790752...RK:MEBIDX:IT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/40054541767...RK:MEBIDX:IT

I especially like the Accura Anastigmat. I love anastigmats in general. I expect that to be a very nice coin lens if it's in as good condition as seller claims.

Another seller has a 75mm Tominon Macro lens for a great price, but keep in mind you'll need to get an M40 adapter for it...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/27144526236...RK:MEBIDX:IT

And for the guys who are looking for a stereo microscope, there is a B&L StereoZoom4 with 10x eyepieces (for mag range 7x...30x) and A-Stand for an EL-Cheapo price:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/31092278145...RK:MEBIDX:IT

These older B&L scopes can be really great, though you need to make sure of the normal caveats like hazy optics, bad alignment, smooth operation, etc. If it's in good shape, the price cannot be beat!

"Somebody snag that Anastigmat." Gave it some thought but not crazy about the sellers description of "moderate amount of dirt and scratches inside lens." Last lens I bought like this I had to return as the inside lens was "fungus heaven".