My love for photography and my need to find the best possible deal led me to Tokyo’s Shinjuku district. One morning I wondered around, looking up all the time, stumbling through the signs in Kanji and Katakana. I finally made out the second hand camera store I had found on the net. I skipped through the entrance, into the lift, up 6 floors and into a jumble of hardware: mostly Nikon, Canon, Minolta and Lieca. I made my way through the camera bodies, found myself in the lens section and thought ‘Where do I start in this jungle of unwanted goods?’. Here are some things to consider before you hit the jumble sale. (You should also check our 5 must have lenses for photographers)

photographer lenses

About the lens itself new or used

1. Research

What type of lens do you need most? Why do you need the lens and how much do you want to spend?

2. Stabilizers

Nikon was the first to come up with a built in ‘vibration control’, Cannon followed, and later Minolta put an image stabiliser into the SLR camera body itself. I have been reading with interest that there is some marketing dispute between the manufacturing giants as to which is better: To put the image stabilizer in the lens itself or within the engineering of the body. The image stabilizer allows you to take photographs without a tripod.

However it only acts as an aid to help stabilize the camera in your steady hand, it does not allow you to take photographs of moving objects. Canon terms this as IS (Image Stabilizer) and Nikon has their own terminology with ‘VR’ or Vibration Control, Sigma uses the term OS (Optical Stabilization).

3. Aperture size

How many F stops? The bigger the aperture, the more expensive the lens and the more light you allow into your lens. So the question is why do you need a bigger aperture? With a larger aperture the depth of field is shallow. Therefore you may need a bigger aperture for shooting in darker spaces or when you are unable to use a flash. However there is no need to buy a fat barrelled expensive lens if you simple wish to take photographs indoors as you can adjust you shutter speed to suit your aperture.

4. Reviews online

This is actually the best place to start. There is a variety of online photographers all wishing to tell you why you should buy the lens that they themselves have tried and tested. Also check our top camera and lenses review sites.

5. Range of Focus

Lens length. Why do you need the added length? The longer your lens the more expensive it will be.

6. Weight

It depends on what you use the lens for. You should consider how mobile you wish to be, carrying three heavy lenses around a weekend city break is going to give you a headache.

7. Contrast and sharpness charts.

You can look for M.T. F. charts to see the performance of a lens before you buy it. However that can get fairly complicated and the best thing is to go into a store and ask if you can mount the lens on to your own camera body or test out the lens through a fellow photographer before you buy it.

The pros to buying second hand is the price, but often when buying a lens second hand it is difficult to know how the previous owner handled the hardware.

Things to consider when you buy your lens second hand

1. History of the product
Some stores will have a history of the product. How old it is, when it came into the store, if it is slightly damaged and why.

2. Price in comparison to risk. Is it worth it?
You should consider the cons of buying a second hand lens. What will you do with it if it doesn’t function well?

3. Warranty
Surprisingly some lenses, although second hand may have a warranty.

4. Return option
Some stores may have a return policy, where they offer a short term window to return the lens if you are unhappy with it.

When I purchased a lens in the second hand store in Tokyo, I received a ten day return option and a one year warranty from Nikon. The lens itself was a Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR Lens and was only 150 dollars!

Another option, if you are not near a second hand store, is to purchase online. You can search for second hand lenses directly from the manufacturers: Nikon, Canon etc.

When all goes wrong

You can have it repaired by the manufacturer, resell it or accept your losses and buy another. I think to re-sell a faulty lens would be a bit of a moral issue for me, I would simply buy another lens.