Which lens did I buy?

Go to ebay and check out item number: 3854040505. Can anyone tell me

the brand of this lens? I can't find any reference anywhere of an

olympus lens with these specs. The guy I have bought it from was

told it was an "olympus."

 

Thanks,

Verity.

The markings and control rings don't look like the ones on any Olympus-made lens I've seen.

 

Also, I don't think Olympus engraved "OM" on their lens mounts whereas third-party manufacturers would mark the mount type on their lenses because, of course, they made lenses in different mounts. I'd say you have a third-party lens made to fit the OM mount.

Countless third party lenses have been made for every SLR, especially the pre-AF era cameras. Some were good, some stunk. Some were straw men manufacturers for brand name distributors such as Vivitar. You'll never know until you test it.

That kind of looks like a Tamron adaptall adapter on the back of that lens. I couldn't say for sure though.

Verity, I say this as nicely as possible- you shouldn't be bidding on ebay if you don't know what you are buying. Setting aside what appears to be the mediocre physical condition of the lens, it is not an Olympus product.

 

As was noted, the block lettering and numbers on the lens are not dissimilar from an early Tamron Adaptall lens. However, I don't see evidence of a removeable mount.

 

Another giveaway is that Olympus never sold an 85-210mm lens. And, though not determinative of brand, the rear lens cap is a third-party make.

 

I have bought used equipment for a store for years. If I were buying that lens, I would pay- at most- $5 U.S. and would sell it for $15-20 U.S.

Ouch...nasty! I know I was quite stupid to buy it - I guess I got carried away. The seller has allowed me to cancel my bid...what a nice guy! Anyway I have learnt my lesson and will be much more conscientious in my researching before making future ebay purchases.

 

Thanks for your help,

Verity.

Don't be too down, I've been buying and selling used equipment for more than 20 years and I've still paid too much on occasion for equipment on ebay.

I am rather sure that the following 3rd party lens manufacturers, which had some decent or even outstanding lenses, have never produced a 85-210mm f/3.8 macro lens in OM mount: Vivitar, Tokina, Tamron (they had an f/4.5 lens), Sigma, Angenieux.

 

A rough goggle search brought up the following brand names which seem to have distributed such a lens: Samigon, Bower, Quantaray, Telesar, Carenar, Unitax, Hervic-Zevnar, Soligor (some of the Soligor lenses marked as C/D were of the better quality, but its 85-210mm lens wasn't called C/D). I guess, your lens will be one of these, or might have a name with a similar reputation.

You're lucky to have been granted the gift to cancel that auction. Personnaly, I wouldn't pay $20 for that lens, much less $104. If you want a nice, non-Olympus, long zoom for your OM camera, stick with Tamron SP, Tokina AT-X, or Vivitar Series 1, those are some of the best. Sigma also made some nice ones, but I don't know their designations. But just don't buy those no-name or 3rd tier lenses, unless you're willing to put up with truely mediocre results.

 

Skip

I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is a Unitex 85-210 3.8 Macro-Zoom. It certainly is not a Zuiko lens (Olympus make) as Olympus never made a lens with this range. I've seen one of these with a Konica mount.

 

Not sure what it's like optically - who knows? It might be worth it. Only way to be sure is to put it on and shoot with it for a bit. I have a Soligor OM-mount 80-200 Macro which I quite like, even though I'm sure it's not the best piece of optical gear out there.

 

Looks like this guy was dumping stuff on ebay, making the ad to try to pass this off as an Olympus lens when it isn't. Caveat Emptor, sorry.

 

Still, you never know - you may love this lens, if you decide to live with it. I have a Soligor 80-200 Macro Zoom (I knew what I was getting though and got it for a song) and it turned into one of my favorite lenses for my OM stuff.

 

Good luck.