Buying a Used Lens from Lens Authority?

I know that Lensrentals.com sells equipment through Lens Authority so I am comfortable that they are reputable. But these are lenses that were formerly rentals so I'm not sure how heavy of a use they've seen. I'm not familiar with Lens Authority's grading system.

 

Have any of you bought a lens from Lens Authority? What was your experience like?

 

Thanks,

Keith

I think as long as you are buying a high-end lens like a Canon L-series or Nikon ED you will be OK. I personally, prefer buying my lenses new because I know I will keep them for 10+ years and almost never sell them. I would only buy used if I where replacing a lost or broken lens I already had. With Lens Authority etc. as long as you get a good price and ability to return if the lens is found to be defective you should be ok.

I've bought three items from them, two lenses and a monopod. On one of the lenses there was an exposure problem at some apertures on my D750 body, and I returned it. They didn't find the problem after receiving the lens back, but credited my account, and were very nice about it. My only concern about buying from them is that they only provide a 3-day inspection period. Since the one lens with a problem arrived at a busy time for me, testing felt very rushed.

Depends whether you subscribe to the view that lenses "wear out". I think a lens can stop working, but whether this is due to simple statistical failure rate or poor design rather than wearing out as such I don't know. Certainly I would anticipate that lenses sold by LensRentals would be well used and may even be subpar copies that they are effectively rejecting. We all know how Roger likes his new optical bench...

Thanks for the replies. Having had to deal with a 'defective' used lens (from another source), I'm hesitant to buy another used copy but the $300+ savings was inviting. I think I'll just scrape up the extra $300+ and buy a new one.