where have all the lenses gone........

[wayne_naughton]

<p>i had a flick through the KEH and B&J websites last night looking for alpha mount primes, specifically the 300mmF4 and both sites had next to nothing for sale. What's the story? is there a drought or something or are these 2 stores not dealing in the A mount any more? I did see a stack of sigma and tamron primes on offer from B&J.... but not really what i was after.<br>

wonder what's going on.......</p>

<p>wayne</p>

[starvy]

<p>hi wayne, there is a dearth of second user lenses for the alpha mount since so many have started buying them. i was checking out b and h the night before last and noticed a couple of a mount lenses.</p>

[samn]

<p>I've noticed the same thing. Seems like KEH had about 16 pages of A mount lenses 6 or 8 months ago, now it is like maybe 6 when you search the off brand lenses along with Minolta/Sony. I did however just purchase a fine 24/105 3.5/4.5 D from them. Just got it this PM. Thought that I paid quite a bit for it ($265.00), even for an E+.</p>

<p>Maybe B&H, KEH and Adorama are not buying. Has anyone tried selling anything to them lately? I see that there are some new people advertising in the photo rags to buy. Or maybe people think like me. I have quite a few lenses that I rarely use in A mount and MD, but would not consider selling now. With the price of quality new glass so high, it is bound to drive up the price on old good glass. Probably wouldn't sell even if the price did jump way up though.</p>

[wayne_naughton]

<p>I suppose with that idiotic lens range that sony is offering, used prices would have to go up but KEH had only 6 lenses for sale all together!</p>

[wayne_naughton]

<p>Adorama have a couple of minolta 300mm f2.8's and not much more</p>

[francoisspenard]

<p>There is one (Minolta prime 300 F4) at eBay for 1400.00$... ?!?!?! Lot's of moony..... OUF!!! On sale to.... Hiiiiiii<br>

http://cgi.ebay.com/EX-MINOLTA-AF-APO-HS-TELE-300mm-f4-fit-Sony-300-4_W0QQitemZ120373551523QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCamera_Lenses?hash=item120373551523&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1240%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50</p>

[ricardovaste]

<p>Sadly, if you want the top glass for our mount, you can't just flick through a couple of pages one night and expect to find them. You either need to set up an ebay search, so you get emailed when one is online, or relegiously search online shops :(.</p>

<p>But it's been like that for years now, it's just the way it is for our mount. Francois, that's pretty much the going price for the 300/4. I sold mine, which was in mint condition & with all the accessories (Absolutely all, case & boxed - makes a lot of difference to final price) for 1525 USD about a month ago now.</p>

<p>EDIT:</p>

<p>Wayne, if you are still looking for a 300/4, your best bet is placing a WTB (want to buy) ad on dyxum.com. There have been quite a few on there over the past few months come up for sale. Infact, there have been truck loads of high quality glass for sale on there - it really is an excellent place to buy, you just have to be quick & of course trust the member/make sure he/she is well known.</p>

[ricardovaste]

<p>EG: Just yesterday, there was a 200/2.8 HS, 16-80 CZ, 70-200/2.8 SSM, 200/2.8 (non hs), 85/1.4 original, sony 50/1.4, tam 90mm... all from well known members who have sold successfully lots of times in the past. The lenses are out there, you just need to know where to look!</p>

[steven_moseley1]

<p>Hi,<br>

The explanation is: A900.</p>

<p>For some time now, Minolta af lenses have been hard to sell...as there was no large market for them...many were rotting unsold on shelves...now the full frame A900 has changed all that.....all the A900 owners are desperate for full frame minolta/sony lenses..especially the high end ones...and these were never plentiful to start with...so the A900 owners are basically buying all the available stocks..</p>

<p>Just the usual supply and demand rules...funny how one camera can shake up the lens marketplace. I noticed the difference at my local recent camera fair (Wolverhampton UK)...usually dealers have little or no Minolta af lenses because they could not shift them...now several dealers are again stocking Minolta AF....</p>

<p>cheers Steve.M</p>

[dennis_fallon1]

<p>The A900 is not responsible for the high prices; they've been high for a few years now. You can find a number of price tracking pages around the web. Prices were low before the 7D came out, particularly before the existence of the 7D was leaked by Herb Kepler about a year earlier. You could find 400Gs for $1250, 80-200HS for $900, NIB 28/2 and 35/2 for around $300 and 100/2s for much less than now. Prices started going up with the 7D, but more so when Sony got into the game and the Alpha mount became more popular than it had been in years. <br>

Lack of an affordable 70-200 has beercan prices high (but availability of the beercan has tempered that). The f/2 primes are ridiculously high due to the lack of an alternative (28 & 35 are APS-C normals and 100/2 has been popular, but much more so with A900 ... you can get an 85/1.4 for less than a 100/2). <br>

The A900 can't be selling in numbers like the cheaper models and I see plenty of A900 users who list their gear on various forums using CZ lenses. I'm sure the A900 has added to the demand, but the used market went nuts long before.</p>

[wayne_naughton]

<p>......<em>.you can get an 85/1.4 for less than a 100/2). <br /> The A900 can't be selling in numbers like the cheaper models and I see plenty of A900 users who list their gear on various forums using CZ lenses</em> .... <br>

you're right there. when the A900 was released i remember seeing about a half a dozen minolta 85's going at KEH.i guess a lot of people changed to the Zeiss then.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Richard, i've used The KEH website a lot over the years and i've NEVER seen them with less than a couple of pages of used minolta primes. And thanks for the Dyxum tip, i started avoiding that place when their lens reviews started to give me apoplexy....grin</p>

<p>dennis and steven, i think you're both right, the drought started when KM finally got their dslr onto the market. and Sony haqven't helped much by offering such an odd and limited catalogue of lenses.</p>

</blockquote>

[ricardovaste]

<p>I have to disagree that this is because of the A900. Prices & demand jumped dramatically after the A200/A300/A350 trio were released. The A900 may have only made the matters slightly worse, but it was always going that way. Now, add to the matter than the prices of new items are going up significantly (even third party glass, which a lot of people rely upon for high quality more affordable glass), the second hand market is looked pretty unsociable.</p>

<p>Good luck Wayne :)</p>

[wayne_naughton]

<p>I need a benefactor.....grin</p>

[dennis_fallon1]

<p>KEH really did dry up. I do recall a number of 85's available there some months back. But they were expensive ... they actually dropped the priced a bit before they sold them off. (They were asking around $1100 for newest versions, which is just to close in price to a brand new CZ). So I agree that their stock (and B&H & Adorama) has really dried up recently. But the prices jumped long ago. Maybe the A900 has skewed the demand toward the higher end stuff, I don't know. </p>

[samn]

<p>All the manafactures' try to get us by the short hairs. You buy a nice printer, say a HP 9180. It is really a very nice printer. Then the ink goes to $38.95 per cartrige. There are 8 cartriges. I buy 2 cartriges a month. You buy a really nice camera, but the kit lenses are crap. What are you going to do? We are all sucked in by the hype of gotta have the best and newest. Sony has stayed true with the A mount lens. But to buy new and get a lens that matches the quality the 900 or 700 can produce (or the Maxxum 9 or 7) you better be prepared to pay the price. That is the reason the old Minolta good glass is gone off of the market. Few of us can afford or will pay for the new good glass. And, if we do buy new, it is seldom.</p>