[Preface: This is not a happy story! The faint-of-heart are forewarned!]
DAMN!!!
I recently got a "deal" on a 24/2.8 on e-Bay. The auction title simply
said "Olympus Lens" and the description started out with "This is a
standard lens for an olympus, bayonnet mount." But, when I looked
closely at the photos, I noticed that the lens was a 24/2.8 and not a
50/1.8 as one would expect for a "standard" lens.
I put in my bid, and won the auction. US$122.50 isn't a "Doris Fang"
deal, but it's certainly well below the "usual market value" for the lens.
Well, it arrived today. Upon inspecting it, I quickly noticed what looks
like a very small (~3mm) piece of crud on the front element. A quick
cleaning reveals that it's not on the outside, but appears to be on the
inside of the front element. So, with my anxiety levels rising rapidly, I
decide to look REAL close.
ACK!!! The sucker is coated with thread-like blotches! It almost looks
like a spider web in there! This stuff is definately on either the front or
second-from-the-front element, as I can see it stretching across in front
of the grey ring on the inside front of the lens.
I'm 99.999ure I've got a fungus farm, but can someone please
confirm my worst fears? (Be gentle, please!) Also, can someone give
me an idea (off-list if you prefer) on what cost I'm possibly looking at for
cleaning of this sucker?
One final note... In all fairness to the seller, I have NOT yet contacted
him regarding this problem. Therefore, I'm NOT saying I'm stuck with
this thing, as the seller may gladly agree to accept it back and refund
my money. Also, I'm NOT saying the seller purposely misled me! His
description was sparce and what was there was wonky, which is in fact
why the selling price was so low. Also, I reviewed his feedback before I
bid, and the guy deals with collectables and antiques of the non-camera
genre, so I have a feeling he doesn't know what fungus IS, let alone
what it looks like.
In short, I'm just considering my options before I contact the seller.
Should I just send it back? Or, is a repair not-too-expensive and I
should negotiate possibly splitting the cost with him?
All comments, suggestions, and information is welcome. Please bring
kleenex with you, though... I'm VERY upset at the moment! :-(((
Regards,
Chris
P.S. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot... If you wanna look at the actual
auction, here's the URL:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1221846096
---
I'm *not* a Zuikoholic.... I'm a Zuikohobbiest!
Chris O'Neill (coneill@xxxxxxxxxxx)
http://www.nucleus.com/~coneill
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