Do lenses hold their value well?

D

Dan_The_Man

Active member
Hi there,

I am thinking about selling my XH A1 to buy a 7D. The main thing that is throwing me slightly off budget is the lenses. If I was to go with the 7D I would want to invest in some really nice glass e.g. a very fast wide angle prime e.g. 35mm 1.4/1.8 and then something more medium range (I'm not sure how good the lens that comes with the kit is).

I do have enough money to buy these things but not sure if I can really justify spending it. So this brings me to my question: Do these lenses hold their value? I wouldnt mind spending this money so much if I knew that a coulpe of years down the line I could sell me lenses if I absolutely needed to. I know the price of cameras depreciate slightly everytime a better camera in the same range comes out but I'm thinking the glass will hold it's value?

Thanks,
Dan
 
proper glass, especially full frame is always good at holding its value because it doesnt really date like sensor technology does

you could of course buy used to start with

S
 
Good glass definitely retains its worth. Obviously, the better and the rarer, the more retention.

Also consider your future. If you are at all looking at interchangeable lens cameras (especially S35 on RED) many of the FF lenses would make for nice mounts.
 
Get on eBay and try to buy a used Canon L series or Zeiss lens for considerably less than new...you can't do it. So my answer is yes.
 
Perry Wilson said:
with the S35 you don't need FF do you...
Click to expand...

Well, since we are comparing sensors from different manufacturers to film, its hard to say without specifying.

Here's a table of some specific sensors/film and their dimensions.
Code: 
3 Perf Super-35     24.89mm x 14mm
7D                  22.3mm × 14.9 mm 
RED ONE             24.4mm x 13.7mm
Future RED S35      30mm x 15mm

So, if one purchases an EF-S mount lens designed for the Canon EOS APS-C size sensor, the image circle may be smaller than the other listed sensors/mediums causing vignetting.

Of course, if one knew the image circle dimensions of the EF-S mount lenses, it could be determined whether or not they would fit similarly sized mounts. However, I looked around to try to find the image circle dimensions of the EF-S mount lenses, but couldn't.

Since FF lenses are made to accommodate much larger sensors, they have much larger image circles, easily covering all of the above. As an added benefit, using FF lenses on smaller sensors allows the camera to see more through the center of the lens than the edges, increasing image quality.
 
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The RED S35 chip has a greater image diagonal than an APS-C chip.

I don't think that there's a standard image circle size for EF-S (or APS-C-compatible) lenses. Someone should do a simple test: Take an EF-S lens, mount it on the 5D, and take a still. From that still, we could estimate the image circle size for at least one lens, so we can know what to expect. A few members here have both the 5D and the 7D... Does any one of you have an EF-S lens to test?
 
Once you buy a brand new lens, the value drops a few hundred bucks if you try to sell it. It works like cars. I always buy my lenses from Ebay and make sure they're in excellent condition. If you keep it in the same condition you bought it, you should be able to get every penny back.
 
Check Craigslist as well. That way you can check out the lens before you buy it.

Also keep in mind that 35mm on the 1.6 crop of the 7D is really a 56mm lens.
 
If you're using this camera for video only, you should think about a lens adapter and some nikon lenses. I've been doing photography for ages, and Nikon sells some really cheap manual lenses.

But yes, lenses in general hold their value well, unless it's a deprecated model. The 85mm 1.2 mk2 came out to years ago along with the 16-35mm F2.8 Mk 2, and a few others. The previous versions usually take a hit of around 15% of their value on the used market.

If you're planning on doing videography and photography seriously, then the investment in Canon lenses makes more sense - which is where I'm at.
 
"Someone should do a simple test: Take an EF-S lens, mount it on the 5D, and take a still."

Not really simple...You can NOT mount EF-S glass on the 5d. You CAN mount EF glass on 7d/XXD/XXF bodies though:)

To the OP...yes, if you purchase L glass, it will hold it's value (as welll as some of the Specialty EF-S glass)....but there is plenty of midrange glass that does NOT hold it's value very well...
If you purchased the 85/1.2 a year ago, you'd be able to get a 100% return on the used market right now.

J
 
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