14-150 first version?

[Leo_B]

My local store has an Olympus 14-150 first version in exc. condition for $213. What is the difference between a first version and the current lens? Should one even consider a first version or only the current lens? Is this a good price for that lens? Thanks for all advice and education on this.

 

[joerg218]

The second Version has weather sealing and a Special coating front Lens. I think the difference in Image quality is not very great.
About the price people of the us market maybe can say Something, if it is a good deal.

 

[archaeopteryx]

About the price people of the US market maybe can say something, if it is a good deal.

I think probably no need to be in the US since it's easy to do completed or sold items searches of eBay's US site from anywhere with reasonable internet connectivity. Which, incidentally, suggest US$ 213 would be a reasonable price for the II version but is about 35% above market for the I.

 

[zzffnn]

I have offered such "market price" to some forum members before and most of them seemed to hate me for doing that (they think my offers were way too low). I did make some good purchases that way though, from kind members in this forum.

Such eBay sold price does seem quite low sometimes. Some lenses in good condition were sold at auctions for really low prices and their listing description did not contain significant typos. I don't understand it sometimes. Ending time not convenient (if some buyers don't use snipping softwares), maybe?

I also noticed that some auctions ended higher than expected, for no apparent reason. It is always a gamble to bid in auction, one can only hope that a low bid can win, which does not always happen. Patience and lots of good luck is the key, I guess.

 

[Michael Meissner]

My local store has an Olympus 14-150 first version in exc. condition for $213. What is the difference between a first version and the current lens? Should one even consider a first version or only the current lens? Is this a good price for that lens? Thanks for all advice and education on this.

I do not do detailed inspection of photos, particularly of things like a brick wall.

I bought the original 14-150mm lens in 2010, and sold it in 2015 when I bought the mark II version. I was happy with the pictures in good light with the mark I lens and I've been happy with the mark II lens. The only reason I bought the mark II was for being splash proof. I have taken the lens on several whale watches (where I got splashed by salt water twice), I have shot with it at the Niagara Falls boat ride (where you do get wet), I have shot in several rain storms.

So if you do not need the lens to be splash proof, the mark I lens was a perfectly good lens.

In theory they improved the coating on the new lens, so the new lens might be slightly more resistant to lens flare than the previous version.

FWIW, I was at the zoo today, and I only used the 14-150mm mark II lens (on the E-m10 mark II). Looking at my lens usage chart, the 14-150mm mark II is now my second most heavily used micro 4/3rds lens (after the 12-40mm f/2.8 pro lens). The 14-150mm mark I lens is the third most heavily used micro 4/3rds lens.

One other change is the old 14-150mm did not come with a lens hood, while the mark II version does come with a lens hood. Since I had been shooting classic 4/3rds before going into micro 4/3rds, the lens hood from the 4/3rds 40-150mm mark II lens (which I also own) works perfectly on the micro 4/3rds 14-150mm lens. Otherwise just get a cheap rubber lens hood that folds down for the 14-150mm.

 

[Bidkev]

I have offered such "market price" to some forum members before and most of them seemed to hate me for doing that (they think my offers were way too low). I did make some good purchases that way though, from kind members in this forum.

Such eBay sold price does seem quite low sometimes. Some lenses in good condition were sold at auctions for really low prices and their listing description did not contain significant typos. I don't understand it sometimes. Ending time not convenient (if some buyers don't use snipping softwares), maybe?

I also noticed that some auctions ended higher than expected, for no apparent reason. It is always a gamble to bid in auction, one can only hope that a low bid can win, which does not always happen. Patience and lots of good luck is the key, I guess.

Agree. Sometimes there's no rhyme or reason as to auction prices on ebay. I got my mint condition Olly 14-150 for Aus$151. It was a 10 day auction with the starting bid at Aus$150. I was the only bidder. OTOH, I saw a panny 100-400 sell for Aus$1310 in auction when there was two other sellers with good reps selling at buy now price of Aus$1250?

 

[archaeopteryx]

Such eBay sold price does seem quite low sometimes. Some lenses in good condition were sold at auctions for really low prices and their listing description did not contain significant typos. I don't understand it sometimes.

There's an ongoing literature on this (e.g. Silva 2018, Yi 2017, Drake 2015, Ye 2013, Neto 2011, Bland 2007, Houser 2006, Walley 2005, Bapna 2004) and, whilst certain regression models for certain products plausibly have predictive skill, effect sizes are generally small and remaining variability large. eBay's guidance to sellers around listing quality, photos, and descriptions is well supported but, personally, much of the variability in auction closes strikes me as attributable to the individual buyers who happen to be bidding. Stated in economic terms, buying is often somewhat inefficient. However, the full pricing used by the buyer may not be visible from the auction alone.

As a buyer I set price watches and usually just move on to the next listing if something goes over what I'm willing to pay but I think many people are not so organized in their shopping. In some cases I've paid over the odds due to time pressures or restricted availability but, as my budget is constrained, it's something I try to avoid. Some buyers clearly have plenty of money and are more concerned with getting the thing than optimizing the price paid. As a seller it's also my experience a subset of buyers are nervous about their planned purchase and will pay extra on listings which make them feel more secure. Since I mainly deal in used items this usually means no sale for me as such buyers usually deflect to new items. Their back and forth over cost savings versus perceived risk is an overhead I have to carry to keep my response ratings up, though.

I have offered such "market price" to some forum members before and most of them seemed to hate me for doing that (they think my offers were way too low).

Reasonable or buyer favorable deals come up occasionally but initial asking prices in the Buy & Sell forum typically strike me as somewhat delusional. As such there's little value in approaching sellers and so I don't bother. Motivated sellers will eventually drop their asks close to market and indicate openness to offers. Emotionally attached sellers who overestimate their stuff's worth are probably happy to keep it.

As a seller I price to market and often move items within a day or two. Can take a lot longer to find a buyer for thinly traded niche things, though. Particularly expensive ones or big and heavy ones. I think my record listing time is 10 months and in a couple cases I've taken ~50% losses to get something to move. Buyer's markets but it seems to me the point of listing something for sale is to get rid of it. Shrug.

 

[flamingfish]

For used items, there's some value to being able to examine the item before buying, which may make it worthwhile to pay a little more. Buying from eBay is always a bit of a crapshoot. What is "excellent used condition" to one person may be "scratch & dent" to another. While eBay will get you your money back if what you receive is absolutely not what you ordered, or if you never receive the item at all, I'm not sure I'd want to test the process on "this lens isn't quite as good as I thought it would be." (That said, I've bought a lot of stuff on eBay, but I'm not a good enough photographer to be particularly picky.)