Opinions about lens I bought off ebay...

[pittsburghmom]

I won an auction for a Sigma f2.8 17-50mm lens (for Canon) and it arrived yesterday. When I was handed the box from our mail lady, I noticed that the item was "clunking" around inside the box. Since I knew this was the lens that I had won, my stomach dropped. I opened the box inside of that box was the smaller box that contained the lens. This smaller box was inside a USPS priority mail bubble mailer, but even so, the small box still had plenty of room to slide around inside the big box. There should have been some more bubble wrap or packing material to keep the lens box from sliding around. There was alot of empty space inside the main box.

Upon unpacking the lens, I immediately inspected it for any broken glass, cracks, etc. I gently shook it next to my ear and although I don't hear any rattling glass, I do hear/feel a bit of "movement". My issue is this is my first zoom lens, so I have no idea what is normal. The only lens I have ever owned is my Canon f1.8 50mm and it does not do this when I did the gentle "shake test".

Another minor issue is the back lens cap the Sigma lens came with says "Tamron for Canon" which kind of bugs me since the listing says "3 months old! Works perfectly!". I would have expected to get a Sigma branded lens cap. I'm not sure how this would affect resale value down the road.

I did mount the lens on my camera yesterday afternoon and shot about 15 photos and it does seem to work properly. The zoom ring seems a bit "tight" compared to the manual focus ring, but I would have to assume this is normal, right?

 

[havoc315]

I wouldn't worry about the back cap.... All rear caps are interchangeable within a mount.

You don't want a loose zoom ring... so when you say tight, tight like hard to turn? Or just gives a bit of friction to hold its position.

But take a bunch of test shots -- Take a bunch of shots at different focal lengths, and also importantly -- different apertures.
One big potential issue with lenses is a sticky aperture.

Upload the files and examine them carefully -- If you have a sticky aperture, then stopped down pictures will be overexposed.
Pixel peep a bit -- Are you accurately focusing? (And if not, make sure it's a lens issue and not simply a photographer issue).

If you shoot off a bunch of test shots, and there are no problems, then I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Almost every lens I ever bought came used from eBay.

 

[photo_chick]

The back caps on my lenses are all switched around and I wouldn't worry about that. I usually grab the cap off the lens I'm about to mount and stick it on the one I just took off.

You shouldn't really hear movement, IMO, unless it's been bashed around a bit. My old 50mm f/1.8 rattled after it was dropped. It still worked fine though.

You want the zoom ring to be tight enough to keep the lens from creeping, but not so tight it's difficult to move.

Does the seller offer any kind of warranty? Knowing that it's still a $500 lens used I'd be wary of anything you might feel is a problem with it. I generally stick to places like KEH for my used gear because they do offer a warranty and their prices are very competitive.

In addition to the tests havoc suggested also run a proper focus test. Do a google search to find a chart to print out and instructions.

 

[nbaresejr]

I won an auction for a Sigma f2.8 17-50mm lens (for Canon) and it arrived yesterday. When I was handed the box from our mail lady, I noticed that the item was "clunking" around inside the box. Since I knew this was the lens that I had won, my stomach dropped. I opened the box inside of that box was the smaller box that contained the lens. This smaller box was inside a USPS priority mail bubble mailer, but even so, the small box still had plenty of room to slide around inside the big box. There should have been some more bubble wrap or packing material to keep the lens box from sliding around. There was alot of empty space inside the main box.

Upon unpacking the lens, I immediately inspected it for any broken glass, cracks, etc. I gently shook it next to my ear and although I don't hear any rattling glass, I do hear/feel a bit of "movement". My issue is this is my first zoom lens, so I have no idea what is normal. The only lens I have ever owned is my Canon f1.8 50mm and it does not do this when I did the gentle "shake test".

Another minor issue is the back lens cap the Sigma lens came with says "Tamron for Canon" which kind of bugs me since the listing says "3 months old! Works perfectly!". I would have expected to get a Sigma branded lens cap. I'm not sure how this would affect resale value down the road.

I did mount the lens on my camera yesterday afternoon and shot about 15 photos and it does seem to work properly. The zoom ring seems a bit "tight" compared to the manual focus ring, but I would have to assume this is normal, right?

I own this lens. It does not sound like there is anything wrong with it. The noise you hear when moving the lens around is the OS. I just looked at mine and when i turn it side to side or up and down in my hand it makes a very slight noise. In reading about this lens prior to buying it the consensus was that it was the OS system on the lens.

I would test it out properly in good lighting conditions. Mine is tack sharp in good light and even lower light but I have been having some issues when using the Flash. It seems to front focus slightly. Also for some reason I find this lens communicates strange with the flash system in general. I have to really up the flash exposure compensation to get proper flash power using ETTL. My Canon lenses do not have this issue.

 

[SkaGoat]

You shouldn't really hear movement

It's normal that you might hear some slight movement with zoom lenses, if it's a lot of movement there might be cause for concern, but for the more inexpensive, off-brand lenses, a little bit of rattling is normal.

My Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 has made a slide rattle noise since I got it new, but it zooms, and focuses fine, and produces sharp photographs.

Just make sure the focus is good, and the zoom ring works properly, and you'll be fine. Definitely check at different apertures.

You want your zoom ring to be a little tight so that you don't get zoom creep.