A 1,500 euro lens for seven euros

The coffee mug and the lens look very similar.

If you buy used, you can save a lot. A bargain like the one this photographer from Portland made is rather the exception. Because he saved well over 1,000 euros when he bought a camera lens – even though he wasn’t actually looking for treasure.

In addition to the particularly high discount, it is also curious why the buyer of the lens did not initially believe it was a lucky find: he initially thought the lens was a coffee mug.

A luxury lens in the second hand store

The lucky finder is Luke, the owner of an analog film camera shop in Portland. As he tells the US website Petapixel, he was actually looking for old camera equipment that he could resell in his shop:

That may have changed now. During one of his more recent visits, Luke noticed a camera lens with a distinctive red ring. The lens was part of Canon’s luxurious L series – the Japanese manufacturer’s high-end range for professional users.

However, at the beginning, Luke assumed that the device was not a lens. Coffee mugs that imitate the design of the lens are also popular in the photography community. So the photographer expected little when he took off the cover as a test:

A decent find, because you usually have to pay around 1,500 euros for a lens like this. However, the price tag in the second-hand store was just seven US dollars (the equivalent of around 6.60 euros).

Link to YouTube content

As soon as Luke realized the value of the lens, he took some video footage of it – you can see his hand shaking quite a bit. He paid the asking price of seven US dollars, drove home and tried out his new treasure.

And in fact, the lens not only worked without any problems – it also appeared to be in perfect condition. Luke’s final words:

Do you want to start taking photos yourself? These are Linh’s camera tips for under 200 euros.

Have you ever had a lucky break with used technology? How much were you able to save? Are you still traveling with a decent camera? Which lenses do you use? And would you have snapped up the bargain straight away or pointed out the seller’s mistake? Write it to us in the comments!