Canon FD - ebay Price Guide

NEW - February 2006 Update

It's been a while since I last updated this list. So here's a partial update since I don't track everything below $100 anymore. However I've made a small effort to try to give all you die hard FD users some more recent price guidelines. Keep checking this site as I will update whatever is missing between now and end of February 2006. If you see an asterisk (*) near the price...it just means that I don't have many data points for that particular item. In general I try to have at least 10+ data points for every price. Most prices have 20-40 data points. The information on lenses $100+ is good.....the rest needs a little work....so keep checking this weekly. 

I have left some of the old information on the list...just in case you want to compare and look at how much prices have fallen over the past 1 1/2 years. 

Feb 03, 2006

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Welcome to the new and expanded ebay Price Guide web page! This site was designed for the Canon FD camera and lens community in hopes that it may benefit from information on used Canon equipment prices on ebay. I have compiled this information over a period of 3+ years (Jan 2000-May  2003) plus an update in Dec.2005 on an intermittent basis. 

Since September of 2001, I have been mainly tracking lenses that cost over $300. I have seen a noticeable slowdown and price erosion since the events of September 2001 which I believe are partly due to the economic slowdown in the US market. The same trend can be seen on prices from some of the camera shops such as KEH, Adorama and B&H Photo. The erosion of prices is in the 10-20% range on almost all lenses and cameras. Accessories such as special screens and other hard to find items seem to maintain prices a little better.  I'm still amazed and awed by the amount of FD stuff that is being sold and bought. Even though many people are switching to either AF (auto focus) systems or digital.....a rather large amount of people are still buying up the older FD stuff. Even though you would expect market saturation of FD stuff at some point (and the lower prices may be indicating this trend)...most of the equipment still sells at reasonably high prices. Some of the more expensive lenses sometimes even sell higher than the equivalent AF current model. The higher priced items seemed to be driven by collectors with deep pockets. The rest is just people who enjoy and appreciate the value of good old FD equipment made in the 60's, 70's and 80's ! 

I have reconstructed the database and have now separated prime lenses from zooms and other specialty lenses. A new section has also been added with some typical accessories for the cameras such as screens, winders, etc.... Also please note that there is a new column titled " Current Avg. Price". This reflects the current average price since the last update made to this list which in this case means from Nov. 2002 to May 2003. 

Please Read- One of the most common complaints I have heard and read on the net about this database is that it does not categorize the lenses and cameras by condition. People would like to have this data divided into different categories similar to the one's used by KEH, B&H or any other major seller of used equipment. To those who criticize this database as incomplete I have only one observation to make : "You guys really don't have a clue about what ebay is all about !".  I tried once to categorize lenses by their "advertised" condition. The data is all over the map and has absolutely no meaning whatsoever. Here's a couple of examples to illustrate my point from my own experience: 

a) I had a 14mm f2.8L lens which was in good condition (almost a KEH Excellent). I purchased another 14mm 2.8L on a BIN of $550 which was in Like New condition. Sold my Excellent for $1300. How can you have a consistent rating system when things like this happen ? I was lucky that the seller didn't know the current value of his lens and got this jewel for next to nothing. I was also lucky that these are extremely rare so when I sold mine...I got top dollar. So what sense does a Mint- lens at $550 versus an Excellent at $1300 have ? That's ebay for you......

b) I have bought in the last 5 months (and returned) five (5) 28mm f2 lenses. All were described as Mint, Mint-, Excellent ++, 9 + , 9, etc.... All had to be returned because of either, fungus, oil in the blades, scratches on the rear element, thick coating of grime in one of the inside elements, bubbles in the coating, defective coating, etc... The advertised condition was very far from the true condition of the lens. So making a database of lens value based on sellers description is a totally false illusion just because sellers on ebay tend to over advertise what they sell. Luckily I was dealing with good sellers and all refunded me the money after I pointed out the defects . However these two examples just prove my point that making a classification of sold lenses on ebay based on "advertised" condition is a totally futile endeavor. Prices are all over the map, prices change weekly and there is no hard fast rule for pricing. The only items that are relatively consistent in price are items in mint condition, never used with box and documentation. Even then the price may vary from one week to the next depending on which collector is buying that week and how deep his pockets are. 

c) Screens for the New F1 are another typical example. The same screen can sell one week for $50 and reach $130 the following week. Price in general has no relation to condition of the screen. I have purchased from a reputed seller on ebay a screen advertised as Mint/Never used. Unfortunately never thought about taking a look at the screen with a 5X loupe. When I did, I discovered that someone had tried to clean the matte fresnel with what looked like a Brillo metal pad. Even though the screen still works fine.....it is very far from either Mint or Never used ! How can you account for things like this (which are more common than you think) on a price list. 

So what good is this price list ? It's just an indication that most likely you will pay around $700 for a 24mm 1.4L and not $150. It just gives you a base point from where to start when shopping on ebay. You may get lucky and find that 24mm 1.4L for $250....but the odds are against that happening. In general expect to pay anywhere between $600-$800 for one of these lenses. And if your neighborhood store has one of these for $500.....and in good condition....you will be probably better off buying there and not on ebay. 

Use this database at your own discretion and please read the notes, explanations and tips contained at the bottom of this page. If you have any questions, doubts or comments ( praises, thank you notes and $10 bills are also welcome) about the contents here....please feel free to e-mail me at : stoli_photo@yahoo.com

Canon FD Discussion Group : if you're a Canon FD aficionado (at whatever level of expertise) please visit and join one of the best and most civilized Canon FD discussion groups on the net at : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CanonFD/