The Stars, as I call them, are a group of lenses I longed to try but never thought I’d own—the 24mm f2.8, 85mm f1.7, 58mm f1.2, 100mm f2.5, and the 35mm f1.8. The Stars are expensive but readily available— unlike those I call the Legends (20mm 2.8, 21mm 2.8, 24mm vfc, 85mm 2.0, 85mm vfc, 100mm 2.0, 135mm 2.0, and maybe a few others). Legends, as far I as can tell, exist only in glass showcases of collectors—which means I will never see them. To my way of thinking, Stars are reachable if you are really good, eat your veggies, do good deeds, and save your pennies. To obtain a legend, you must know a “guy” or watch for estate sales.
My quest for the Stars hasn’t been a quest in the usual sense of the word. The first Stars (85mm, f1.7 and 58mm, f1.2, 35mm, f1.8) came my way because I advised a naive eBay seller he was significantly underpricing the lot containing them he had up for auction. Grateful for my honesty, he sold them to me at more than his original asking price but for much less than he could have gotten. I’ve written about one of them—the 58mm 1.2.
The next two Stars came my way due to my bad habit of perusing eBay listings more times per day than is healthy. I got the MD 24mm f2.8 by taking advantage of the Rules of eBay Acquisition. The First Rule states: No matter how rare or sought after a given item is, it will appear on eBay at 50-75% or less of its usual price because somebody is simply tired of owning it. You will get a gem at a bargain price if you see such an item before anyone else.
My final Star, the MD Tele Rokkor 100mm f2.5, is the most recent. Its auction attracted few bidders compared to the reputation of the lens. The seller gave the expected assurances concerning the lens’ appearance and function in the description. Being skeptical because of the low starting price, I wrote with more questions, then bid a low amount, fully expecting to receive a “You have been outbid” message from eBay. No one else placed a bid. So, I got an MD Tele Rokkor 100mm 2.5 at a bargain price, and the lens looks great! My actions directly resulted from being wise to the Second Rule of eBay Acquisition: Randomly and inexplicably, 99% of bidders will ignore a gem with a very low initial auction price.
Since I never expected to own even one of them, the Stars changed my approach to the VMLP. I originally planned to do user experience reports for a few MD Zooms and AF lenses. Having only a few prime lenses (mostly 50mm), I made no plans to include primes in the VMLP. Obtaining the Stars has thrown a wrench into my plans. I’ll admit—this is not a bad problem to have. It will take a couple of years to review all the cameras and lenses at my current pace. My main issue is deciding what to do next. And, to be very clear, I am not complaining…
