I own a Canon F1. It's a professional 35mm camera from the days before digital and autofocus and I'm always on the lookout for more lenses for it. I have a saved search on eBay for Canon FD fit L series lenses and I've noticed something unusual that I would like explained.
L series lenses with the FD fitting are reasonably rare and you can normally expect search results to throw up five or six 'buy it now' and auction items. The lenses sell for £400 to £500 for the mid range lenses, while fisheyes and telephotos are much more expensive. There were well over 100 FD lenses in the range and I would guess that the L series would provide around 15% of the total range but a much lower percentage in terms of units sold due to their very high prices when new. They are immensely collectable today because of their exceptional build quality and optical excellence. Just like the modern autofocus L series in fact.
What surprises me and I think needs an explanation is how a lens like the Canon FD 85mm f1.2L which hasn't shown up on my searches at all before this week can provide six results out of seven for L series lenses in today's search with sellers from the UK, Japan, USA and Ireland. I've noticed recently how a rare lens like this one suddenly becomes available in disproportionately high numbers and then vanishes again. Recent lenses to behave like this are the FD 50mm f1.2L and the FD 24-35mm f3.5L. The sellers are usually from the USA, Ireland or the UK and the buying options vary between low start bid, to high start bid and high priced buy it now.
I'm sure it's not coincidence, though I can't see how it can be anything but. Try it yourself. Just search for "Canon FD L lens" on eBay. When you read this you might find that a different lens is having its day.
I wonder is there a covert production facility knocking out fake new/used L series FD lenses in small quantities in the Far East and distributing them through an international consortium of eBay sellers or is there another explanation. Answers please.
