Many of you may remember a little site that I began several years ago called LensRescue.com. It’s goal was to be a marketplace for high-end motion picture lenses. But with the growth of Duclos Lenses and the birth of my first daughter, I simply didn’t have the attention or the resources to dedicate to the site and it faded away. Fast-forward several years and I’m thrilled to bring my newest venture to life; LensFinder.com
LensFinder is poised to be the go-to marketplace for buying and selling vintage and pre-owned lenses of all background, not just cinema. I couldn’t be more excited to bring you this new website along with a man equally as passionate about lenses as myself, Co-Founder, Ryan Avery. We’ve spent the past six months working with some great minds of the optics industry along with some well-known, established equipment dealers and brokers to bring not only some really great listings, but also some inspiring content to promote and educate about all things lenses. LensFinder isn’t a new concept. It’s a marketplace with a focus. eBay is great for a new pair of sunglasses or a questionable replacement iPhone battery… But we feel that buying and selling lenses deserved it’s own dedicated community. A resource with a crew behind it that knew the products just as well as it knows it’s clients.
So how does it work…? There are no paid memberships, listing fees, and certainly no hidden fees. There’s a flat 3.99% transaction fee when and if your listing sells. And even then, the fee is capped at $500 which keeps things in check for those selling sets of Leica Summilux-C Primes 😉 Transactions are routed through PayPal which adds a thorough layer of security for buyers and sellers.
I’m particularly passionate about this new project considering I’ve devoted a majority of my life to servicing, researching, buying, and selling new, pre-owned, and vintage glass. The slogan of our site really sums up my feelings: Glass Matters. Ryan and I along with our web team have been adding features and refining the site which we’ve built from scratch and can’t wait to watch the plethora of lenses begin to make their way to new, excited owners. The site has been quietly operating in BETA mode for the past few weeks and even through that process we’ve been excited to see just how many users have joined and begun listing glass that needs a new home. We’re just getting started and have some pretty impressive features coming to the site in the near future.
Just in the past few weeks there’s been some really cool new listings. There’s an awesome Canon 50mm f/0.95 Dream Lens, a beautiful set of Cine-Mod Contax Zeiss Primes, and a damn rare set of Zeiss MkIII Super Speeds!
You can find the official press release attached below. I’m looking forward to all the new listings now that the site is coming out of beta. Head on over to www.LensFinder.com, sign up. list some lenses. buy some lenses. browse the site. and don’t forget… Glass Matters.
