Meet Lensfinder: A New Marketplace for Buying and Selling Lenses

Looking to buy or sell glass? Lensfinder wants to make the process painless.

Co-founders Matthew Duclos and Ryan Avery have quietly launched the beta version of Lensfinder.com recently, and if you're thinking those names sound familiar, you’re right. Matt is from Duclos Lenses and Ryan Avery kick-started Veydra, the peeps behind some quality mirrorless lenses. They’ve now teamed up together offering filmmakers a streamlined solution to buying and selling glass.

According to the site, Lensfinder is “a marketplace for photographers and cinematographers to buy, sell and learn about used, vintage and boutique lenses” while aiming to make the process “easy and affordable.”

The site promises buyer and seller vetting like eBay does, but unlike eBay, Lensfinder doesn’t charge any fees to list items. Only a small transaction fee of 3.99% is tacked on if a lens is sold–which is also less than eBay. The fee is even capped at $500 for more expensive purchases. Currently, PayPal (which adds on its own fee) is the only source to make and collect payments, but the site will be adopting credit card and wire payments in the future. (We suggest using Stripe to Lensfinder–they have a free “pay as you go plan” to keep costs at a minimum.)

Being a cheaper and more product-focused alternative to sites like eBay positions Lensfinder well. And there’s no need to worry about fraud as they offer buyer and seller protection as well as mediation if issues arise.

Even in beta, there are already some great options available like a set of Zeiss Mk3 Super Speed Primes and over 200 more from Angenieux, Canon, Cooke, Nikon, Sony, Tokina and others. Not a bad start, but ultimately, it will be up to the community to make this idea thrive.

In a post from Duclos on The Cine Lens, he says they’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.”

So if you’re looking to rid yourself of some glass, buy some for your next project, or even learn a few things, go ahead and check ‘em out.