I have (more than) two friends who have been interested in getting their hands on a camera to try out photography. Being someone who has several cameras, I thought about lending them one of my cameras - however, I didn’t have any (spare) lenses to lend to them (unless they want to shoot every day photos with a 400mm f/2.8???) - so I started to look for a cheap priced, but decent camera lens.

I stumbled upon an eBay classified selling a bunch of old EF-mount camera lenses for $99

I purchased this set of three lenses from the seller for $80, unsure of if they’d work or not.

Canon EF 35-80mm f/4-5.6

The interior glass elements are fogged up, giving everything a hazy and diffused look.
Although it’s kinda cool I guess - but not usable for everyday photographs (haha… unless?)

Canon EF 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5A

This is a fully automatic focus lens, and it does not have a swictch (nor a ring) to control manual focussing. There seems to be something stuck inside it because there is a rattling noise (probably some plastic that fell off). Also the focussing is very loud…

It works though

Canon EF 35-135mm f/4-5.6 USM

This lens would not zoom, as the plastic extruded bits inside the lens had broken off (and were rattling inside the lens). You could manually zoom by pulling and pushing the lens element, but it’s not very ‘lend-able’ as per my initial purpose. However the optics were fine, and being an Ultrasonic Motor model, it was nice and quiet.

I decided to open up the 35-135mm lens to see if I could fix the zoom.

Sure enough, the plastic bits that were part of the zoom tracks had broken off. I used some contact cement (‘fancy’ glue) to glue them on and let them dry. After a few hours, I tried turning the lens, and it zoomed perfectly fine!

I’ll probably end up lending this lens to my friend(s) - although it is a bit on the heavier side - compared to my 50mm f/1.8 (which I broke)