In seminary, I learned the Greek perfect tense indicates a past action which continues into the present; for example, "I have been living in Denver since 1999." In John 1:26, John the Baptist describes Jesus (who is not mentioned by name until John 1:29, a provocative literary move by John the Evangelist which has the effect of building anticipation) describes Jesus with a perfect participial and a perfect active verb: "...in your midst has been standing one whom you all have not known...." Curiously, all the English versions I consulted translate these verbs in the present tense. The ESV is a representative example: "...but among you stands one you do not know...."
One can easily justify this choice; John the Baptist certainly means that Jesus is still amongst them. However, the present tense implies that Jesus is physically among the delegation of priests and Levites questioning John the Baptist, right at that moment. Since this was almost certainly not the case (Jesus wasn't a priest or Levite, and John the Evangelist tells us he showed up the next day in 1:29), the perfect tense in English more clearly communicates the simple idea that Jesus has "been on the scene" in Judea for some time.
Given that the perfect tense is, well, perfectly clear in English, I can't imagine why so many translators went with the present in John 1:26. This may be a case of "KJV hangover:" since it was translated that way in the King James Version, subsequent translators did the same without too much reflection.
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