I am planning to get refurbished lens from Canon, never did this before. Any negative on this? Can I possibly get heavily used and scratched but refurbished inside lens? Or they all look like new? How about return if bad, is it possible with Canon store? Thanks!
Seeing that you often have to send a brand new lens (or did, before focus correction capability) in for furbishing - adjusting focus and sometimes replacing defective parts- to get it to a decent performance standard, you might be ahead of the game with a lens that's already re-furbished.
I was fortunate enough to purchased a 5D Mark II as a refurbished camera at a great price. It is my understanding from a Canon repair representative that before a refurbished product is sent out from Canon it has to meet all new camera or lens specifications in all regards, period. It looked like a new camera to me. I have used it extensively and I have not had a moments problem with it.
Sportscaster wrote:
I was fortunate enough to purchased a 5D Mark II as a refurbished camera at a great price. It is my understanding from a Canon repair representative that before a refurbished product is sent out from Canon it has to meet all new camera or lens specifications in all regards, period. It looked like a new camera to me. I have used it extensively and I have not had a moments problem with it.
Breitling65 wrote:
I am planning to get refurbished lens from Canon, never did this before. Any negative on this? Can I possibly get heavily used and scratched but refurbished inside lens? Or they all look like new? How about return if bad, is it possible with Canon store? Thanks!
i have bought a few refurbs lens and bodies from canon and they have all looked and worked as new.
I bought my 17-40 L lens as a refurb. It came wrapped like new with lens hood, leatherette case and full warranty. The way it was packaged I would not have been able to tell it from a new one. It has been one of my favorite lenses and it performs perfectly. Like others have said, I would not hesitate to buy another refurbed lens. Be careful though, some mail order dealers sell used or open box returns as refurbs, when they are not.
Jon_Doh wrote:
I bought my 17-40 L lens as a refurb. It came wrapped like new with lens hood, leatherette case and full warranty. The way it was packaged I would not have been able to tell it from a new one. It has been one of my favorite lenses and it performs perfectly. Like others have said, I would not hesitate to buy another refurbed lens. Be careful though, some mail order dealers sell used or open box returns as refurbs, when they are not.
Thanks! How fast is shipping from Canon? Should I allow some extra time since I need lens by certain date?
Breitling65 wrote:
I am planning to get refurbished lens from Canon, never did this before. Any negative on this? Can I possibly get heavily used and scratched but refurbished inside lens? Or they all look like new? How about return if bad, is it possible with Canon store? Thanks!
like new. You could not tell its used if they didn't ship it in white box or Refurbished sticker
I bought a refurb 100L and it was like new. I figure the chances are better than off the shelf for a properly calibrated lens.
The downsides, or compromises, compared to new are: only 90 warranty, slow shipping, and Canon charges any state sales tax.
Sometimes it's a great deal, other times. . . not such a bargain when you add up the shipping, sales tax, and short warranty. All said and done, I got the 100L for about $900, and I think that is a bargain for a terrific lens.
But regards quality, I think you are slightly ahead buying a refurb.
Refurbs most often aren't refurbished at all. Most often it's a new lens that someone bought from a large retailer with liberal return privileges, shot it a little bit, decided they didn't like it, and returned it. Nothing wrong with it, but the retailer can't really sell it as new again. So, it goes back to Canon, gets repackaged in a white box and sold as a refurb. In some cases there may actually have been some problem with the lens, but it was within the retailer's return period, so the customer returned it to them for an exchange rather than sending it to Canon under warranty and being without a lens for a couple of weeks. Again, the retailer sends it back to Canon, it gets repaired and sold as refurb. Basically the question is whether the price difference is worth the warranty difference (90 days vs. 1 year). Sometimes the price difference is pretty slight. Puzzling to me is why you can often find Canon refurbs at B&H for less than they sell for on the Canon site.
Gunzorro wrote:
I bought a refurb 100L and it was like new. I figure the chances are better than off the shelf for a properly calibrated lens.
The downsides, or compromises, compared to new are: only 90 warranty, slow shipping, and Canon charges any state sales tax.
Sometimes it's a great deal, other times. . . not such a bargain when you add up the shipping, sales tax, and short warranty. All said and done, I got the 100L for about $900, and I think that is a bargain for a terrific lens.
But regards quality, I think you are slightly ahead buying a refurb. ...Show more →
I only have a single refurbished lens and will certainly be doing that again when the price makes sense (I need there to be a price gap from new otherwise I just buy new).....
My GUESS is they drill a hole into the mount flange on all of em - My RF has it (on the part that mounts flat on the camera flange) and none of the new lenses have that - no issue but I'm guessing they do that for some id purpose. Otherwise it's in immaculate condition and apart from packaging that goes away anyway (sorry - don't have a box collection ).
anyway, how would that answer anything?
- My RF has it (on the part that mounts flat on the camera flange) and none of the new lenses have that - no issue but I'm guessing they do that for some id purpose. Otherwise it's in immaculate condition and apart from packaging that goes away anyway (sorry - don't have a box collection 
).