Was looking into buying a refurbished R5, but have never bought anything refurbished from Canon. Have any of you ever bought refurbished from Canon and what was your experience?
Yes. Its like new, with a new warranty. just comes in a plain brown box instead of retail packaging. I have a refurb M50, RF/EF adapter, and a number of lenses over the years. Its not as cheap as buying used, but you get a truly like-new item with a 1 year warranty, so in my book that makes it a good deal. And its usually 10-20% off new prices.
I've bought many refurbs from CanonDirect over the past decade. Like others have said, most were like new. Most of the cameras only had 25 or fewer shutter cycles. One had 75. I've only had to return one lens—suffered back focus—and my SL1 lacked AF calibration. Right now the R5 and R6 are priced really high for refurbs. Might be worth waiting for a sale.
Stay away. I bought a refurb RF 70-200/2.8 - it showed a fair amount of usage, didn't with proper box and papers (not that important but you'll take a big hit if you try to sell it). It worked as advertised but returning it was a huge PITA. You have to call Canon, I had to make several calls as I couldn't get through, spent 1+ on hold, and then I had to call back again as the refund wasn't issued in time. Never again.
I find that buying a mint unit here on FM from a trusted seller is a better and more inexpensive way to go.
Having purchased various refurb items (EF and EFS lenses, extenders, binoculars, bodies - including a 1DXII) from Canon, I have no hesitation about purchasing refurbs from Canon USA. All purchased items worked flawlessly. I also purchase essential gear from my local Canon shop and have purchased from the FM B&S forum (lenses, tripods, monopod). Maybe I've just been lucky, but everything from these three sources has been trouble-free for me.
I've bought 5 items from them and never had an issue with any of them. The only error I've had was with a lens they forgot to include the lens hood. A call was placed and they setup an order for it (hood was out of stock). A few years ago they were terrible at shipping, but that's improved a lot in the last 2-3 years.
Everything has been in like new state in a plain Pixema box, for me its always a Pixema box. I can see a gear flipper having an issue with that, but if you plan to keep it it a great way to get a lower price.
Also note, refurbish lenses are recognizable. They will have a red marking in a stamped punch on the joining face of the lens mount.
Adding to the chorus here... I have also bought a few refurbished items from Canon over the years, and every one of them has been fine. (Best deal ever was a pair of like-new high-end, image-stabilized binoculars that I got for half price!)
scottykphoto wrote:
Thanks for the advice. Pulled the trigger this morning and bought the refurb R5. Now I wait.
Scotty, good to see you bought the rerurb R5...., congrats! I just received my refurb a few weeks ago. I paid $3509, way cheaper than anything used on FM and with a full warranty vs none on the used.
Don't forget you'll need an adapter unless you already own RF glass as well as a CFexpress card if you wanna use both slots!
Maybe not an issue for you but the new software to run the new files in DPP(if you use that) only supports windows 10!
Good luck!!!
John
Already have the adapter and a 256gb CFExpress card, bought on Black Friday deals. Curious of your opinion, is it worth it to have more than one adapter and do you think 256gb is enough for a day of shooting?
My only issue has been dealing with Canon direct itself, which is in and of itself difficult at times. I purchased 2 separate lenses from them, no original packaging, but lenses worked well.
Adapter is up to you. If you shoot at your own pace, not in rapidly changing conditions, then one adapter is fine. However, using EF glass in a more stressful environment like a wedding or sports event might be better for multiples.
As for the CFE card. I have never exceeded 256gb yet, shooting weddings or sports. Even shooting up to 30 5-10 second 4kHQ video clips mixed with stills. Shooting Raw + jpg
scottykphoto wrote:
Already have the adapter and a 256gb CFExpress card, bought on Black Friday deals. Curious of your opinion, is it worth it to have more than one adapter and do you think 256gb is enough for a day of shooting?
I’ve sold off most of my EF lenses bar two. For these, it made sense to get a second adapter so that each has its own - saves fiddling around if time is short. The cost of a second adapter is MUCH less than a replacement RF lens!
In 2017 I purchased a refurb 17mm TSE lens and in the year, purchased a refurb 5Ds, this time from a Canadian camera store. The 5ds arrived in a proper box, the 17, if my recollection is correct, in a white box. Since I very seldom shoot with boxes, the packaging was of zero importance to me. The camera looked like new and shot loke new. Likewise, the lens. I saved about $400 on the lens and almost half on the body. Both came with 1 year warranty, which I never needed. So tell me, what's not to like? It seemed risky at first, especially the Canadian purchase, but my research showed that I would receive a nearly new camera or lens at a substantial savings. I have zero regrets. Neither item had a mark or scratch that would distinguish it from new, packaging excluded.
scottykphoto wrote:
Was looking into buying a refurbished R5, but have never bought anything refurbished from Canon. Have any of you ever bought refurbished from Canon and what was your experience?
I bought a 300 f2 Not a scratch not problem!
Bought a 5D..Nada..Excellent
Bought a 600mm..Same..
Dan
The Canon online store is offering "up to" 10% cash back on 12/13 only through Rakuten for refurbished items. Unfortunately, the "up to" qualifier is not further defined.
