# refurbished 5d III, what do you think?



## zg08 (Mar 5, 2013)

what do you think about getting a refurbished 5D-3? Is it worth it? 

Not sure what warranty it would have, but assuming a year - do you think it's worth the risk?

why are some cameras "refurbished"? something was broken when a customer received it? or was it merely a return to the store for no reason?


this is what I'm debating over:
http://shop.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10051_10051_309850_


geez, i can't even call them to ask about warranty. need to be in the US to call. arghhh... i wonder if they'd accept a canadian CC to ship it to a US address....


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## wickidwombat (Mar 5, 2013)

warranty is only 3 months on those AFAIK


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## zg08 (Mar 5, 2013)

wickidwombat said:


> warranty is only 3 months on those AFAIK



thanks...

probably not worth it. 3 months is not that much.


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## RLPhoto (Mar 5, 2013)

I bought my 7D refurb and it was perfect, no issues. I got in 2010 for 1050$, which was a steal at the time. Glad I did it.


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## zg08 (Mar 5, 2013)

what does "refurb" means?

i know that for instance in vacuum cleaners if a customer returned one to the stor,e they would replace the filters and sell it at a deep discount...so buying refurb would be a good deal in that case.

but i have no idea what is involved in refurbishing a camera


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## timmy_650 (Mar 5, 2013)

So it was a product returned, they go thought it and fix the problem if there was one. Depending on the product will change they test they do. Place like canon put it though like a 7-20 point inspection, so it meets the same standard as new.
So I got my t2i refurbished and it looked new and had like 103 pictures taken and 27 videos. There might be scuffs on it and little blemishes on it. Something times that is all what is wrong with it, it can out of the factory with a cosmetic blemish.
In my experience 90% of products you buy refurbished you can't tell it was refurbished, it looks and acts new. I have yet to get that 10% and if you do just return it in the first 2 weeks or something like that.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 5, 2013)

Refurbed does not mean repaired. The cameras are usually demos or ones that were returned and working fine. A lot of people returned perfectly good cameras over the light leak issue, so canon added a piece of tape.
You can purchase a Mack Warranty to extend coverage, but realistically, most problems with a camera happen within a month or two.

Still, if you are prepared to jump on a one day sale, you can do very well. I bought my 5D MK III from Adorama on ebay last fall for $2750 and got a spare OEM battery out of the deal from my ebay bucks. Recently, there have been some very good short term sales.


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## fonts (Mar 5, 2013)

I don't get people's hesitation with this. Refurbished means back to standards. Basically new. It's a great deal even with the 3month warranty.


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## zg08 (Mar 5, 2013)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Still, if you are prepared to jump on a one day sale, you can do very well. I bought my 5D MK III from Adorama on ebay last fall for $2750 and got a spare OEM battery out of the deal from my ebay bucks. Recently, there have been some very good short term sales.



this refurb camera from canon is a sale. I haven't seen anything lower for a 5d 3, perhaps I'm not looking in the right places?





fonts said:


> I don't get people's hesitation with this. Refurbished means back to standards. Basically new. It's a great deal even with the 3month warranty.




In my experience I had to repair a 40D within warranty period, so I think warranty can be important. However, what are the chances I'll get a second camera that would break within the warranty period? lol


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## RGF (Mar 5, 2013)

I buy refurbished computers all the time -never had a problem. I have purchased refurb lenses, never a body, mostly since I cannot find one when it is time for me buy. 

As others have said, could be a return - customer did not like it, or did not want it, ,.. Store returns the camera to canon and it then becomes a refurb.


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## East Wind Photography (Mar 5, 2013)

Maybe not worth it. If the price is right and you qualify, get the CPS gold membership so at least after 3 months you can get a discount on repairs.

I've always had issues with refurb products (not Canon) so I steer away. New is not much more usually.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 5, 2013)

zg08 said:


> Mt Spokane Photography said:
> 
> 
> > Still, if you are prepared to jump on a one day sale, you can do very well. I bought my 5D MK III from Adorama on ebay last fall for $2750 and got a spare OEM battery out of the deal from my ebay bucks. Recently, there have been some very good short term sales.
> ...


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## PhotographAdventure (Mar 5, 2013)

If it works for the 3 months, during which time you can return it, then it will most likely work for the rest of the year as well. We are talking about the 5D3, which is a high quality piece of equipment, not some rubbish camera.


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## mistabernie (Mar 5, 2013)

It actually depends where you buy it. If you buy direct from Canon Refurb, you're close to $2500+ with tax included, etc and a 3 month warranty (which you could extend via a Mack warranty, etc). If you can get Adorama to sell you a refurb at the Canon price, you can probably save sales tax AND get a 1 year warranty (Canon covers the first three months and Adorama covers the rest of it). 

Also, Canon refurbs aren't necessarily returns of defective or demo units; they can be units that failed some QC check during the actual manufacturing process, and were deemed feasible to adjust to factory specifications (i.e., you could very well have a brand new camera that just took a minor adjustment to make it through the process of being built). 

Canon refurbished units are usually very high quality. In the time I've been dealing with people on POTN, etc, I've only heard one bad story about a Canon refurb (and it was recently, from a member that didn't provide much information (pictures, which lens, etc, just that his 'refurb' lens had scratches on the front element)). The fact is, there's a failure rate in even things that are bought brand new, so there's always an inherent risk (take, for example, the WD 500gb passports I bought on shellshocker from Newegg not too long ago; the first one I opened didn't work out of the box / wouldn't be recognized by the PC. The second one was.)


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## cliffwang (Mar 5, 2013)

During last holiday season many 5D3 sales around 2600 without tax. If you can wait, you should see 2500 deal in 6 to 8 months. If you cannot wait, go to get the refurbished one. From statistics point of view, electronics items has high defect rate in the first few weeks use. Once there is no problem in the first few weeks use, they usually last for years.


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## Rienzphotoz (Mar 5, 2013)

There are two advantages in buying a refurbished Canon or Nikon gear:

1. Lower Price

2. All refurbished items will have been checked over by the manufacturer by hand, inspected very thoroughly, diagnosed, and calibrated by experienced technicians, and could therefore turn out to be more dependable than a new item - which will only have been checked by a process of systematic quality control protocol (ie by random sampling as it comes off the conveyor belt).

I bought a refurbished Nikon D7000 and it works perfectly. If I were you, I'd buy it right away.


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## Wildfire (Mar 5, 2013)

I've bought both refurbished lenses and bodies directly from Canon. They were always indistinguishable from new items and worked great.


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## Freddie (Mar 5, 2013)

I bought a 100-400L refurb from Canon not too many months ago and it's the sharpest one I've had with no problems yet. I just pulled the trigger on a 5D3 refurb on Monday, arriving Thursday. I'll post my impressions when it arrives. The price is great at US$2380.
We buy all our Macintoshes refurb too. So far so good.
Fred


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 5, 2013)

mistabernie said:


> Also, Canon refurbs aren't necessarily returns of defective or demo units; they can be units that failed some QC check during the actual manufacturing process, and were deemed feasible to adjust to factory specifications (i.e., you could very well have a brand new camera that just took a minor adjustment to make it through the process of being built).


Sorry, but if a camera doesn't pass a QC test during production, it is sent to rework, repaired, and sold as a new camera (which it is). This is the case with Cameras, TV sets, automobiles, airplanes, satellites, ... virtually everything.
Even food is reworked and sold as new and is only sometimes marked as reprocessed. 

Canon has a refurb facility in the USA which does testing and repacking. You should get a camera in very nice condition, but the battery will be used, and the manuals likely also used. I've bought a few and they were excellent cameras and never had a problem, but they were not new.


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## Rienzphotoz (Mar 5, 2013)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> mistabernie said:
> 
> 
> > Also, Canon refurbs aren't necessarily returns of defective or demo units; they can be units that failed some QC check during the actual manufacturing process, and were deemed feasible to adjust to factory specifications (i.e., you could very well have a brand new camera that just took a minor adjustment to make it through the process of being built).
> ...


+1


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## Freddie (Mar 8, 2013)

*Refurb 5D MK III arrived yesterday.*

It's here!

Beautifully boxed and pillowed in custom shaped foam container. All new sealed accessories and books. The camera itself is immaculate and the battery had 80% of full charge. Long serial number, 0820200606.

I won't have time to test it until tomorrow, unfortunately. When I have something further to report, I'll post here. No idea of picture count, of course.

Fred


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## Rienzphotoz (Mar 8, 2013)

*Re: Refurb 5D MK III arrived yesterday.*



Freddie said:


> It's here!
> 
> Beautifully boxed and pillowed in custom shaped foam container. All new sealed accessories and books. The camera itself is immaculate and the battery had 80% of full charge. Long serial number, 0820200606.
> 
> ...


CONGRATULATIONS! Welcome to the exciting full frame world of 5D MK III


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## twagn (Mar 8, 2013)

I think you ought to buy one while they're still in stock

http://shop.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/subCategory_10051_10051_-1_29252


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## jrh (Mar 8, 2013)

I am a big fan of the high end refurbished gear (when the price is right) and purchased a 5Dmk3 earlier this week. The L lenses and high end bodies are built to perform in environments beyond what I will use them in. There is no reason for me to pay full price for a tool I use for a hobby and pleasure if I can get a moderately used one at a good savings. If they have been thoroughly reviewed by a Canon technician and certified to meet specs I will buy these items all day when they are 15% or more marked down off the refurb price. The only time I buy new is if Canon or Apple release a game changer product - and neither has done so recently IMHO - or the new product is discounted significantly. Another good source, I have found, for used items is LensRentals.com. Watch their sale listing as they will mark items down that don't move.


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## Rienzphotoz (Mar 9, 2013)

jrh said:


> Another good source, I have found, for used items is LensRentals.com. Watch their sale listing as they will mark items down that don't move.


+1


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## Freddie (Mar 11, 2013)

*So far, so good.*

Although not really very far so far.
It works fine and have managed to RTFM several times and feel comfortable with the operation of it.
The images are slightly different from and maybe accept a bit more sharpening than the files from my 2008 vintage 5D MK II. Only time will tell. I do like the new feature set.
The MK II will become a single purpose tool for a while doing real estate HDR while I shoot the more fun things with the MK III. If the MK III turns out to be a decent wildlife body, I might sell the 1D MK IV. I never shoot at the full 10fps speed anyway.
Hopefully, I can do the MFA this week and see how accurate the MK III AF really is. First tests with the 500 looked very good. Unfortunately, we won't be going anywhere I can really test for a couple of weeks while the 90-day warranty ticks down.
Fred


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## jonathan7007 (Mar 11, 2013)

Out of stock as of Sunday night. That really is a tempting price: imagine...$1100 less than what I paid in May last year.


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## Rienzphotoz (Mar 11, 2013)

jonathan7007 said:


> Out of stock as of Sunday night.


That's the problem with good products like 5D MK III that are refurbished and selling for a discounted price, they get lapped up real fast.


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## Freddie (Mar 11, 2013)

*I watched the site obsessively for weeks...*



scrappydog said:


> I bought my 5D2 refurbished from Canon and it was a great deal. The camera has served me well. No issues.



I was hoping for the full 20% discount they offered late last year. However, after the 15% discount showed up over the weekend, I called at 6AM our time on Monday morning and ordered the camera because they can run out of stock very quickly sometimes. Their website won't accept our small town address as being in the FedEx database so I always have to call.
It looks like the stock lasted for a week this time. Not too bad.
Fred


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 11, 2013)

*Re: I watched the site obsessively for weeks...*



Freddie said:


> scrappydog said:
> 
> 
> > I bought my 5D2 refurbished from Canon and it was a great deal. The camera has served me well. No issues.
> ...


I've tried to get one with the Canon Loyalty Program before, but they were not available yet. I see a Nikon D3 for $1800 locally, I've been thinking about buying and playing with it, but then I do not want to go back to 12mp.


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## RGomezPhotos (Mar 13, 2013)

I've never heard anything about Canon refurbs... Never. Good deal on the 5DIII!


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