refurbished canon lenses from Adorama?

[johnsy]

Can anyone comment about quality? I have to choose among gray market, USA warranty and refurbished by Canon. I have good experience with gray market lenses, it is essentially the same as USA warranty plus price savings. But how about refurbished? They have 90 day warranty on them.

Did anyone purchased? Did it came looking like brand new or like used?

 

[onomatopoeia]

I have read that "refurbished by Canon" is better than new. Canon supposedly does a spectacular job getting them ready for sale and backs them with a full warranty. You just pay less.

 

[ghostguts]

I recently bought a refurbished Canon EF 50mm F1.4 Telephoto lens refurbished from Adorama.

Works great. No signs of wear.

 

[jbernie]

Can anyone comment about quality? I have to choose among gray market, USA warranty and refurbished by Canon. I have good experience with gray market lenses, it is essentially the same as USA warranty plus price savings. But how about refurbished? They have 90 day warranty on them.

Did anyone purchased? Did it came looking like brand new or like used?

I can't say I have been searching the web for gray market lenses, but when i saw a gray lens & USA market lens side by side I didn't see the big deal in pricing as it was maybe $20 on a $400 lens. Maybe it is a more significant difference on a higher priced lens?

 

[nburwell]

I have read that "refurbished by Canon" is better than new. Canon supposedly does a spectacular job getting them ready for sale and backs them with a full warranty. You just pay less.

I was going to say the same thing. I've purchased a few refurbished lenses from Canon, and they have turned out better than my brand new Canon lenses. If given the choice, I would certainly go with a refrubed lens.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

Can anyone comment about quality? I have to choose among gray market, USA warranty and refurbished by Canon. I have good experience with gray market lenses, it is essentially the same as USA warranty plus price savings. But how about refurbished? They have 90 day warranty on them.

Did anyone purchased? Did it came looking like brand new or like used?

Both Adorama and B&H are reputable dealers. Refurbished lenses are just fine, and backed by the same warranty as new ones, much like refurbished Macs.

 

[johnsy]

i am considering canon 28-135 mm IS. The price is:
$400 for gray market
$300 for refurbished
$410 for USA warranty
$350 without a box.
So the most significant savings are for refurbished. $10 difference for gray market is not big deal, just savings for faster shipping maybe. And without a box? What does that mean? Why it would be without a box? Are they saving on shipping weight or what?

Anyway, that would be upgrade for my rebel xti. I want all around lens and it seems it is the best Canon can offer.

 

[nburwell]

I would definitely go with the refurbished lens. Especially since you're seeing a good amount of saving by purchasing it. I don't know what's up with the lens that's missing a box. That is a bit odd; especially for Adorama.

Did you purchase the XTi "kit?" Meaning, did it include the 18-55 lens with it? I would save the 18-55 for more wide angle shots. You're going to be particularly limited with WA shots on the 28-135 since the XTi is a 1.6x crop sensor. You can always use the 18-55 when you need more wide angle shots.

 

[johnsy]

yes, I have bought a kit. That was some time ago. I actually somehow dislike kit lens because it has no image stabilization. Unfortunately the only minus of rebel xti is s***** screen. It is very dark even on brightest setting. As I understand 18-135 mm is for full sensor ? So I will get more telephoto from it with rebel?

 

[nburwell]

Yes, you will get more on the telephoto end, but will lose quite a bit on the WA end. In essence, the 28-135 is actually a 44-216 lens on your XTi with the APS-C sensor. If you don't like the 18-55, Canon just released the 18-55 IS lens with the XSi. From reading reviews and postings on photography forums, it's a bit of an upgrade from the 18-55 non-IS lens. Something worth looking into down the road since you mentioned you like IS on your lenses.

 

[johnsy]

It is not too bad then- I find myself using 35-55 range of my 18-55mm lens. I wish Canon (or Tokina) offered something similar to Nikon's 18-200 mm.

In a future when I will upgrade my camera I will be able to reuse lens for full sensor camera (I hope in a few years full sensor will go under $1000) .

 

[johnsy]

So I bought refurbished canon 17-85mm. It came in a box which stated refurbished and there was sticker on lens cap too. Lens itself has no scratches or anything, looks brand new. There was only manual in a box besides lens. Lens seems clean and everything works. I expected a little bit faster focus however. Something like 28-135mm... But it is not related to lens being refurbished.

 

[stealthninja]

i bought a refurbished nikon lens from adorama and got a 90 day warranty from nikon. the lens itself looked brand new but it didn't come in the same box that it would have were it not refurbished, which in my opinion is not a big deal.