Canon USA: Canon Professional Services

(a) that are full time self-employed, or an employee of a professional imaging business, who plays a direct role in the creation of moving or still images for third parties on a professional basis,
"

When they come to your house, go through your financial records and determine that you do not meet this requirement will they then revoke your membership?
 
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Aug 7, 2018
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If that is not the norm at Sony or Nikon, that really is something that would stop me from buying there products.

The only complain I had about CPS in the past, is that you needed TWO professional bodies to qualify. I hope they changed that. If Canon is really confident with the quality of their lenses, a single camera should be enough for most photographers unless they need wide and long lenses at the same time. Instead of wasting the money on two cameras, I would rather buy more lenses.

I also hated that after a while a camera did not longer qualify.
 
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I may have misspoke a bit. I meant that as far as I know, you don't have to show proof of professional standing.

as far as I know at least, CPS doesn't have that requirement anymore. they used to.

for instance, NPS you must have an official letter of introduction in your company's letterhead, and examples of tearsheets,etc. of your work to qualify.
Sony Professional Services (which basically means, better support than the nothing you get normally) used to have the same qualifications as Nikon, however looking at their site again, it seems they have dropped for all purposes the professional qualification and now do like Canon. it seems no longer that you need proof of professional standing. For Sony Europe you have to go through a jury that decides if you are professional or not. But I see no such requirement for Sony USA.
 
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However, if they fixed cameras and lenses for anyone at major sporting events as long as they paid a professional fee, this would take away from the limited space they'd have to service the real pros.
I´ve covered some of these really big sports events where both Canon and Nikon offers both service and loaners.
This is offered inside the working areas for media. A place you won't get even close to without the proper accreditation (a.k.a. "credential").
I.E. It´s only available for people that are actually working at these events.
(Image from the World Cup in Russia).
 

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I've been a CPS member for years. I've sold some photos to magazines, but would not qualify as "pro" in that it was my primary income. (My latest quarterly stock photo earnings were more than a Tall Latte and less than a Venti). It has been a great program. I've borrowed a couple dozen lenses over the years, and I've wound up purchasing a couple and a new body (and then a 2nd of same) after having done the evaluations. I think it's an easy win-win for both me and Canon. That they would expand this makes perfect sense for everyone.

I think some other countries might not have the economy of scale to have enough equipment in inventory to offer this to all comers. It makes sense that different circumstances might make for diverging policies.

I highly recommend the program to people who qualify, as the loans are quite educational.
 
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RGF

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For many amateurs, I think a major draw is the evaluation program. At $100/year, it's cheaper than lensrentals.

With 143 points I certainly qualify, but I haven't felt any need to sign up.

143 points - well done. I noticed that they include smaller printers but not my Pro-2000. Strange.

The draw for me is the service and cleaning services. I have only borrowed equipment a few times to try it and then ending up buying it. I think I better not borrow anything else, the closest already too full.
 
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Michael Clark

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For many amateurs, I think a major draw is the evaluation program. At $100/year, it's cheaper than lensrentals.

With 143 points I certainly qualify, but I haven't felt any need to sign up.

Not really. It's for one-time evaluation of a particular lens on Canon's timetable, not yours.

There's a lifetime limit of only one loan on any particular camera body or lens model for the Gold level membership. (Platinum gets up to three loans of each piece of equipment over the entire lifetime of a membership.) Once you've evaluated a particular lens, you can't borrow the same model lens again. If you evaluated the "II" version of a lens or camera, you can also evaluate the "III" version when it comes out. But only once.

You can't really schedule an evaluation loan, either. You may get it immediately (plus shipping transit time), or you may get it three or four weeks after you request it. You can't schedule in advance, either.
 
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Michael Clark

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The cost of Gold is only $100/year. Return shipping from the CPS Service Center is free for Gold members.

The last time I sent a lens to CPS it cost me over $50 to ship/insure it for $2K (UPS 2nd business day by close of business). Canon shipped it back overnight at no additional cost to me. The invoice showed it would have been $27 for return shipping without the Gold Membership.

The repair itself was invoiced at $269 less a 20% discount ($53.80). So between shipping and the discount that single repair recovered $80.80 of the $100 I spent upgrading my (free) Silver membership to Gold earlier the same day I opened the repair order online.

Basically, I paid $20 for "guaranteed" two-day instead of 3-5 day turnaround.

The gamble was that if I'd need another repair on something in the next 365 days, I'd already have the free return shipping, 20% discount, and expedited turnaround.20180817ss4.png
 
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Michael Clark

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If that is not the norm at Sony or Nikon, that really is something that would stop me from buying there products.

The only complain I had about CPS in the past, is that you needed TWO professional bodies to qualify. I hope they changed that. If Canon is really confident with the quality of their lenses, a single camera should be enough for most photographers unless they need wide and long lenses at the same time. Instead of wasting the money on two cameras, I would rather buy more lenses.

I also hated that after a while a camera did not longer qualify.

Part of being a pro is that you always have a backup for every piece of equipment you own. It does stink if your backup body is older and drops off the list.
 
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Jul 21, 2010
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Not really. It's for one-time evaluation of a particular lens on Canon's timetable, not yours.

There's a lifetime limit of only one loan on any particular camera body or lens model. Once you've evaluated a particular lens, you can't borrow the same model lens again. If you evaluated the "II" version of a lens or camera, you can also evaluate the "III" version when it comes out. But only once.

You can't really schedule an evaluation loan, either. You may get it immediately (plus shipping transit time), or you may get it three or four weeks after you request it. You can't schedule in advance, either.
Yes, I'm sure everyone reads all that fine print before they sign up. Most amateurs aren't on a schedule for when they need gear, vacations notwithstanding. But most amateurs can read the prices on rental sites, and read $100 and free evaluation loans from CPS, and realize that one is cheaper than the other.
 
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Michael Clark

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Actually, it's not even that. It's just a faster turn-around for your repair which you have to pay in full or at a slight discount depending on which level you purchase.

There's no charge for the SIlver Membership, which is the only level that does not get a discount on repairs, shipping, or loaners.

For Gold level the annual cost is $100. It includes a 20% discount on parts/labor for up to 10 repairs per year and free return shipping (overnight). It also includes a loaner if they don't ship your equipment back to you within the guaranteed turnaround time. In other words, if they don't fix it in two days, they'll ship you a loaner on the second day. I've never sent them anything that wasn't finished on time. (Although the day they receive it is 'Day 0', the beginning of the next day is 'Day 1').

For Platinum level the annual cost is $300 and includes a 30% discount on parts/labor for up to 15 repairs per year and free overnight shipping both ways. It also includes a loaner shipped (overnight) the day they receive your equipment at their facility.
 
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Michael Clark

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Yes, I'm sure everyone reads all that fine print before they sign up. Most amateurs aren't on a schedule for when they need gear, vacations notwithstanding. But most amateurs can read the prices on rental sites, and read $100 and free evaluation loans from CPS, and realize that one is cheaper than the other.

It's all right there in the marketing materials. There's no 'fine print'. Geesh.
 
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Michael Clark

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As a professional software engineer, speaking for my own industry, NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT. I don't care if it's Cisco, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, IBM, SAP, or whoever -- even the largest of the industry giants have a very limited number of experts. Their time is extremely valuable, and access to them as a professional service should not solely be based on a matter of dollars paid, because it dilutes their availability to industry professionals who will have an much larger overall impact to the channel.

If you look at most companies in the software industry, access to the highest level of professional services that can be purchased require a blend of certifications, proof of work or performance and third party references. And frankly, I'm happy it's that way, because there are far too few resources at the top end to go around.

Looking at CPS, there are some benefits that are scalable and others that are not. For example, the repair benefits should pay for themselves. However, if they fixed cameras and lenses for anyone at major sporting events as long as they paid a professional fee, this would take away from the limited space they'd have to service the real pros.

The venues in which major sporting events occur won't let anyone in with pro photography gear unless they are working media that have jumped through whatever hoops they require to issue you a media credential for that event. The CPS booth is inside areas that are only accessible to credentialled media, not to the general public or even ticket holding spectators.
 
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unfocused

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It's all right there in the marketing materials. There's no 'fine print'. Geesh.

I've done both, and I agree with you. The Canon program is fine if you only want to have a lens for a couple of days to decide whether or not you want to buy one. But, not being able to schedule the loan and having a very shortened time period (since you must have it back in Canon's hands before the end of the evaluation period), plus knowing that you have only one shot to borrow a lens, makes it non competitive with lens rentals.

If I am traveling somewhere or trying to time a rental to match a specific event, a rental house is the only practical choice. If I just want to play with a lens for a few days then the Canon program is fine for that.
 
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Talys

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I´ve covered some of these really big sports events where both Canon and Nikon offers both service and loaners.
This is offered inside the working areas for media. A place you won't get even close to without the proper accreditation (a.k.a. "credential").
I.E. It´s only available for people that are actually working at these events.
(Image from the World Cup in Russia).

Indeed, and that is the way it should (and I'm sure, will) remain. I was responding to Fullstop's argument that basically, anyone who pays a fee should be able to treated as a professional. Sometimes, it really just isn't about the money :)
 
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I'm mostly happy with CPS, although had strange reply on my email couple weeks ago. Next month there'll be Japanese sword fight world championship tournament in Korea and I'll be there. I was making Plan B and Plan C in case something breaks. PlanB is to find local rental place in Korea, and PlanC is to find local Canon store in Korea. Then I thought maybe Canon-Japan is there since the competition is kinda japan-related, and close to Japan anyway. So if something breaks, maybe they have loaners for 70-200 at least.

So I emailed CPS-Usa if Canon will be there. They replied "Canon CPS Usa will not attend".

Duh. I tried browsing the Canon Japan CPS website, but boy is it difficult to navigate around. I found few pages worth CPS-JP information, but not one single email address how to contact them.
 
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Aug 7, 2018
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If you pay the same amount of money for the service and bought the same expensive cameras, you should get the same service. There should not be any privileges for "professionals". It is the same with journalists. It always makes me very angry if "professional" journalists get any kind of special access, because today basically everyone is a journalist. We all publish things on blogs or platforms like Instagram or Facebook. In the past a small group of editors in chief acted as a kind of filter between the truth and the readers. I am glad that those times are over.
 
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In the past a small group of editors in chief acted as a kind of filter between the truth and the readers. I am glad that those times are over.

Ye gods! Someone who believes 'all points of view are equally valid'. In the good old days most (and yes, I said 'most',not 'all') organs of journalism actually went to the trouble of checking their facts whereas now anyone with a point of view can be called a journalist.
 
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