Lost a 5DIII. Deciding how to replace. Big Value = Bad Idea?

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tatsu

Eat, drink, dance and get photographic evidence.
Oct 9, 2012
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#1
This past week my house was robbed and I lost my 5DMkIII along with the 24-70MkII that was attached to it. Strangely not the Ona bag that it was in with another couple lenses in it. But no complaining there.

Anyways... my homeowners insurance is going to cover it. Thank god. Now I'm left with some decisions.

I'd like to replace my 5D with another one. And obviously the price at Big Value is pretty good. But I've seen conflicting information in the forums about whether it matters warranty-wise whether they're a Canon Authorized dealer.

So I'm looking on some input on: Is buying from Big Value a bad idea? I'd like to have the warranty, but am not sure that's worth $450, if there really is no warranty. It definitely says Canon USA Warranty on the ebay listing.

Secondly, if I can't take advantage of that, I might look at getting a 6D, which wasn't out when I purchased my 5D. I know this issue has been beat to death, but it would help me if someone could sum up the main points for me. What I think I'm hearing is same still quality, slightly slower autofocus, worse video. But if anyone has any real life examples with both, that would help me out a lot.

Thanks for your help on either of these questions!
 
#2
Re: House was robbed. Took my 5DIII. Big Value = Bad Idea?

Sorry for your loss. If you think you'll never shoot action seriously at all the 6D isn't bad. But there are far more advantages to the 5D mark III than just AF which is already huge by itself. Example is dual card slots and the way controls are set up... IQ is about the same in terms of ISO performance with the 6D being a touch better, but I like the colors from the 5D mark III a little better. But If its worth it to you and know you'll save a a lot of money then a 6D is actually not a bad camera and I appreciate mine for what it can do.
 
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#3
Re: House was robbed. Took my 5DIII. Big Value = Bad Idea?

There is a lot of misinformation out there about warrentees and non authorized sellers. It really boils down to this. If you want full canon USA warrentee with no hassles buy from an authorized reseller (and keep your receipt) i.e. amazon, adorama, bH ET al. The difference when buying from a non authorized seller is simply that canon can refuse to warrantee it. That's not to say they will, but you leave it in their hands and they are entirely within their rights to do so. So the warrantee then falls to the reseller, in your case big value. If they will service and repair it for the 12 months from purchase like canon then you don't lose much just who you are dealing with. As always caveat emptor
 
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#4
Re: House was robbed. Took my 5DIII. Big Value = Bad Idea?

when I read the title I jumped to the conclusion that you were connecting the robbery to your purchase at big value. Like they sold your address and information and criminals then targeted you. Obviously that isn't what you were saying, but it may warrant a revision.
 
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#5
Re: House was robbed. Took my 5DIII. Big Value = Bad Idea?

Sorry for your loss even though your insurance company will replace it. I just wanted to add that there is a website, I think its called STOLEN CAMERA FINDER, that can search for your camera if the thief posts images publicly with the stolen camera. They apparently track this down through the metadata encoded in the images, so I'm told. Its worth a look IMO.

Secondly, you can purchase insurance to cover your camera gear through several different insurance carriers like Farmers even if you don't have a home or auto policy with them, they will write you a policy and its much cheaper than replacement warranties.

Wish you luck!
 
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#6
Re: House was robbed. Took my 5DIII. Big Value = Bad Idea?

Most home owners policies will reimburse you for what you spend replacing the equipment. So I would buy from a reputable dealer where you know you will have a warranty. You aren't "saving any money" because insurance will want to see your receipt from the purchase. I went through this with a diamond ring a year ago. If you pick out something that's half the price to replace it with, then that's all they are paying you, not the full price of what you originally paid.

So go ahead and pay full price from somewhere you trust. Same for the lens.

-Chris
 
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#7
Re: House was robbed. Took my 5DIII. Big Value = Bad Idea?

Sorry for your loss ... my 24-70 L II was stolen a few months ago, so I can somewhat understand what it feels like. BTW, have you considered a refurbished 5D MK III? that will save you some good money.
 
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#8
Re: House was robbed. Took my 5DIII. Big Value = Bad Idea?

i've never owned either a 5D or a 6D so i can't address which might be the smarter buying choice for you. i've always owned 1D's. i had a problem with my 1D-X recently that required a repair by canon's repair center. the cost of the repair was over $300 and canon did it all for "free" since it was covered under the 1-year warranty. i had to send in my sales slip as proof of purchase with the camera to take advantage of the warranty.

i would definitely want a warranty with a new camera.
 
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#10
Re: House was robbed. Took my 5DIII. Big Value = Bad Idea?

wtf100 said:
If a company is not an authorized reseller, where do they get their product?
Click to expand...
they are like me. they buy a kit at a great price, split the lens and the body and sell both for a small profit on each. I've been doing thatforyears. usually with the 18-135 lens though.
 
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#13
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#15
jabbott said:
tatsu said:
Anyone know if DigitalRev is an authorized reseller? Their prices seem pretty good.
http://www.digitalrev.com/product/canon-eos-5d-mark-iii/MTAwMDQwNQ_A_A
Click to expand...
I would not purchase from DigitalRev, especially after this fiasco...
http://fstoppers.com/digitalrev-allegedly-selling-used-cameras-as-new-and-are-yet-to-issue-a-response
Click to expand...
DigitalRev offers their own 1 year warranty on all their Canon products, so in the event that you purchase a defective Canon camera and Canon refuses to service it under warranty, DigitalRev will cover the cost of repair or replacement. I forgot where I read this but it's somewhere on the DigitalRev site and I believe it to be true.

What happened in that story above was a DigitalRev employee took one of the DRTV 5D3s and shipped it as new in order to improve his performance rating (they were out of stock and he would have had to cancel the order otherwise, negatively affecting his rating).

That was an isolated incident and DigitalRev has taken appropriate action against the employee and compensated the blogger who wrote the story. Additionally, they hired an internal auditor just to ensure that something like this would never happen again.

The whole incident showed that despite the bad employee, DigitalRev was really on top of their customer service. I would definitely buy from them!
 
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#16
Wildfire said:
DigitalRev offers their own 1 year warranty on all their Canon products, so in the event that you purchase a defective Canon camera and Canon refuses to service it under warranty, DigitalRev will cover the cost of repair or replacement. I forgot where I read this but it's somewhere on the DigitalRev site and I believe it to be true.

What happened in that story above was a DigitalRev employee took one of the DRTV 5D3s and shipped it as new in order to improve his performance rating (they were out of stock and he would have had to cancel the order otherwise, negatively affecting his rating).

That was an isolated incident and DigitalRev has taken appropriate action against the employee and compensated the blogger who wrote the story. Additionally, they hired an internal auditor just to ensure that something like this would never happen again.

The whole incident showed that despite the bad employee, DigitalRev was really on top of their customer service. I would definitely buy from them!
Click to expand...
It still doesn't change my opinion... there are many other reputable dealers out there who have never had this kind of problem. If DigitalRev was careless enough to allow this to happen, what else are they doing that is suspect? Bottom line, why take a gamble on such an expensive purchase? That's my $0.02 anyway...
 
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#18
I think I've decided to go with a 6D. I mainly used centerpoint AF anyways, so my understanding is that if that's the case, I'm not losing out on any AF performance. Please correct me if I'm mistaken. Also the youtube video of Chuck Westfall showing off the wi-fi app sealed the deal for me.

Given the lower price, I might just go with BigValue and not worry about the warranty as much. If it was the 5DIII, I'd probably care more since the ratio of repair cost to replacement value would be higher. Not sure if that logic makes sense, but it saves another $250 over Amazon, which seems like at least one paid warranty repair.
 
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#19
Wildfire said:
DigitalRev offers their own 1 year warranty on all their Canon products, so in the event that you purchase a defective Canon camera and Canon refuses to service it under warranty, DigitalRev will cover the cost of repair or replacement. I forgot where I read this but it's somewhere on the DigitalRev site and I believe it to be true.

What happened in that story above was a DigitalRev employee took one of the DRTV 5D3s and shipped it as new in order to improve his performance rating (they were out of stock and he would have had to cancel the order otherwise, negatively affecting his rating).

That was an isolated incident and DigitalRev has taken appropriate action against the employee and compensated the blogger who wrote the story. Additionally, they hired an internal auditor just to ensure that something like this would never happen again.

The whole incident showed that despite the bad employee, DigitalRev was really on top of their customer service. I would definitely buy from them!
Click to expand...

good post
 
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