New Canon EOS R3 orders may be delayed for more than 6 months

Michael Clark

Now we see through a glass, darkly...
Apr 5, 2016
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Have you noticed the pandemic? Lol. Even the grocery stores aren't fully stocked anymore.

Your 'a few years from now' comment is a bit hyperbolic. But imagine this - Canon, Sony, Nikon see the supply chain issues. Decide to hold all launches for 2, now maybe up to 3 years. What would this forum look like? "Photography is dead". "The big 3 have abandoned us" "Wow the iPhone killed the camera market way faster than we thought it would" "Better sell my gear now and find a new hobby before any more resale value is lost".
Meanwhile, Canon, Nikon and Sony camera divisions lose income, reduce development, new products take longer to develop and get released in to a market that convinced itself the sector was dead, sales go down further...

Or you can see the development advancing, but you have to wait a few months for your gear. Which is better?

It's not so much which is "better", because neither option is good.

It's more, "Which is not as bad as the other?"
 
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So, you'll have one for each hand. That's convenient!
Absolutely! Now, if only my left eye was working as well as my right eye, I could shoot with two cameras at the same time :D

More seriously, I have let both shops know that I've placed tentative orders with the other shop, and they are fine with that as long as I inform them where I buy.
 
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I placed an order with B&H in early February. I got the notice that it shipped on June 16. (I've since moved across the country, and had to change the delivery address.)

Fedex claims to have made a delivery attempt yesterday, but I know they didn't. I was home, and they didn't leave a tag on the door. I know the drivers are probably overworked, with the labor shortage and all, but I hate it when they do that.

Hopefully I'll have it today...
 
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SHAMwow

EOS R5
CR Pro
Sep 7, 2020
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I placed an order with B&H in early February. I got the notice that it shipped on June 16. (I've since moved across the country, and had to change the delivery address.)

Fedex claims to have made a delivery attempt yesterday, but I know they didn't. I was home, and they didn't leave a tag on the door. I know the drivers are probably overworked, with the labor shortage and all, but I hate it when they do that.

Hopefully I'll have it today...
No, FedEx has always done this. I dread anything from FedEx. They give you no way to have contact with the drivers, very little control over shipping (most power is with the company who shipped it). Always saying they attempted but don't leave a tag.
 
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unfocused

Photos/Photo Book Reviews: www.thecuriouseye.com
Jul 20, 2010
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www.thecuriouseye.com
I placed an order with B&H in early February. I got the notice that it shipped on June 16. (I've since moved across the country, and had to change the delivery address.)

Fedex claims to have made a delivery attempt yesterday, but I know they didn't. I was home, and they didn't leave a tag on the door. I know the drivers are probably overworked, with the labor shortage and all, but I hate it when they do that.

Hopefully I'll have it today...

No, FedEx has always done this. I dread anything from FedEx. They give you no way to have contact with the drivers, very little control over shipping (most power is with the company who shipped it). Always saying they attempted but don't leave a tag.
Whenever I order something that needs a signature I routinely go to the FedEx site and change the delivery instructions to have them hold it at their nearby ship and print center. I get a text message when it is delivered and I drive over to get it at my convenience. Much better than sitting around waiting for it to arrive and worrying about not hearing the doorbell.
 
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Jul 21, 2010
31,100
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Whenever I order something that needs a signature I routinely go to the FedEx site and change the delivery instructions to have them hold it at their nearby ship and print center. I get a text message when it is delivered and I drive over to get it at my convenience. Much better than sitting around waiting for it to arrive and worrying about not hearing the doorbell.
I occadionally do that. Although the shipper can choose to restrict that option (for example, when I ordered the ND EF-RF adapter from Red, who were the only ones with stock at the time, I had to call them and have the shipping option changed rather than being able to do it myself).

Usually I don’t worry about it, our regular driver is pretty chill. For example, he usually leaves our wine club deliveries like by the garage like any other package, even though they require an over-21 signature. In fact, there was a box of wine bottles waiting for me outside the garage when I got home today. :D
 
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I once asked Fedex to hold a package at their facility for me to go pick up. It was 45 minutes away, but after repeated failed "attempts," they were threatening to return it to the sender.

I opened the door to leave, and the Fedex guy was there, about to ring the bell. With my package in hand.

If I'd left 5 minutes earlier, I'd have driven 45 minutes for nothing.

Anyways, they delivered my R3 this morning. Woot! Battery is charging...
 
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Michael Clark

Now we see through a glass, darkly...
Apr 5, 2016
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2,655
Whenever I order something that needs a signature I routinely go to the FedEx site and change the delivery instructions to have them hold it at their nearby ship and print center. I get a text message when it is delivered and I drive over to get it at my convenience. Much better than sitting around waiting for it to arrive and worrying about not hearing the doorbell.

You can usually do that with FedEx Express if the shipper allows it as an option when they ship it. Sometimes I've had to contact the shipper and get them to contact FedEx with approval to hold for pickup. But if you're dealing with FedEx Ground or, heaven forbid, FedEx Home Delivery (which is 100% delivered by contractors) you usually can't do a hold for pickup, at least not in my service area.

I had to have Canon USA contact them three times before they'd let me pick up a lens at the FedEx home Delivery service center on my way out of town last summer after they had failed to deliver it two days in a row. The contractors refuse to drive up my 500 foot unpaved driveway or call me to let me know they're attempting delivery so I can meet them where the pavement ends. If it's not "signature required" they'll just chuck it out on the ground and let it roll down into the drainage ditch and leave it laying there, but Canon seems to send everything "signature required."

Ahh, country living.
 
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Michael Clark

Now we see through a glass, darkly...
Apr 5, 2016
4,722
2,655
I once asked Fedex to hold a package at their facility for me to go pick up. It was 45 minutes away, but after repeated failed "attempts," they were threatening to return it to the sender.

I opened the door to leave, and the Fedex guy was there, about to ring the bell. With my package in hand.

If I'd left 5 minutes earlier, I'd have driven 45 minutes for nothing.

Anyways, they delivered my R3 this morning. Woot! Battery is charging...

That's why I prefer UPS delivery. There's an app that lets you see where the truck is if you've got a package on it so you can tell when it's getting close. Most days the truck follows the same general pattern through the area and there's a house not too far away from mine that's before me on the route which almost always has packages because he runs a roofing contracting business on the same property as his house. I can go down to the road at the other end of my 500 foot driveway and wait the last 5-10 minutes until they pull up when it's signature required.

Otherwise, I'll just park my car down there with a sign in the window to leave it in the back seat (I leave the back door unlocked). I'm at the end of a short dead-end road and you can't even see my driveway unless you know were to look where the road curves just before it ends. Plus the neighbor lady that lives just before the curve is always working on the flowers in her yard and packing her revolver while she does it.
 
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koenkooi

CR Pro
Feb 25, 2015
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No, FedEx has always done this. I dread anything from FedEx. They give you no way to have contact with the drivers, very little control over shipping (most power is with the company who shipped it). Always saying they attempted but don't leave a tag.
Remember, you’re not the customer for Fedex, it’s the shipper. The shipper is the one that pays Fedex.
This is why customer service of the place you’re ordering from is important, with enough complaints some have started offering better shipping options here in .nl
 
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I much prefer UPS as well. Another time, I asked Fedex to deliver on Saturday instead of a weekday, so I would be home to sign for the package. They agreed. But instead, they returned it to the sender.

They admitted it was their mistake. The sender tried to get them to take it off the truck and deliver it to me, but it was too late.

I was annoyed, because it was a lens I was hoping to use at an event that was coming soon. Luckily for me, the sender mailed me another one, since he knew the first one was on the way back to him, and I got it in time. No thanks to Fedex.
 
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