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Old 06-21-2004, 01:14 PM   #1
TNT
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Question Canon Digital Rebel - Need Help with Purchase

I'm very interested in buying the Canon Digital Rebel, but never bought anything valuable besides the car. I have photography experience, but need a higher-end digital camera to replace my Canon S230.

1. Should I get the service plan?
EX: Circuit CityAdvantage Plan 3 yrs/$125
Sears 2 yr/$150

2. Are "No Interest for xxx" good ideas?
EX: CC's No Interest for 12 Months

3. Return/Customer Service friendly stores?
EX: Best Buy vs Sears vs CC

4. What accessories should I get immediately?
EX: 512MB+, Extra Battery, Camera Bag, Lenses

Any other advice before purchasing the camera?
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Old 06-21-2004, 01:17 PM   #2
mejifair
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Yea,

Buy the nikon D70
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Old 06-21-2004, 01:18 PM   #3
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1. I think most service plans are a complete waste of money.

2. If you can pay for it now, theres no reason to wait a year.

3. You'll probably save the most money buying online. No tax.

4. A large memory card always helps, 256-512 is probably adequate unless you plan on shooting alot of photos at once. I don't know the Drebels battery specifics so I won't comment on them. My S400 gets plenty of life out of 1 battery though. And I wouldn't bother buying lenses till you need them for a specific task.
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Old 06-21-2004, 01:24 PM   #4
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1. Canon is pretty good with warranties -- in fact, they'll even cover "gray market" cameras under warranties. From what I've heard, usually they'll charge you a flat rate after the warranty period, but they'll go through the entire camera and put it to like-new condition, replacing anything and everything that's getting worn, not just what you've sent it in for repair for.

Also, if you pay by credit card, you may have automatic extended warranty protection.

2. Depends on whether or not you can find it for cheaper at another place. I try and pay in full whenever possible, but that's just to avoid having to keep track of what payments are going where for niggling little amounts.

Usually it'll require a credit check as well, which will go on your credit record.

3. The bigger the store, the better -- usually. I've bought most of my gear from smaller pro-photo shops, and I've never had a problem. They may be willing to go the extra mile for you.

Always compare return/refund policies.

4. It depends on what you want. The kit lens (18-55mm EF-S) is supposed to be pretty good, but you may want to get more zoom range. You may want more pictures available to you, so extra CF cards and extra batteries might be worth it.

Also, if you're gonna buy lenses, buy the fastest glass you can afford. Don't skimp on your lenses. The camera body is essentially just a light-tight box, the lenses are what will make or break you.


Other tip: see if you can find a gray-market camera (i.e., non-USDM). Cheaper, and still warrantied by Canon.

Other tip, part 2: try looking around online -- B&H and Adorama come to mind.


-A
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Old 06-21-2004, 01:25 PM   #5
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1. Should I get the service plan?
i dislike 3rd party service plans... you end up with someoneelses refurbed camera.

[/i]2. Are "No Interest for xxx" good ideas?[/i]
anytime you can use someone elses $ for free it's good. most times you have to open a store credit card to do this... be extra damn carefull. make sure you pay it back correctly or your service charges will drive you nuts.

3. Return/Customer Service friendly stores?
don't trust any shop that allows you to return the camera if you are unsatisfied... they box it back up and sell it to the next guy... you yourself may have bought a 'taken home' camera at a new price...

4. What accessories should I get immediately?
battery, kit lens, 512mb cards, card reader, photoshop, cd burner, bag, lens wipe, uv filter, cpol filter.... all kinds of goodies.

Any other advice before purchasing the camera?
get a canon worldwide warranty...
if you mailorder, dont expect your local dealer to give you any free tech advise.
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Old 06-21-2004, 01:28 PM   #6
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I just bought my digital rebel last week. I got a great price through my CDW rep, but I give him many thousands of dollars of business each quarter.

Be sure to get a bag, the Canon 100EG gadget bag is nice for a beginner. I paid under $30 for it at CDW, my local camera shop wanted $59!!! The basic battery is pretty decent, it lasted me all weekend and over 100 shots. If you can, though, get a second battery.

I bought a Lexar 512Mb Professional series CF card. it came with a USB card reader too. ($110)

Buy from an authorized Canon reseller if you intend to have a valid warranty.

Regarding the interest/no interest... if you can't afford it, don't buy it! Save up for it, by the time you're ready it will be even cheaper.

Ignore the Nikon fanatics, the 300D is a very nice camera no matter what they say.
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Old 06-21-2004, 01:29 PM   #7
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I can buy the digital rebal through Dell for $909. But the warranty sucks.

A local camera shop Fritz, has it for $999, but they have an awesome "no-fault" warranty that you can run it over with your truck and they'll replace it. That warranty is about $250.

You decide on the warranty
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Old 06-21-2004, 01:29 PM   #8
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also, saving tax on a mailorder camera is not 100% kosher.
you still are obligated to pay your local sales tax. the seller just does not collect it.

if your just doing it personally, it's not a biggie, but i personally have seen 4 or 5 studios here try to save $$ on big orders. they ended up getting nailed with the taxes, and penalties for not filing.

it's dumb in minnesota as any professional can get the sales tax reinbursed at the end of the year by just filling out a form...

ok, off my box..
/cheers
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Old 06-21-2004, 01:31 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally posted by cdclark

Be sure to get a bag, the Canon 100EG gadget bag is nice for a beginner. I paid under $30 for it at CDW, my local camera shop wanted $59!!!
dealers pay $zero$ for those bags.
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Old 06-21-2004, 01:33 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally posted by DISCOPOPE
dealers pay $zero$ for those bags.
Yeah, well, our poster here doesn't seem like the dealer type now does he?
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Old 06-21-2004, 02:39 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally posted by cdclark
Yeah, well, our poster here doesn't seem like the dealer type now does he?
i have no idea what it is you are trying to say...
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Old 06-21-2004, 03:13 PM   #12
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I bought my DRebel using Kits Cameras 6 month no intrest thing (NOW I FINALLY HAVE CREDIT!)

I also purchased the service plan through them, and I love it!

About an hour after using the camera it went belly up and on the electronic fritz. I took it down to them and he handed me another brand new one in the box I couldn't be any happier with the service plan.

The only thing I don't like is that the camera doesn't have any kind of write accelerator for the lexar professional series. Still kind of worried about the shutter though as I have heard about them wearing out pretty fast.

Also ignore the Nikon people all you have to do is download the hacked firmware and you got more settings! Plus canons color is better
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Old 06-21-2004, 03:27 PM   #13
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the painfull lack of write speed on the drebel is one of the reasons it's sub 1K in price....

actually it's the main drawback of the camera. not a big deal for some folks, but it makes the camera unusable for many.
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Old 06-21-2004, 04:18 PM   #14
TNT
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Thanks for all the advice!

The Canon warranty is for 1 year, and the Circuit City is 3 years, but starts once you buy the camera. That doesn't make sense. It means I'm covered by two warranties for a year?

I'm gonna save up and try to pay in full rather than No Interest deals. Hopefully I can price match the camera as well to save costs.

I would rather deal with a brick/mortar store than with online retailers personally. Especially when I need to replace and fix something.
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Old 06-21-2004, 04:26 PM   #15
gongzero
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Quote:
Originally posted by TNT
Thanks for all the advice!

The Canon warranty is for 1 year, and the Circuit City is 3 years, but starts once you buy the camera. That doesn't make sense. It means I'm covered by two warranties for a year?

I'm gonna save up and try to pay in full rather than No Interest deals. Hopefully I can price match the camera as well to save costs.

I would rather deal with a brick/mortar store than with online retailers personally. Especially when I need to replace and fix something.
Find out what Canon's policy on warranteed repairs are. I bought a Minolta DimageX a few years back and even though I bought it at a B&M store, I had to personally deal with Minolta to get a bad lens-cover mechanism fixed.

Of course, I got one of the managers at the store to exchange for a new camera and deal with Minolta on the borked unit for me, but that's not always gonna happen.


-A
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