Buying secondhand

The Weasel

The Weasel

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Andy
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Afternoon all... I'm going to buy a secondhand Canon EF 100mmf2.8 L IS Macro and was wondering which you would consider to be the most important between condition or warranty.

My choices are as follows...

Like new condition with a 6 month warranty from Park Cameras

Or

Very good condition with a 12 month warranty from Wilkinsons

Any advice would be most welcome.

As it happens, I just missed out on the one that WEX had, I'd just nipped upstairs to check if I still had a 67mm ring flash bracket and when I came back someone had bought it... I was pretty gutted because that had a 12 month warranty and was absolutely mint.
 
If there's a problem with the lens you'll most likely learn about it early doors. If it's fine for 6 months the likelihood is it'l be fine thereafter so I personally would go for the "like new" one if you'd prefer a mint example. If it's really mint then it should have been looked after.
 
depends on the price. if both are same I'd take the mint one.

Just because something isn't mint doesn't mean it isn't looked after and vice versa.
I used to change lenses a LOT, I have had some mint lemons and some throughly used but amazing sharp copies of lenses. Once I bought a mint lens lens that was cosmetically mint but had fungus inside!
 
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Good point @nandbytes

I suppose this is where the warranty comes into play.

Never dealt with Park or Wilkinsons so new ground for me, but it's looking like the Park lens is just edging it.
 
Thanks @gramps going to give Park a call on Monday for a little more info on the lens, £500 is still a big chunk of money to me so want to make sure I get the right lens.
 
Of the two I prefer Wilkinsons whom I have dealt with for a warranty claim and they were brilliant.
I have bought from park cameras too, in fact my first lens was from them. They also seem fine, never had to go through after sales support with them
 
always always always buy things in perfect condition. Warranty is usually not worth the paper it is written on particularly when you are starting with scruffy scrap. Good = awful in marketing speak. I believe there is just one more grade down which means a total wreck.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
Warranty is usually not worth the paper it is written on particularly when you are starting with scruffy scrap.
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I'd disagree with this based on personal experiance. I have bought plenty of lenses not in perfect condition and have had to get a couple of them fixed under warranty.
Can't always get/find perfect condition lenses especially while you are trying to pick up vintage lenses (not that I'd class EF100/2,8L as a vintage lens).
Ended up with a couple that needed to be fixed under warranty (both bought from LCE) and both came back in perfect order (optically and mechanically speaking).
 
nandbytes said:
Can't always get/find perfect condition lenses especially while you are trying to pick up vintage lenses (not that I'd class EF100/2,8L as a vintage lens).
Ended up with a couple that needed to be fixed under warranty (both bought from LCE) and both came back in perfect order (optically and mechanically speaking).
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Well exactly. You have so much choice with a recent mass market lens like this macro, you can just pick up a mint copy - preferably on ebay - for bargain prices in as little as a week or two.

I tend to go with individuals over re-sellers every single time, because frankly when things are not good enough for ebay guess where they go. I appreciate there are lazier people who just give it to them in perfect condition, but the point is you have this lottery, this really toxic mix.
 
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