How many of you needed warranty work on body/lens?

[chamunda]

So, I just picked up a 6d ii. I’m not a professional photographer, but want to get into photography as a hobby.

My question is really regarding the reliability of canon bodies and lenses.

How often do they fail? Are people regularly having to send equipment in for warranty work? As the mfg warranty is only a year - I’m guessing not too many products have to be sent in during this time... or am I wrong?

The real reason I ask is because I’ve picked up my body from a legit US online retailer. Not too concerned there.

But... I’m taking a gamble with a 24-70 f2.8 lens that I purchased from an online shop out of Hong Kong. (Surprisingly, I ordered the camera and the lens the same day, wed the 21st, and the lens just arrived this morning).

I saved enough money on the lens to make me happy with my purchase, but as someone that probably won’t be using this stuff every day... is there really a concern that I won’t be able to use the warranty? Are lenses failing that often that this is a legit concern for grey market products?

[Waddizzle]

Canon US Support tends to be very good.  The gear tends to be reliable.  Of course, there are the outliers and exceptions.

If you purchased your lens from a online retailer in Hong Kong, then you may or may not have a warranty through Canon US Support. I would check with them directly.

[ebiggs1]

" I purchased from an online shop out of Hong Kong. "

It should still have a Canon warranty. Just not a Canon USA warranty.  It will depend on where you have to send it for warranty work. I don't even know or remember how many cameras I have bought over the years and my career. Has to be a couple dozen or more. I have six currently. I have had to have some warranty work but very little.  In fact I have had very little repairs at all. That weren't my fault, like a drop or other misuse, that is.

If you live in the USA, no matter how much travel you do, it is a mistake to not buy from a USA authorized dealer, IMHO, of course. Perhaps you saved some money, perhaps not. There is more than just the warranty period.

[shadowsports]

Chance of you needing service is very low.Canon tends to err on the side of the customer (in most cases).  If you do need service on a 'grey market" item and its denied, you'll have to ask yourself was the savings really worth it.

[diverhank]

I know one data point is kind of meaningless statistically but for what it's worth...for the years I've owned Canon cameras and lenses (about 30 years)  I've had zero failure in both cameras and lenses.  I retire my cameras which are to this day fully functional.  My old film AE-1 Program camera is still fully functional - I use it in photography classes to show how the viewfinder, mirrors and especially the shutter work (without fear of dirtying the sensor :)).