Okay, the decision has been made, I am off to buy myself a Canon 20D when the money comes in from my next contract.
Now comes the hard decision, do I get an extended warranty? I traditionally don’t get extended warranties on camera equipment, but do for electronic equipment that’ll be used in the field.
What would you do? The camera and lens is $2799. The extended warranty is $369 to take it to 4 years total. (prices are Canadian, if that matters)
How comprehensive is the warranty?
Does it have any weird clauses like, “Warranty void if camera is used in Western Hemisphere” or “Full replacement only if ingested by a wombat on the third Tuesday after a full moon”?
I rarely buy warranties but have a knack for buying them for the right product (I’m 3 for 3). I bought one for my Nikon D70 but it was WAY less than $369 and it included a camera bag, lens filter, memory, print paper, and a batch of prints.
Normally an electronic item will fail within 30 days. That’s about how long it takes for a defective chip to burn up. Digital camera’s are a little different because of the charge device that captures the image. My D70 developed a red streak that was almost imperceptable. It happened within the warranty time frame but it was close to the end.
You are buying an 8 meg camera body that will be obsolute in 4 years. Sony is already using an 8 meg chip in their lesser camera’s so the writing is on the wall as to how soon a 12 meg camera comes along for the same price of your 20D.
Your lenses are the real investment. A good lense will retain it’s value to you for it’s utility. If all you are doing is insuring an obsolete body then you are betting $369 real dollars against a potential repair that may or may not cost more. All this to repair a body you don’t want in 4 years.
It is pretty good from what I can see. Details are here
Hmmm…linky no worky. It kept timing out.
Anyways, if it’s fairly comprehensive and you are careful with your equipment (and I have no doubt that you are), I say go for it.
Hell, it only comes out to about 25¢ a day.
Like Mr. Blue Sky, I suggest that you read the warranty very carefully to make sure it covers what you want it to cover.
Beyond that, extended warranties have a very high profit margin. I would generally get a warranty only if I could not afford to replace an item myself, knowing that on the average I’ll lose less money replacing the occasional broken thing than I will buying warranties on everything.
Several things you said (“in the field”, “next contract”) suggested that you will be using this for business use. Can your business stand the hit of replacing the camera? Or could you potentially have an insurance policy that would already cover this kind of thing? No point in doubly covering something.
Oh, man! I bought the 10D last year, and I’m already lusting after the 20D…
Can I interest you in a lightly used 10D?
BTW, I specifically decided not to purchase an extended warranty for my camera - Consumer Reports once told me that they are not worth the money, for most items.
I’ve never had a single problem…YMMV.
I rest my case. You will want a better camera in a year, (let alone 4 years).
Spend the extra money on lenses and don’t drop them.
Good advice, I think.
[sub]When’s the 30D going to be released?[/sub]
Do you have a credit card that offers extended warranty coverage? I paid for my Nikon D100 with my Amex even though I had the cash and got the warranty doubled to two years for free. I considered going past two years but weight the present cost of the warranty against eventually replacing the camera. I expect the development curve in low end DSLRs to flatten a bit in a couple of years. Most people that are serious about these cameras realize that more pixels doesn’t automatically equal better. I hope to be using my D100 for quite some time. I don’t treat it as roughly as my F2A so it might last 4-5 years.
Inculde the cost of extra memory when you make the jump to a DSLR. IMHO a gigabyte is just a start. Fortunately prices are less then $100/gigabyte for high speed memory and I’ve seen 2 gigabyte microdrives for $109.
Yeah, I think the 20D is the first camera out that i would be happy paying that kind of money for. I don’t see a need to replace it for quite some time, as it does everything I would want and need.
I will start with at least a 1Gig, but I suspect I will be getting a couple more for my first big trip.
urp
Everyone knows wombats don’t eat electronic equipment on the third Tuesday after a full moon. They get heartburn.