What is Your Opinion on Refurbished Lenses?

It would be very helpful if you've owned refurbs, but obviously everyone is free to reply.

I've never purchased a refurbished item of any kind. I've purchased many "used" or previously owned items on this forum, as well as sold many of my own lovingly cared for items.

I'm considering the purchase of a refurbished lens on the Canon site which is in stock. I won't mention the focal length. As we all know, if I want something, everyone else will of course jump on the bandwagon and it will become a must have and go out of stock.

So seriously, are they as good as new? How does Canon get their hands on them to refurb them? Demos from stores that get sent back?

The floodgates are open. I look forward to your input.
Mark

Just had a good discussion here:

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1370890

Bought a refurbished 70-200 f/4 IS. It worked well for several months, then started to have a nasty focus slippage problem. It was a year and a day from the timeI bought it, and when I called Canon they cheerfully repaired it under warranty. IIRC, I paid $864 for the lens having caught one of the refurb sales. It's a fantastic lens and I'd buy refurbished again in a heartbeat.

I'll expose my bias here as well: I need to be pretty cheap, errrr, frugal. Everything I own with the exception of my nifty fifty is either refurb or used, so I can pretty easily live with less than pristine gear.

I have purchased three camera bodies and two lens from Canon all refurbished. I have had zero problems and would have no problem making another refurbished purchase. The items looked brand new and the camera bodies all had under 1000 shutter accusations. The 40D I purchased had only 15.

I have only purchased two refurbised items from Canon so far -- a 40mm f/2.8 pancake and Speedlite 270EXII, both pretty low-cost items. I have been happy with both purchases, and would not hesitate to buy refurbished again.

I buy refurb with 100% confidence.

Why pay retail when I can get an item with same warranty for significantly less money.

I've had 3 Canon-refurbished items: 50mm 1.4, 85 1.8, and a 1D Mark III. All were indistinguishable from new, except for the white "Canon Refurbished" box. Never had an issue with a any of them (I still own the lenses), and saved a significant amount of money. If it's from Canon, I wouldn't worry about it. If it's a refurb from a third party, I'd be a bit more cautious.

Pretty much my entire gear including all but one lens and 2 camera bodies are refurb. no issues so far!

Great deals... Buy with confidence.

I bought my 24-105 refurbished. As others have said, I couldn't tell it from new. Check Adorama and B&H, they usually have some refurbs for sale too.

I have purchased two bodies and one lens direct from Canon - refurbished. No problems with anything.

I've purchased a two bodies and three lenses that were factory refurbs. The bodies were in perfect condition, with low shutter counts. One 28-135 kit lens had a very small blem on the underside of the lens near the body, hardly noticeable. All the other lenses were fine.

After two months, the AF On / Manual switch on the 100-400 came off. Sent back to Canon and it was repaired quickly. This was when the warranty on refurbs was only 90 days. Now it is one year, same as new.

The 40D refurb came from Adorama. If not purchasing direct from Canon, check the warranty - it was one year from Adorama, but was only covered by store replacement. It developed an error, I sent it back, but no more 40Ds were available so they substituted a 50D but I did have to pay the difference in price. The warranty may have changed from Adorama, this was 6 years ago. If purchasing from Canon direct, I don't think you can go wrong with a refurb.

Got only ONE from B&H.
But if I'm living in the State, I'll do it all-the-time.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/gunB​5c

My 17-40 L is a refurb. It came in the original box, packaged like a new one. There was nothing to indicate it was not a new lens and it has performed flawlessly. I would not hesitate to buy another refurb.

I always buy refurb when I can. Good warranty and each one is hand inspected which is more than you can say for lenses that come right off the line. I've never had a refurb come out with an AF problem. But be careful and make sure you are getting "factory" refurbs and not refurbs from a 3rd party refurb company. Canon Direct has refurbs. Sigma has their outlet store. Adorama has refurbs that are from the factory. Not sure where else.