Brick and Mortor or Online?

I recently sold all my Sigma and Tamron lenses in order to purchase some canon lenses. I just got sick and tired of all the hunting with the Tamron 28-75 although when it did focus it was sharp as hell. The sigma lenses that I owned were also sharp (150mm & 50-500) but both slow focusing and the Bigma just didnt get used all that much.

Anyway my question is...

I am interested in a 24-70L and a 70-200L. I have been looking at prices both online and local stores. Calumet has the lens for $1235 including taxes but I can get it at adorama for just over a hundred dollars cheaper. I was wondering if I should pay the extra $100 so if I needed to return it I would have less of a problem. Or would I have to bring it to a Canon service center (there is one just over an hour from my house in NJ).

What do you think? Local shop or Online?

When ever possible and economically feasible go mano-y-mano. Not worth the wait of the hassel to go Adorama ... well worth the $100 not to hear Adorama upselling pitches ... would you like fries with that ... or a 5D?

B&H currently have the 24-70L (USA) for $1,100, PSAUG code.
In the unlikely case you are not happy with your copy, they should exchange it for you readily.
I think that is better than sending a new zoom lens to Canon for adjustment.

Petkal wrote in post #2090722
B&H currently have the 24-70L (USA) for $1,100, PSAUG code.
In the unlikely case you are not happy with your copy, they should exchange it for you readily.
I think that is better than sending a new zoom lens to Canon for adjustment.

maybe a stupid noob question but where do you enter this code. Also why do they NEVER accept orders on weekends?

savone wrote in post #2090792
maybe a stupid noob question but where do you enter this code. Also why do they NEVER accept orders on weekends?

Their home page has a little search pannel in the top left corner. Enter "PSAUG" in the window provided under "'products" window....that will take you to the list of "specials".

The B&H company policy is to suspend business on religeous holidays, sabath included. Accepting orders, even when automated, would still constitute "doing business"....seems perfectly logical and genuine to me.

Any word yet on the new code?
And how easy is it to return a copy of the 24-70 if it is a bad copy? No problems?

surfologist wrote in post #2090891
Any word yet on the new code?
And how easy is it to return a copy of the 24-70 if it is a bad copy? No problems?

Thats what I was wondering, I figured if I can walk into the store it would be easier. although B&H is only an hour and a half to 2 hours from my house. So I guess that wouldnt be too bad either.

I have bought a fair number of items from B&H......in fact, they have been my sole supplier for some time now.
My experience with them has been excellent so far.
However, I've never had to return anything. Would not anticipate any problems though.

Calumet in philly always price matches B&H for me. Did you ask them if they would?

Unique Photo in NJ also will match prices.

When it comes to glass I think it's a good idea to buy from a trusted local shop such as Showcase (Atlanta) where you can pull the lens out of the box to test for defects.

Aside from price differences (stores here don't match on-line prices), the local stores usually don't stock more than one copy of a given high-end lens (like Canon L lenses). That means that they have probably taken the lens that you want to buy out of the box and allowed a number of folks to "play" with it in the store. It also means that if you buy it and find the next day that it has a problem, they don't have another in stock to exchange for the one you took.

SkipD wrote in post #2091936
Aside from price differences (stores here don't match on-line prices), the local stores usually don't stock more than one copy of a given high-end lens (like Canon L lenses). That means that they have probably taken the lens that you want to buy out of the box and allowed a number of folks to "play" with it in the store. It also means that if you buy it and find the next day that it has a problem, they don't have another in stock to exchange for the one you took.

Absolutely. Furthermore, that only one lens on the shelf could be a return too. The question could be asked....why was it returned ?

Petkal wrote in post #2092126
Absolutely. Furthermore, that only one lens on the shelf could be a return too. The question could be asked....why was it returned ?

Not only why was it returned, but who had it, played with it for fun, and returned it, because tehy never intended on keeping it, or they just wanted to try it out before really buying it somewhere else?

In my young and stupid days, i did that:o haha
But not any more... i will use rentcameragear.com

Save the $100+ and buy from B&H. You can use a wee bit of that savings to SHIP it back to B&H if you need to...which is doubtful that you even would.