How often do you return lenses ?

Just trying to figure out the "bad copy" phenomena. So how often you had to return a lens to the store because the image quality was not what you had expected ?

Never, i always try out a lens before buying it. if im spending the money i want to make sure its waht i want...saves money in the long run...as for if i get a bad copy, never got one...and if i do it will go in for service

Only time I returned a lens was because the box was opened and it looked like a used lens. When I bought the Sigma 30mm 1.4, I read a lot about the focusing/sharpness issues with that lens...so, naturally I thought I had a "bad" copy. Took me some time to figure out that it was my own fault instead of the lens.

One and done for all my lenses and none have ever needed to be sent in for service.

I have never returned a lens. I mostly buy used and take some test shots before agreeing to the purchase.

Out of the 12 different lenses I've had, I've only returned 1, so I voted extremely rarely. But that lens was the sigma 30 and I had to return 3 copies before I found an acceptable one.. I also bought a sigma 50 used which was a bad copy -at least on my camera. I sold it after 5 days, if I hadnt found a buyer that fast, I would have sent it in for calibration. If I had bought it new I'd return it, no doubt.. The 10 other lenses I've been through have all been from Canon and trouble-free..

luckily i have never had to send one back. I have been very lucky considering I have owned 3 sigmas.

You forgot or maybe purposely omitted "I have never returned a lens because I haven't had any problems"..

highstakes wrote in post #11696368
...Took me some time to figure out that it was my own fault instead of the lens.

Which would be the vast majority of cases.
That's not saying that I don't accept that occasionally there may be a problem with a lens (or body).
Some people just can't accept user error as being the cause.

yogestee wrote in post #11696570
You forgot or maybe purposely omitted "I have never returned a lens because I haven't had any problems"..

I didn't vote, but this would be my option.
This goes for both new and secondhand.

Never, I guess I have a lot of luck with buying lenses.

yogestee wrote in post #11696570
You forgot or maybe purposely omitted "I have never returned a lens because I haven't had any problems"..

+1. I guess some of us are just mega-lucky. And I own the EF 28 2.8 and EF 50 1.4 !

xhack wrote in post #11696664
+1. I guess some of us are just mega-lucky. And I own the EF 28 2.8 and EF 50 1.4 !

I guess some of us know how to use our gear

I think that to solely blaim user error is just as naive as the opposite..

I totally get the gearhead / measurebator thing; I'm guessing it's a rite of passage most of us go through in our photographic odyssey. But once you get a lens off the tripod, away from the resolution chart and out into the real world, there are so many imponderables and challenges.

When you encounter the balky subject, the crappy background, the hostile lighting, the unlikely shooting position, the ban on flash, any small perceived flaw in the lens quickly becomes a tiny part of the challenge of taking a decent picture.

I have been happy with all my lenses and never had to return any of them or for that matter send them to Canon to be repaired (luck?)