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Too good to be true?


Aaron K

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Hey all,

 

I'm an NYU film student who shoots a lot with my Rebel XS, but I'm looking to upgrade to the 5D. I've been searching for a deal forever so I could actually afford it, and I found this:

 

http://www.getitdigital.com/package.php?id=548

 

Wondering what y'all think. Too good to be true? Any idea about those lenses? I've never heard of that brand before, but I have a good amount of glass already. The XS kit lens (17-55), a 50/1.4, 75-200/3.5-4 and a 100mm Macro with an FD mount. If this seems legit and worth it, I may just bite the bullet and go for it.

 

Best,

 

Aaron

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I hate to be blunt, but that does not look like a good deal to me. Most of those lenses are pure junk. What the heck is a "52mm wide lens"?? This company is just trying to sell off some worthless lenses. Why do you think they are throwing in everything but the kitchen sink?

 

I would rather have one good lens than 20 junk lenses. My suggestion is to buy a Canon EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens. Or just buy the body and two good L-type lenses if you can afford it. You can pick up very nice used L-series lenses on Fred Miranda's buy & sell forum, as well.

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Pretty typical bait and switch operation. I "teased" one of the Brooklyn camera creeps just to see what they would do. When I wouldn't buy their overpriced, worthless accessory package they cancelled my order.

 

I bought my 7D from B&H. A couple of weeks after it arrived Canon came out with a $100 rebate offer. I called B&H and they HONORED the rebate even though they were under absolutely no obligation to do so. That's what ethical dealers do.

 

OT alert!

 

I respect the fact that B&H not only shuts down their retail store for the Jewish Sabbath and Holidays but they also shut down their webstore. That's what I call walking the walk as well as talking the talk. Being New York Jews they're always a bit surprised when someone in Oklahoma whose last name is Smith wishes them "Happy Hannukah", etc. What they don't know up front is this Catholic guy's mother was Russian Jewish and he and his Hungarian Catholic wife celebrate some of the Jewish Holidays. When I converted from the Episcopal to the Catholic Church, the Catholic Priest in charge of the convert's classes was thrilled to learn of my Jewish ancestry. He told me "That's wonderful, you have both Covenants". And I do.

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This is a decent deal but to be honest the lenses in this kit are absolute garbage and you'll want to throw them out the window soon after you get the camera. I would go ahead and get the body from a known retailer such as B&H, then invest in 2 or 3 good quality lenses. I'm a fan of Ziess optics but you can go with the canon EF lenses which are much cheaper and get similar results. As David said your Rebel glass won't cover the sensor unless you're in the telephoto range (just like putting a 16mm lens on a 35mm camera).

 

Also get some nice high speed sandisk CF cards to record to so your footage stays un-compromised, the last thing you want is to shoot all day and find out one of your cards has failed. Also if you can afford it, get Z-Finder or a monitor so you can see your focus. Since the camera doesn't have a tape hook its impractical to measure focus and a finder or a monitor will help you speed the focus pulling process up.

 

 

That may have been more info than you were looking for but I hope this helps.

Edited by Michael Giannaccio
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I was looking for a good price on a 7D and tried to go through one of these amazingly cheap stores (42ndphoto). I only wanted the body as I intended on getting a 17-55 f/2.8 and other accessories from a reputable store (B&H). When I called, I was harassed by the salesperson. When I said that I wanted only the body he replied, "uh okay, you do know what kind of camera this is right? You should know that you need a special memory card called a CF card". I immediately told him that I had no intention of buying their cheap ripoff cards and instead was buying a set of professional UDMA enabled cards. He then told me that "After a second look, it looks like the 7D is out of stock". So I called B&H and had had an excellent conversation with my salesperson, who personally owned a 7D and spent the time to talk with me about their pros and cons, without trying to sell me on anything.

 

With that being said, just call B&H. It's more expensive but it's better to support a positive and helpful business than to contribute to a company that makes its money by manipulating customers to buy faulty accessories. And I've spent weeks looking for a good, reasonably priced 7D package, but it's just not out there. I assume it's the same with the 5D. Get the body, then pick out a lens (or lenses), and buy your accessories seperate. Otherwise, you're going to get something that looks good in a list on line, but is worthless once you take it out of the box and try and use it.

Edited by Clayton Kagi
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