is warranty important for lenses?

[sfoto100]

hi

i found that buying from adorama or b&h are much cheaper than buying locally.

But, if i am not wrong, tamron will only offer 1 year of warranty instead of 3 years for lenses bought overseas.

so the question is , is the 3 year warranty important?

i just bought my first camera nov 2009, so i got no idea on issues that could occur to lenses...


i intend to get sigma and tamron lenses...

pls kindly advise..

tks alot in advance.

 

[Reportage]

best is to call Sigma and Tamron local agent to confirm if they will support non-local bought lens. Tamron is one of the best value as in the US its about 6 years warranty.

as for lens...probably worth buying local and then getting extended warranty for lens that use USM/SWM/HSM/SDM and so on. from what i heard, not cheap to fix out of warranty lens micro motor.

 

[kineticworks]

Very IMPORTANT! I will not buy any more lenses w/o warranty from now on.

 

[daredevil123]

hi

i found that buying from adorama or b&h are much cheaper than buying locally.

But, if i am not wrong, tamron will only offer 1 year of warranty instead of 3 years for lenses bought overseas.

so the question is , is the 3 year warranty important?

i just bought my first camera nov 2009, so i got no idea on issues that could occur to lenses...


i intend to get sigma and tamron lenses...

pls kindly advise..

tks alot in advance.

Please note that in these websites, some of the products seems very cheap because they are actually grey market products. So if you see the word "IMPORT", please know that these are grey market lenses and will come with NO WARRANTY whatsoever.

Warranty or not, long or short, importance is all up to you. If you can take the risk, and will not flip when something goes wrong with the lens, then warranty is not important. I have seen some lenses last a lifetime. And I have seen some break after a year. So it is up to you. Funny thing is, old lenses seems to last. Modern day IS/VR lenses seems to be the ones that fail more often. And also, if you have zero warranty, and you have a front/back focusing problem, you will have to pay to get it calibrated, that is, if the service center agrees to do it for a grey market lens.

BTW hope you know that Sigma and Tamron lenses are known to have front/back focusing problems at time of purchase. They are very nice after calibration, or if you test and pick a good copy. If you buy online, they just send you the next one in the queue. So it is up to you. I will prefer to buy it in person, and test the lens before paying. Your call.

 

[daredevil123]

best is to call Sigma and Tamron local agent to confirm if they will support non-local bought lens. Tamron is one of the best value as in the US its about 6 years warranty.

as for lens...probably worth buying local and then getting extended warranty for lens that use USM/SWM/HSM/SDM and so on. from what i heard, not cheap to fix out of warranty lens micro motor.

Tamron offers 6 years USA warranty in the US. JEL Corp (tamron's rep in SG) will only honor 1 year international warranty for all Tamron warranty sets bought overseas. You will need the warranty card with matching serial number and sales receipt to get warranty service.

 

[wildcat]

Warranty is a lot like insurance. When you don't need it, you don't it. When you need it, you wonder why you never bought it. :dunno:
It does not cover a lot of conditions (like dropping) so you may not need it in it's lifetime.
Murphy sometimes will work in it's favour.

All my stuff so far no need send back for any servicing. But I have warranty. So... do I need it? :dunno:

 

[Numnumball]

hi

i found that buying from adorama or b&h are much cheaper than buying locally.

But, if i am not wrong, tamron will only offer 1 year of warranty instead of 3 years for lenses bought overseas.

so the question is , is the 3 year warranty important?

i just bought my first camera nov 2009, so i got no idea on issues that could occur to lenses...


i intend to get sigma and tamron lenses...

pls kindly advise..

tks alot in advance.

Depends.. For those with SWM or VR (IS) embedded.. I will.

Those non cpu lens, i wont bother.

 

[NewbieInCS]

Depends on how much is the savings. Some lens are just 10-15% more expensive in singapore. Just take it as paying for the extended warranty.

Sigma local sets come with 2.5years warranty. 1st year is the piece of japanese warranty card that is for international warranty, so I assume it doesn't matter where you bought it, as long as it came with that piece of card chopped by the dealer. Second year and beyond is base on the second piece of warranty card for local warranty which you have to register online.

Tamron is 3 years local warranty be jel. In the box, there is only the local warranty card, which is just a tiny slip of paper, filled in and slipped in by JEL. It is quite half ***** IMHO, and in fact, my only piece of tamron lens has that paper slip filled in with the wrong serial number. Every serial number from box to lens to receipt matches, except that jel paper.:sweat:

Some sigma lens on the other hand, are grossly over-priced here. The difference could be 30% or more. The difference is so much that the grey set price in HK is similar/cheaper than a used set in b&s with warranty expired.

Calibration should be around $80 for sigma. Didn't have any need to calibrate any of my sigma lens.

 

[sfoto100]

tks to all of you for your kind help..

really appreciate that!

 

[Treetrunk]

All my stuff so far no need send back for any servicing. But I have warranty. So... do I need it? :dunno:

Touchwood.:sweatsm:

 

[ahming111]

it's impt lah cause i send one of my lens to repair under warranty b4. it was only less than 2 mths old tht time

 

[ovaltinemilo]

For me at least 1 yr warranty is fine..any innate problem with the lens will show during that period...anything that happens after that, I will reflect on my handling method..;p

 

[Paradigm812]

Hi All,

What is a front/back focusing issue for lens? What you mean by that? How can we check that when buying a lens?

Sorry, newbie here.

 

[.Hack]

Hi All,

What is a front/back focusing issue for lens? What you mean by that? How can we check that when buying a lens?

Sorry, newbie here.

Front focus: Focus lock occurs in front of the object being focused
Back focus: Focus lock occurs behind of the object being focused

Can do a simple test using 3 batteries or a focus test chart.

 

[kaylan2000]

Sorry for diverting the discussion on some new direction.

Lets talk about what does and does not the warranty covers

Motor - Yes
Autofocusing - Up to certain level
Buttons/rings - probably
Dust/fungus - No
Scratch/Dent - No
Glass - Probably not

Realistically looking, hardly you will have Motor or Auto focusing issue immediately with in 1 year or 1 year 3 months (Canon online). neither your auto/manual button will fall off in a year time.

yes, insurance is a nice term to feel comfortable, but does really your insurance covers anything ??

May be we need to look into this in depth.

 

[eacanaway]

its good to have loh, but then again a lot of 2nd lens also no warrenty one mah, but still selling well. thing the onli thing u might need is caliberation ... maybe onli lah.

 

[jyang]

Hi guys, just to check. Anyone knows what the warranty status is like if i bought a lens from hk ? This is with regards to sigma.. thxx

 

[kaylan2000]

Hi guys, just to check. Anyone knows what the warranty status is like if i bought a lens from hk ? This is with regards to sigma.. thxx

Sigma international warranty