Which Canon XSi to pick on ebay using the Live cashback?

[SAWYER]

I just searched and there were 100's, where do you recommend I buy form?

 

[josh0099]

Do you own dirty work? I mean pick a few out and let someone look at it to see if its a good deal....I would look for just the kit as you should be able to find it for around $600 the bounses other sellers put in are usually not worth the price increase.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: josh0099
Do you own dirty work?

I don't know. Does he own dirty work?

OP: I don't know many of the Ebay camera vendors, but Cameta is reputed to be very good. They are also a Canon authorized dealer, so the warranty will be honored should anything go wrong.

 

[SAWYER]

Thanks

 

[Maximus96]

I?m in the same boat as you. Ebay also tells me I can get a 10% discount, on top of the Live.com 25% cash back. That should knock down the XSi price quite a bit. But looks like the bare kits are only coming from sellers with not as much feedbacks. The massive mega-super-duper kits sellers have huge number of feedbacks. But even the $900 super kits will be a very manageable $585 after discount.

 

[SAWYER]

I heard stacking those coupons will not work

 

[Maximus96]

how about this kit, link

if the ebay coupon plus Live cash back works, then its $500 shipped, otherwise its $577 shipped. How does the included Tamron lenses compared to the canon kit lens?

thanks

edit: looks like the two tamron lenses are less than $200 for both on amazon with 4/5 stars for each.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: Maximus96
how about this kit, link

if the ebay coupon plus Live cash back works, then its $500 shipped, otherwise its $577 shipped. How does the included Tamron lenses compared to the canon kit lens?

thanks

edit: looks like the two tamron lenses are less than $200 for both on amazon with 4/5 stars for each.

I have that Tamron 70-300mm for my Pentax. Considering the price, it's a pretty sharp lens, even at 300mm. PF and green CA can be rather bad, however, although often fixable in PP. It's a $130ish lens. Remember, neither of those 2 lenses have image stabilization, which may or may not matter to you.

Also, with the shorter Tamron lens starting at 28mm, you can't go very wide. The normal kit lens that comes with the XSi is 18mm-55mm, and also has IS.

 

[Maximus96]

thanks for the input. i think i want to go with the kit lens and 50mm f/1.8 i read so much about. probably have to buy them separate. i did see one listing that included the 50mm but its over $1000 for the kit.

back to the coupon/cash back. its two different promotions from two different sources, why would there be problems taking advantage of both?

 

[soydios]

+1 for Cameta Camera (cametaauctions)

 

[Maximus96]

how about this "kit" that i come up with? all prices after Live 25% cash back.

XSi + kit lens, $337 (10% off + 25% cash back), Text
55-250mm IS lens + Hoya UV filter, $194, Text
50mm f/1.8 + Tiffen UV filter, $82.5, Text
4gb Extreme III SD card, $22.5, Text
Samsonite case + tripod, $22.5, Text

Total comes to $658 shipped

any comments appreciated.

 

[DrPizza]

I don't know if it's the case on ebay, just that there have been a couple of threads in the past on the problem with some of the retailers (particularly from Brooklyn for some reason) - you think you're getting the entire kit, but then you find out that their kit is the camera & lenses. But, doesn't contain anything that they can possibly detach or remove from the normal commercial kit. i.e. the battery is extra.

So, as others have pointed out already,
1. Go with reputable dealers on ebay.
2. Go with authorized retailers.
3. Read all auctions very thoroughly.

Beware of shady businesses. (But, again, I don't know to what degree they've spilled over onto ebay.)