Third-party goods and hire for lenses?

mhc-art · #1 (**permalink**) 24-03-2008, 12:31 PM

Hi all, I just have a couple of queries I'm hoping you can help with.

Do people often buy third-party goods for their Canon cameras?... specifically I have been looking around for a Lens hood and battery grip for the Canon 400D and they are significantly less as third-party. Can I trust that these will function okay?

Also is there a possibility of hiring lenses and if so can anyone recommend anyone?... I want a Canon 100-400 but can't really afford the £900, I imagine hiring one for 6 weeks may cost the same but if anyone knows of any possibilty.

Thanks!... and Happy Easter Monday!

HowlinWolf · #2 (**permalink**) 24-03-2008, 12:48 PM

Hi, mhc-art,

Hiring a lens such as the Canon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS lens for 6 weeks could prove unfeasible. FIXATION*, a company that hires such a lens charge £120 a week (not including VAT and insurance), so it would make economic sense to actually buy the lens, rather than hire.

HW

* Rental

glsammy · #3 (**permalink**) 24-03-2008, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhc-art

Hi all, I just have a couple of queries I'm hoping you can help with.

Do people often buy third-party goods for their Canon cameras?... specifically I have been looking around for a Lens hood and battery grip for the Canon 400D and they are significantly less as third-party. Can I trust that these will function okay?

Also is there a possibility of hiring lenses and if so can anyone recommend anyone?... I want a Canon 100-400 but can't really afford the £900, I imagine hiring one for 6 weeks may cost the same but if anyone knows of any possibilty.

Thanks!... and Happy Easter Monday!

So far all the accessories I've bought for my camera have been third party goods. This includes, flash, lenses, extenders, extension tubes, flash cable, remote flash, wireless remote shutter, 90deg angle viewer, batteries...etc...
All have proven to be excellent and have worked faultlessly.

Canon and no doubt Nikon take us all for mugs with their pricing of most of these items.

GerryNick2 · #4 (**permalink**) 24-03-2008, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhc-art

Hi all, I just have a couple of queries I'm hoping you can help with.

Do people often buy third-party goods for their Canon cameras?... specifically I have been looking around for a Lens hood and battery grip for the Canon 400D and they are significantly less as third-party. Can I trust that these will function okay?

Also is there a possibility of hiring lenses and if so can anyone recommend anyone?... I want a Canon 100-400 but can't really afford the £900, I imagine hiring one for 6 weeks may cost the same but if anyone knows of any possibilty.

Thanks!... and Happy Easter Monday!

Same as Graham the majority of my camera accessories are third party especially batteries why pay £45 for a Canon battery when you can buy a third party one for £5 that performs just the same.
You do need to be selective there is some rubbish about. If you have anything in mind post the details here and you will get some honest opinions on whether it is up to the job and worth the money.

Gerry

mhc-art · #5 (**permalink**) 25-03-2008, 12:26 AM

Thanks guys, I think the message is clear!... I'll only be buying third party from now on...

As for hiring the 100-400, I thought it might be expensive, I'll just have to buy myself one!

Blackbrook Eye · #6 (**permalink**) 25-03-2008, 01:53 AM

Even if third party accessories are not as well made as Canons own brand, which is sometimes debatable, you can get a lot more of them for your money and if one fails for some reason, it is cheap to replace, a particular part which is prone to failure are the remote shutter cables but I can buy ten chinese units for the price of a Canon one, ( I have had two fail in the last year, so I think it speaks for itself )

John D · #7 (**permalink**) 25-03-2008, 09:04 AM

I also use 'third party' batteries and also have a 'third party' battery grip for my 400D. The grip + 2 batteries (made by Hahnel) were around £70 delivered and guaranteed for two years.
As long as you buy from 'reputable dealers' there should be little problem. The difference in the cost of batteries in particular is just crazy. I'm sure I read on an earlier 'thread' that someone had opened up a third party one and Canon one only to find the inners were exactly the same and possibly manufactured at the same plant.
John D

HowlinWolf · #8 (**permalink**) 25-03-2008, 09:43 AM

There are some third party items I would consider buying in preference to that of the camera manufacturer. However, there is, occasionally, some items that just can't be got anywhere else. Lens hoods are mentioned in the original post. The hood for my Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 is only available from Nikon, so in that respect I have no choice should I damage or loose it.

HW

pressld2 · #9 (**permalink**) 25-03-2008, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GerryNick2

Same as Graham the majority of my camera accessories are third party especially batteries why pay £45 for a Canon battery when you can buy a third party one for £5 that performs just the same.

From a different thread...

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterjclarke

Dave, I've joined the club and my D300 arrived today! Unfortunately some of the aftermarket batteries won't work with it

...so there can be issues. I've always gone for Nikon accessories purely on the basis that it's extremely unlikely that there'll be any problems with quality or compatability. I'm not necessarily saying it's the best approach though, I may have been wasting my money!

Dave P.

RichBrew · #10 (**permalink**) 25-03-2008, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pressld2

From a different thread...
...so there can be issues. I've always gone for Nikon accessories purely on the basis that it's extremely unlikely that there'll be any problems with quality or compatability. I'm not necessarily saying it's the best approach though, I may have been wasting my money!

Dave P.

I've read of cheap, third party batteries being the source of fires. The quality control from Nikon is going to be far more rigorous than that of a Chinese "knock-off" accessory. As Dave rightly points out above, you don't get compatibility issues when using the camera manufacturers own kit. The fact that Blackbrook Eye (above) has replaced two remote releases in a year speaks volumes. I've used the Nikon MC-30 remote release for the past 8 years, with no reliability problems, and it still keeps going.
Lenses are less of an compatibility headache, although Nikon and Canon don't share the technology with independent makers, so they are forced to reverse-engineer any new product to make it work with new camera bodies. Of course, the other significant thing with lenses from Tamron and Sigma etc. is the resale value, should you wish to off-set costs when upgrading. Nikkors and Canon lenses will hold their value far more than their independent counterparts.

RichBrew