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Is it just me

flyrcairplanes

New member
OK, I promise I am not trying to flame anyone or any company but I have an honest question. I am looking at purchasing a refurbished Schneider 55mm LS lens from a dealer. The dealer says they do not have the shutter count or year make of the lens but they do offer the standard 1 year warranty. Is this normal for people to buy/sell a lens without this type of information. I know I can just say no and not buy it but it is somewhat about trust also. the west coast dealer I bought my original system from as a store demo ended up causing me some heartburn because I found out that the warranty on both my store demo equipment pieces had already been activated 1 and 2 years prior to my purchase date. I was never able to get any explanation of this from the dealer or manufacturer. I promise I am not trying to stir up anything I just want to know that this is what other people get when they purchase this type of gear. Maybe I am just getting old:confused:

thanks
 

flyrcairplanes

New member
Thanks Doug. Actually your store re-contacted (is that a word??) me and said they still could not have access to that information. If you have different info that would be great. I really love my system but found that response bizarre.
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
Condition / Origin
There are four kinds of non-new lenses:
- Open Box
- Demo
- Refurbished by the Manufacturer
- Pre-owned / Used and resold by the Dealer (or private user)

Open Box means literally that. The dealer needed to open the box, but the lens has seen no significant use. This can happen for events like Photo East, or to show a walk-in customer when a demo lens is not available. This should not, in our (DT's) opinion, include returned lenses since the amount of use is unclear but I don't think there is an industry standard on this as I think some of the big box stores sometimes use "open box" to include purchased-and-returned items - we do not. This is the best possible condition to buy a non-new lens in, but comes with the smallest discount.

Demo means the dealer purchased the lens (and is the original and only owner) and used it for needs such as demonstration (hence the name). In this case the history is clear, as is the warranty status. Condition is almost always excellent, though should be fully disclosed as even light usage can result in minor mars etc.

Pre-owned / Used - these are easy to trace origin of since the original owner is known by the dealer or user. You can get some idea of how much it was used and in what ways (was it a studio shooter, a location shooter, a every-day shooter or occasional shooter) etc. Condition can vary wildly and should be thoroughly disclosed or examined. Also the factory warranty is not reset in any way, so if a one-year-warrantied item has been used for ten months then the warranty to the new user is only two months. If there are any relevant accessories or packaging they may or may not be present.

Refurbished by the Manufacturer - the lens has returned to Phase One (or a repair facility) to be inspected and have components cleaned, serviced, or replaced as necessary. A full standard factory warranty is placed on the lens so there is a strong incentive for the factory to return the lens to as close to new condition as possible since they are on the hook for any repair. The origin of these lenses is wide and is NOT passed to the dealer selling them. The refurbishing and provision of factory warranty is meant to equalize the inbound sources.

Shot Count Availability on the Phase One system:
Lens - not available through the user interface. It may be available to the factory - I've never looked into this.
Body - not available through the user interface but is available to the factory or repair station (similar to Canon if you've ever looked through trying to get their body shot counts).
Digital back - available through the user interface under [Menu > About] on all modern backs.
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
When you contacted me earlier I was on my way to a site-visit with a client so I did not know which kind of non-new lens this was and so promised to get back to you with additional information. In this case the lens was a Phase One Refurbished lens so I can confirm the information we provided was entirely complete and accurate, if not especially detailed. With refurb lenses we know that Phase One itself stands behind the condition of the lens and directly provides the warranty of the lens, which is the same warranty as provided on a new lens - we do not know the point of origin, shutter count, or previous use.

As to your interaction with a dealer which either did not disclose, did not know, or did not sufficiently clarify, the warranty status of what you purchased - I am glad to personally guarantee the warranty status of what we sell is correct. Knowing the exact nature and extent of the warranty on what we sell is very important to DT and is made significantly easier to keep track of since all we sell is Team Phase One cameras (and Eizo monitors, Profoto lights, and Arca/Cambo tech cameras).

If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to reply here, or contact us at [email protected], or me personally at [email protected]. Transparency about the "nitty gritty" is important to us.
 

flyrcairplanes

New member
thank you very much for this Doug. I promise I am not trying to be a PITA. I was under the impression from my prior purchase that shutter count on lenses could be counted at the factory so maybe that is or is not correct. I would suspect they can because they offer a 100,000 actuation warranty. It sounds like if that info is available it is not passed onto the dealer. The leaf shutter is what I am particularly concerned about as I understand these are complicated and prone to be finicky. thank you for your time
 

flyrcairplanes

New member
Drevil-I find about 50% of the time it is me. Although I now have a new Phase dealer who responds to my questions so I feel like I still win:D Just ordered, Thanks Doug.
 
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