White box lenses

[AlQ]

May sound like a stupid question but is there any downside to buying a lens sold out of a "white box" as opposed to the manufacturer's trademark box?

It does not say that it is refurbished, only that it is in a white box

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Image Stabilizer CA2813535IS B&H

thanks!

[OsmosisStudios]

Usually these are lenses that come as part of a kit (in this case likely a 7D kit) and the retailer has simply split up the kit. The lenses are in these white boxes inside the kit box. It is otherwise exactly the same as the same lens purchased as an individual item in the standard packaging.

[AlQ]

That makes sense; thanks very much!

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by AlQ

May sound like a stupid question but is there any downside to buying a lens sold out of a "white box" as opposed to the manufacturer's trademark box?

Sometimes these split items will have a shorter warranty than the lens sold on their own. As an example in Canada Nikon lenses have a 5 year warranty, cameras kits have a 2 year warranty. Lenses that come in kits are covered by the kit warranty (therefore 2 years), so you may have a little less warranty on a whitebox item vs a retail box item.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by scootermcq

Sometimes these split items will have a shorter warranty than the lens sold on their own. As an example in Canada Nikon lenses have a 5 year warranty, cameras kits have a 2 year warranty. Lenses that come in kits are covered by the kit warranty (therefore 2 years), so you may have a little less warranty on a whitebox item vs a retail box item.

You sure about that? The way Nikon has explained it to me (their rep, at least) is that the body gets 2 and the lens gets 5, regardless of whether its in a kit or not.

[scootermcq]

Nope not sure, just going with what I was told by a sales rep. I will do some research and see what I come up with

[scootermcq]

Well, I am getting different answers on different websites and Nikon.ca is about as abiquous as you can get. My own warranty cards say 1 year even though that's wrong. I had to admit defeat and emailed Nikon to find out for sure. My information was from a sales rep trying to sell extended warranty, so now I am not sure either way.

They should be back to me in 2 business days so I will update the thread when they reply.

[scootermcq]

I was wrong. Here is a quote from an email from Nikon:

Nikon Canada has a five years manufacture warranty on all lenses purchase from a Nikon Authorized Dealer.

Sorry about my misinformation