Camera Extended Warranties... Are They Worth It?

[Gaetan01]

A few months ago I asked this readership for some help wrt my A900. Specifically I stated

"I really need some guidance as to what is happening. I noticed lately that when I use my Sony flash or install my pocket wizard for my monolight firings, i would get the occasional sick sounding shutter sound and an error notification on my camera monitor of "Camera error". It has, regretfully, been getting worse. Today as I was doing a portrait session with a customer, I attached my Zeiss 135mm and Pocket wizard. I was never able to get off one shot without the "camera error" indicator on the camera's monitor. Panicking (but not in front of the customer), I excused myself and then connected my zeiss 24-70 and was able to finalize the shoot. "

Eventually it even got worse to the point that I could not use the camera if I stepped down the lens to below f8. I then took it to the dealer who sent it in to SONY Canada. After approximately three weeks, my 2.5 year old A900 camera returned completely repaired and working like brand new out of the box. Oh yeah the price....700$ CAD Yipes. But the good news was that I had purchased an extended warranty at the time I bought the camera so for me the cost was zero.

When I originally bought the camera, the salesman pushed me to buy the warranty. I was rather perturbed with his sales pitch but reluctantly agreed to buy the plan as he had heavily discounted it. While I was perturbed when I bought it, I was pleased when I picked up my repaired beast.

So my question is... Is it worth it to buy an extended warranty for a new camera?

Respectfully

Gaetan Dery

www.PhotoStudioDery.com

[bakubo]

So my question is... Is it worth it to buy an extended warranty for a new camera?

Extended warranties are a form of insurance so the obvious answer is that if you end up needing to use it then it is worth buying and if you end up never needing to use it then it is not worth buying.

It reminds me of the famous Will Rogers quote in 1929 about investing in the stock market:

Don't gamble; take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don't go up, don't buy it.

Buying an extended warranty is just like that.

[JohnDuder]

I have only once bought one.
It was on my Alpha 900, and I ogt it because it was a cheap way to get the camera serviced after 3 years' use. It cost under £130, and seemed reasonable for a cmaera I knew I was going to hammer a bit.
And it was worth it: a drizzly day turned into horizontal hail in june last year, soaking me and my cameras (as well as my son, who was showing me the path he'd worked on as part of a National Trust holiday the previous year).
Dynax 9: £90 at the local repairers. Still acts funny from time to time.
900: worked perfectly for two months, then died. Written off by insurers underwriting the warranty: new 900 for old, after around 70k "actuations" (or "pictures" in old money...)
Leica M6: no problems.
But on a cheaper camera, or one which isn't goign to be with you every day - probably not worth it.
(And I stil lthink the insurers were wimps to write it off rather than repairing it. And I wish I'd known - I'd ahve said goodbye, because it had served me well!)