Canon EOS 7D | My First DSLR Camera

I just purchased my first Canon EOS 7D DSLR camera a couple of weeks back and I’m particularly loving it. I actually waited several months before buying it saving every peso I can along the way. I was torn between buying a low-cost entry level DSLR camera and just investing in awesome lenses but I thought that since I’m transitioning to semi-serious photography anyway, might as well get an awesome DSLR body first. The lenses can come later.

I did a lot of research on where to buy my Canon 7D so I can get a really cheap price. My usual bargain hunting ground for anything electronic, tipidpc.com came out with a few suggestions but eventually I got convinced by a seller from sulit.com.ph. He was selling a Canon EOS 7D body for only 82K which is a real bargain considering that if you go to the more established stores, they’re selling it at around 99K. That’s a whopping 17K in savings.

I immediately contacted the seller and we agreed on a date and venue where he will be handing me the camera. Take note that most sellers in tipidpc.com or sulit.com.ph do not have their own physical stores, most of the time they’re garage type of sellers where they just keep their inventory somewhere and just deliver everything by hand or through forwarders depending on the item.

I’m not sure if it was a good thing or not but when I consulted a photographer friend, he was wary about dealing directly with a direct seller instead of a more established store. His main concern was the warranty. Most direct sellers will only offer either a personal warranty or a supplier warranty. If you go for the manufacturer warranty there could be some added cost.

Which was what happened in my case. I asked the seller if the price already covers the Canon warranty, he said no, and that it only covers his supplier’s one year warranty. He said that if I want Canon’s 3-year warranty, I would have to shell-out an additional 7k. Major ouch.

I was feeling a little gung-ho then so I said what the heck, I don’t need no warranty, I’ll just pay for the annual clean-up and stuff like that. The day of the delivery however, the seller called me and said they don’t have a stock as of the moment and it could take a whole week before they can re-stock! Well ain’t life grand!

As I was already itching for the Canon 7D and Christmas was fast approaching, I tried to contact the usual players in the domestic market for photography equipment. The famous Henry’s of Quiapo wasn’t picking up their phone so I called Camerahaus. They said their Canon EOS 7D body costs 99K as advertised. But when I asked if that was their final price they said they could probably lower it to 93K. I pushed a little bit more and asked if they could lower it some more to 90K and mentioned that I’ll be paying cash. After some whispered moments with the manager (I think), they agreed. The great thing about it is that the 90K price we agreed on already covers the 3-year Canon warranty! It was pretty sweet.

To make the long story short, I handed over my wad of saved money, got my spanking brand new Canon EOS 7D camera and was out of the Camerahaus store feeling like a million bucks.

I’m a total nub when it comes to DSLR cameras so if you’re looking for a review on the Canon EOS 7D, you may want to check out DPreview.com.

I’ve been using my new camera for a few weeks now using a borrowed kit lens and some snub nosed lens and it’s absolutely gorgeous. The sound it makes after a shot, the clarity of the pictures, the HD quality video– it’s awesome. Pretty heavy too, but really it’s a wonderful wonderful gadget.

Now if I can only save some more money to buy me a bazooka type telephoto lens, that would be awesome. Oh, and another lens for landscapes would be nice as well.