I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for a bargain.

When one of my former students Michael Lambert emailed me about Canon’s Customer Loyalty program, I was skeptical but I had to look into it.

Did I need a newer camera body? Not really, but I had been looking for a DSLR with video capability for quite some time.

If you follow this blog, you might have read my trusty Powershot G3 headed to its happy-picture-hunting ground recently.

Even though it was a Point-and-shoot camera, it had video recording capability.

So does its replacement, the Powershot G11 which I bought recently.

So how long was I expected to do without video on my DSLR?

I love my workhorse 40D,  but it is almost 3 years old and doesn’t have video capability.

If I wasn’t teaching, I would be alright with just stills.

After all, I have to justify every purchase I make, if not to myself,  then surely to the general or the Chief Financial Officer of the house.

Here’s the step-by-step if you’re interested in following this fool jumpstart the economy

1. Visit Canon’s refurbished camera page to check the DSLR you want is in stock. If it is, get the serial number of your trade in Powershot camera ready.
2. Call 1-866-443-8002 (At prompt choose Option 2)
3. Tell them you’re interested in upgrading and buying one of the refurbished cameras (subject to stock in hand)
4. Canon will require you to give them the serial number of your trade-in camera
5. Provide your credit card number, address and other details, complete the purchase
6. When your upgraded camera (in my case 5DMark2 ) arrives, you ship your trade in camera (my dead powershot G3) in the supplied box, shipping paid by Canon.

My Trade-in Camera

I paid close to $500 for my Powershot G3 when it was new.

I was ready to chuck it into the electronic junk heap. Imagine my delight when I saw not only was the refurbished 5DMark 2 a good deal at $2,099, by sending them my dead G3, I was getting $419.80  back !

It’s almost too good to be true, isn’t it? The final damage?  $1934.88 for the body  and a spare battery.

The first time I called Canon to look into this, the best DSLR they had was a refurbished Canon 50D–not an improvement over my 40D, so asked if I could be placed on a waiting list.

The lady on the other end said, all I can do is call back and check or bookmark the following page to see their stock of refurbished cameras.

http://tinyurl.com/2avb2kq

So what you are guys especially those here in the US waiting for?

Canon 5DMark 2 on the way!

My Canon 5D Mark 2 supposedly shipped and should be here on Wednesday. By the way, I also ordered a spare battery because what else? “Without batteries, all you’ve got is a ugly ……

Now I’ll have to pinch my pennies and buy 16GB compact flash cards as well. I’ll probably need at least 4 of these bad boys. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.