The hotly anticipated EOS R3 and two new RF lenses will be announced on Tuesday, September 14th. Given all of the shortages and supply issues, we’re expecting demand to exceed supply, and pre-ordering early will be key if you want to receive these items any time soon.
The question we’re often asked is “which store should I pre-order at?”. The answer: it depends.
- If you want your camera first: the Canon Direct Store.
The Canon Direct Store has won the last few pre-order races — for the EOS R5 and R6 launches, the store completed all their pre-orders quickly and were the first dealer to show stock. For many items, the Canon store has been restocked on a faster cadence than their authorized dealer network. The usually offer free overnight shipping with pre-orders, but do collect tax on purchases to most states.
- If you want to save the tax: B&H with PayBoo.
If you want to save the sales tax, B&H’s PayBoo card is one of the best deals around. For most states, they’ll instantly refund the sales tax amount when you put the purchase on their store credit card. The application process can take a day, so be sure to apply for the card in advance and ensure your credit limit is large enough for the rumored $6000 camera.
- Other great ways to save: Adorama or Amazon.
Both Adorama and Amazon will get large allotments of the new camera (just like B&H), and they offer credit cards that give 5% additional savings — great if your state has a low sales tax rate or if you are tax exempt.
- Don’t forget your local camera store!
Recently, Canon has made an effort to ensure that the smaller, local camera stores are well-stocked for new products. Being on your local store’s list for the pre-order is not a bad idea as they’ll likely give you more visibility as to your position on the list. You can likely even “informally” pre-order with smaller stores and get on their list prior to the product’s official announcement.
As always, you can cancel pre-orders at any time (before they ship), so a great strategy is to order at multiple stores as soon as they go live. Canon has typically launched products at midnight EST/EDT. Don’t use PayPal Checkout or other 3rd-party checkouts, as with these you can be charged in full immediately (rather than only when your order ships). We’ll post the pre-order links as early as we can, and continue to work on street price options. Please add the EOS R3 to your watchlist to received the latest updates about this camera.
Do you have any insight about how Canon sets their refurbished prices? It used to be uniformly 80% of the new retail price. Now some RF lenses are 80% and other RF lenses are 90% of new retail.
I ask because I am interested in the RF 28mm f/2.8. It is rumored to have a price of $299. If its refurb is priced at 90%, I will be paying $290 with local taxes and will have waited months just to save $9. And that’s assuming free shipping from Canon. On the other hand, if its refurb price in the future is 80%, I’ll be at $258 with tax. Those savings would be worth waiting for the refurb. If the refurb is priced at 90%, I’d be better off preordering with B&H Payboo and enjoying the lens right away.
Starting last year, the refurb store changed the their pricing model. It used to be uniformly 80%, but they’ve moved to an arbitrary 80% or 90% depending on product. 90% appears to be the new norm.
I assume you mean the RF 16mm. Typically, refurbished lenses are seen 1 year after the product launch, so it will a long time to wait. Recent RF lenses have shown up late (the RF 15-35mm took 23 months to show up refurbished). In your shoes, I would just pre-order the RF 16mm and enjoy it right away.
Thanks. And you were right, I meant 16mm. Not sure where 28mm came from!