NOTE - These rebates were offered in the fall of 2004. Canon have not yet officially announced any rebates for 2005
Starting on October 15th 2004 and lasting through January 31st 2005 Canon are offering
significant rebates on many of their lenses and on the EOS Digital Rebel. As they have
done before this will be a "multiple discount" scheme. What this means is the
more you buy, the bigger the rebate on each item becomes. It works like this:
If you just buy a Digital Rebel, you get a $100 rebate.
If you just buy an EF 50/1.4, you get a $15 rebate.
If you just buy an EF 17-40/4L you get a $25 rebate
However, if you buy a Digital Rebel and an EF 50/1.4 lens you have bought TWO
items, so the rebate on EACH of then is doubled. So you
now get a $200 rebate on the Digital Rebel and a $30
rebate on the EF 50/1.4 for a total rebate of $230.
If you buy THREE eligible items you get THREE
times the rebate on EACH of them, so if you buy a Digital Rebel, an EF
50/1/4 and an EF 17-40/4L, you now get a $300 rebate on the
Digital Rebel, a $45 rebate on the EF 50/1.4 and a $75
rebate on the EF 17-40/4L., for a total rebate of $420.
You don't have to buy all three items at the same time, or even all three
items from the same vendor as long as all three are bought within the eligibility window.
All the items should be Canon USA items purchased from an authorized CANON USA dealer. Grey market items don't count. All
you need are proofs of purchase for each (see the rebate form). Technically you don't need to submit all
the items at once. However judging by reports of past experiences with similar rebate schemes, my
guess is that it would probably be a good idea to submit one rebate application with all items
on it. Less chance of something going wrong!
You can find rebate form images
HERE.
Note that this
rebate offer is valid only for legal US (or Puerto Rico) residents with a US (or Puerto Rico) mailing address. However, Canadian residents have their own $100 Rebate offer on the Rebel + accessories (See here for Canon Canada Rebate Offer).
Below is a list of the equipment included in this rebate scheme. Note that although
there are discounts on Speedlites, they do NOT count in the multiple discount scheme. So
if you buy a Rebel Body and a 220EX speedlite, despite this being two items, you only get
a $100 rebate on the Digital Rebel and a $10 rebate on the 220EX speedlite. The discounts
apply no matter which authorized CANON USA dealer you purchase the items from, as long as they are USA items, not grey
market import items. Both Amazon and Adorama are dependable Canon authorized dealers which sell USA items (though note that Adorama also sells grey
market items, so make sure you're buying the USA option, which will cost more before the
rebate, but less overall once the rebate is taken into account).
There are some pretty good deals here, especially if you're just getting into the Canon EOS digital system and want a Rebel. I've listed some examples of what I think are good "starter" kits on a GOOD REBATE OPTIONS page.
NOTE: If you decide to chose a vendor by absolute lowest advertised price, please make
sure to read Caveat Emptor first so you don't get scammed, "bait and switched"
or receive grey market goods when you order USA items!
Amazon is my preferred affiliate store and offers free shipping on most of
these items and prices usually equal to or lower than Adorama. I've recently
placed a number of orders with Amazon and I've been pleased with their service. Returns
are easy if you have a problem with anything you order and you have 30 days to make a
return, which is better than most traditional camera stores (Adorama give you 14 days).
If the Amazon link is missing the item image, please just refresh the page.
