I'm done with lens reviews

Sam in Hawaii wrote:

Rod McD wrote:

imnotmarvin wrote:

If you're buying from a reputable dealer, you can return a lens if it doesn't meet your needs or expectations for the types of photography you do.

Hi,

This alone may underpin a different approach. There are different rules in different places. I'm not sure where you are. In Australia, where I live, you're not buying it to try it. You're buying it. You can return it if its faulty, and the manufacturer determines under the warranty whether to repair it or replace it. You can't return it just because it didn't meet your needs or expectations and you changed your mind. If it's not faulty, and you changed your mind and just don't want it, well you sell it as a used lens to someone who does want it. Under this business framework, getting it right in the first place becomes more important.

So, yup, I get the best information available..... and read reviews. Same for cars, dishwashers and all the other consumer stuff we spend big on.

TBH, I think the whole 'try it and return it' can and sometimes does lead to all sorts of ill-planned purchasing and unscrupulous using and reselling - as many threads in these forums have shown over the years. At least here, if it's sold as new, it must be new and unused, and not someone else's reject with an unknown history.

I actually agree with you that most of the Fuji range are good lenses. OTOH, some are excellent. The task is to sift out the ones that meet our needs knowing their foibles....

Cheers, Rod

You touch on something that's a particular pain of mine; the idea of "buying" something to test or try and returning for the original seller to either take a hit on as used and pass the loss on to the rest of us, or fraudulently re-package as "new." We see countless "tests" and "comparisons" here of cameras and lenses where it's transparently obvious that the "tester", so called, had no real intention of actually keeping the item but instead wanted in to just post something to impress the rest of us. US return policies are an invitation to abuse, and frankly, the opinion of some yahoo opining that the latest Canikon XZ2500 is not quite as good at taking pictures of brick walls as his old Soniji POS 25. based on his 29 day trial before returning it, adds no value to any conversation.

Agreed on the DoucheTuber "reviews" but I thought the Euros have more consumer friendly return/warranty policies than the USA does.  Typically where I live the 'rental' period is two weeks, not 30 days.