Protection Plan for Canon 5D Mark III

IGregory said:

I've decided to purchase the Canon 5D Mark III camera - vendor B&H. My only hangup is whether I should also purchase a protection plan. B & H offer a 2 or 3 year plan. I am not a professional, don't plan on using it on a trip in the jungle somewhere and I can't possibly envision a circumstance where I would have the opportunity to drop the camera into water. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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If you want peace of mind, get it. I never buy protection plans.

I've had five bodies since the XTi through to the 5D Mark III and never had an 'accident'. But it only takes one, right?

As the previous poster pointed out, its all for peace of mind. Here are some alternatives.

Do you have homeowner's or renter's insurance. Camera equipment may already be covered, or an inexpensive rider.

Are you making the purchase with an American Express card? If so, here is the link to more details their purchase protection plan.
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/card-benefits/purchase-protection.html

If you're not using American Express, then check with your credit card company to see what purchase benefits applies to you.

Assess what you have to establish a baseline, then you can identify if the additional coverage is redundant or covers a gap.

I personally never buy protection plans with any DSLR that I buy. For me, it's just personal preference. It doesn't seem like you're going to be using the 5DIII in any extreme circumstances. However, the warranty could come in handy if you're near a body of water, and you somehow drop the camera in said water. But again, that could be a rare circumstance depending on where you live.

If I were you, I would skip it.

IGregory said:

I've decided to purchase the Canon 5D Mark III camera - vendor B&H. My only hangup is whether I should also purchase a protection plan. B & H offer a 2 or 3 year plan. I am not a professional, don't plan on using it on a trip in the jungle somewhere and I can't possibly envision a circumstance where I would have the opportunity to drop the camera into water. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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The truth is (at least from my 10 years of selling consumer electronics/warranty's and dealing with warranty repairs) that warranty's usually only cover defects in the product, so the type of faults a jungle adventure would cause probably wouldn't be covered anyway. Put it this way, your buying insurance for your product (just like for a home and car) and the pricing of that insurance depends on the risk involved (home insurance is less expensive then car insurance because of lower risk). In my time on the floor the cost associated with cameras and home audio have always been the least expensive by a pretty good margin. TV's were the second highest and laptops were always the most expensive. Did I deal with extended warranty claims on cameras in my 10 years? Yes, but I could count them on one hand. Even then they were either cheap models that were known to have issues or had questionable damage to the outer casing that MAY have caused the issue. I can't remember ever writing up a DSLR. Hope this helps!