No money! Need gear!But can I trust Tinydeal !

[photomonkey]

I have been holding out to purchase a full frame camera. Currently I am shooting with a 20D (Canon) and yes that old piece of metal and plastic, antique kit. This is very frustrating (autofocus sucks, really sucks, viewfinder is crap and it's down right noisy (both sound and sensor above 200). I am getting a little impatient here and considering purchasing a crop factor camera to hold me until I can afford a full frame. Is this a wise decision? Or am I just getting really frustrated with my 20D?

Right now a friend has a 5D mkII that I borrow/rent occasionally but I can only get it if he is not using it.(So limitations again). and getting a taste of 5d mkii is really spoiling me. now I just made my mind to buy one telephoto lens just to take some landscape or wildlife photos ! I just goolged and one sales page of tinydeal comes up, they are selling the lens at dirt cheap price with free shipping ! do any dear fellows here know about this website and is it trustworthy?

Thank you in advance!

[RABaker]

I generally check out any online seller with ResellerRatings.com. I usually look for a seller with lots of reviews and a rating of at least 9 (out of a possible 10). Unfortunately, lots of sellers will enter fake ratings to attempt to suck in unsuspecting buyers - so I tend to ignore ratings if there are less than a few hundred reports (preferably several thousand).

Good luck,
Richard Baker

[WHolmes]

I think I would stick with KEH or B&H for used photo equipment. Great prices good quality.
Bill H.

[Sasquatch]

Resellar Ratings is the place to start for sure.

By reading the reviews one can easily spot which places are going to be trouble. If a deal is too good to be true it usually is.

This vendor would have me very skeptical. First, it appears they are located in China or a a wholesaler for Chinese firms. Next, all of the negative reviews mainly revolve around refunds and items that did not ship (or weren't shipped or received). People are waiting 4, 5, 6 month's and longer without ever having issues taken care of or offers to give 1/2 of their money back, etc. Red flag goes up right there.

All of the glowing reviews are also suspect. Those reviews do not list any specific items that were purchased, rather a "I bought a bunch of stuff from XXX and had no issues"..... Several reviews are by the same person, again not saying what they bought but rather a generic "I got a great deal".

YMMV but if it were my money I'd stick to the big guys, B&H, Adorama, Calumet, etc. Also, check out the Photography Deals thread located towards the bottom of the forums. You may come across some good deals in there as well.

[Russ]

I'm a longtime user of a 20D, having bought a 5D II just a few months ago. Its still my backup. While it may not have all of the cutting edge features/specs of the newest cameras, is it really limiting your photography? Or have you fallen prey to the Madison Avenue drums that "you need more"? Would you be better off puting the same amount of money in lenses or other photo gear instead? The life of a good lens is usually many times that of the "newest" camera!

[suci]

Hey. If you want to upgrade, fine. I bought a lot of used refurbished stuff from Adorama. Never any problem.
But really; the 20D I have is my first DSLR. It is not crappy viewfinder, autofocus is superb, noise is easily manageable up tp ISO 1600.
I'm afraid that if you have such miserable experiennce with the 20D, then maybe you should think about lenses, or even simpler; your shooting method.