I finally decided to take the plunge. It was a wield experience for me though. I called a camera store in Cleveland to make sure that they had the 7D in stock. It's 90 miles away and I wanted to make sure it wasn't a wasted trip. They did, but they wouldn't sell the body only; they can only sell it with the kit lens, which I had no need for. Well, ok, I started off on the trip anyway. Since I also live about the same distance from a popular camera store near Detroit, I called them and had to leave a message as usual, thinking, of course, that they would not call back.

In about 15 min. I did get a call and they had it in stock and I could purchase the body only, even though it came to them in a kit. I turned around and headed up there. I arrived at the store about 1 1/2 hour later and asked to see it.

The store clerk said that they could not open it. . . . .store owner's orders. My jaw dropped. "You mean I can't check it out with my lens (300mm L 4.0) on it?" "No," he said, "We only have this one and we can't use it as a demo. The owner doesn't want anyone to handle it.

Well, then I asked to be introduced to the owner and he said they could not allow me to put my lens, or any other lense on it. Now this is incredibly stupid, I thought. I drove all the way from Ohio to buy this, and I couldn't touch it. Fortunately, the owner left the store, for what reason, I'm not sure. I took the opportunity to "handle" the camera and test it out with my lens on it. I'm sure the clerk knew that I was checking it out, but I didn't care. The worse they could do it kick me out of the place. So, I bought the camera that I "handled."

I hope others don't have simular trouble plopping down almost a couple thousand for this camera. Maybe the owner was upset that I didn't offer to pay double for it.


--
Craig