I’ve been shooting with my 5D Mark III for what feels like an eternity now and honestly it’s been a tank, but the shutter count is getting up there and I’m starting to get those occasional ERR codes that make me sweat during a shoot. Naturally I started looking for a 5D Mark IV or maybe even a 90D for some extra reach with my telephotos, but the market is just weird right now. Everyone is so obsessed with the R series mirrorless stuff that it feels like the DSLR bodies have been forgotten, but the prices haven’t actually dropped to reflect that.

Usually I’m the guy people come to for gear advice but I’m genuinely stumped here. I’ve got a solid collection of EF glass—the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II is my baby—so I’m not ready to switch systems and deal with adapters just yet. My budget is sticking around the $1400 mark since I’ve got a big trip coming up to the Olympic Peninsula in a few months and I need to save some cash for travel. I dont want to buy a used body from an individual because of the risk, so I am looking for retail or refurbished with some kind of warranty.

I’ve been religious about checking the Canon USA refurbished site because that used to be the gold mine for deals, but lately it’s just a ghost town. Everything is constantly out of stock or they only have the entry level Rebels. I checked B&H and Adorama too, but their sales are basically just $50 off the original sticker price. I even looked into some of those educational discounts through a local community college course I’m taking, but the savings were pretty much non-existent on the older DSLR tech.

Where is everyone going for actual deep discounts on new or mint condition DSLR bodies lately? Are there specific days when the refurb site restocks that I don’t know about, or is there a hidden corner of the internet that still values the mirror and pentaprism life?