I don’t know about any other photographers out there, but getting my photography equipment professionally cleaned was one of those things that I’ve been putting off for forever. I’ve never quite understood how to go about getting my equipment looked at, and when something is unknown to me, it’s easy for me to put it off and continue to push it to the next week’s to do list. But – last week when I had a free week and a half in my schedule with no sessions scheduled, I decided it was finally time for me to get my act together and send in my equipment to be professionally cleaned. I read several articles from other photographers that helped me figure out how to get started, so I figured it may be beneficial to write a bit about my experience!

First things first – you should head on over to  Canon Professional Services (CPS) and create an account if you don’t have one already. They will have you enter all of your equipment serial numbers and you’ll be assigned a certain membership level. I qualified for the Platinum level which is $300 a year. I called the Canon customer service line and one of their incredible representatives sent me custom overnight shipping labels and walked me through the entire process! I shipped out ALL of my equipment on a Wednesday afternoon at 3pm and got everything back except for one item that needed a repair, by Friday morning. Y’ALL. I don’t know why I had never made an effort to do this before but it was the best decision I’ve made in a long time! I literally had everything returned to me in less than 48 hours!

With the Platinum membership you get free overnight shipping both ways and 30% off all repairs. Can you believe that? One of my Mark III’s needed a new shutter, and I paid for it over the phone Friday and had it back on Monday! I literally can’t say enough good things about Canon’s customer service, reliability, and promptness. Sending our your entire line-up of equipment is SO nerve-wracking, but they made this entire process ridiculously simple! That $300 was money well spent. Not to mention, if any of my equipment breaks or malfunctions, I can send it in free of charge and they will send me a backup lens/camera to replace it while mine is being fixed. Worth it a thousand times over!!

As professional wedding photographers, it’s so important to be on our game and as prepared as possible. I’m so grateful to be starting off this wedding with a whole line up of equipment that is cleaned, calibrated, and ready for all of my incredible 2017 couples!! It gives me so much peace of mind knowing that I’ve done everything in my power to provide reliable service to my sweet brides and grooms!

I hope this is helpful and encouraging to any of you looking to get your equipment maintained. Let me be the first to tell you it’s not near as difficult or scary as it seems! Happy Wednesday, friends!

Much love,
Jessica Lauren