Originally posted by dlh What people don't get is that a warranty is not a period of time in which you can get something fixed for free.
The funny thing is that the warranty contract (what counts in court) details the faults covered, the remedies, and the limits under which it will be offered. (The word "warrant", after all, simply means an official statement promising action.) Where statute applies (assuming statutes exist) is when the warranty contract was offered in bad faith or where there is statute with provision for reasonable service life for expected purpose. Bad faith is difficult to assign unless there is evidence that the conditions of the contract make it difficult if not impossible to pursue remedy or if the nature of the fault itself creates an "out" for the manufacturer. Failure of weather seals may fall into that latter category.
Breach of warranty is when the seller does not honor the warranty contract (i.e. does not provide remedy for fault as defined in the contract). As you noted, the statute of limitations does not extend the contract, but does determine the period of time within which a complaint may be made. Problems that occur outside the provisions of the warranty contract might still be remedied by the manufacturer, but as a matter of good will outside of contractual obligation.
Implied warranty is the notion of reasonable service life and suitability for purpose. A good example might be that a boat should float and should be reasonably durable to that task over time. If the boat fails as a snow sled or sinks after being crushed under a breaching whale, no reasonable person would assume bad faith on the part of the maker. However, if the hull materials have been shown to dissolve slowly when exposed to water resulting in physical harm to passengers, that would be another matter.
As for the reported secondary mirror issues, an implied warranty might be applicable unless the camera is close to or beyond a reasonable service life. For sake of argument, that might be considered as three or five years of professional use in much the same sense as a computer of copy machine for business.
Steve