Gray Market Cameras (Page 3): Personally, I'd stay away from gray market cameras. But, the choice is yours. --Bob...

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Personally, I'd stay away from gray market cameras. But, the choice is yours.
--Bob

Photoholic wrote:

There's been a lot of talk about Gray Market camer... (show quote)

agillot

the only reason they are doing that is that [not fixing gray ]they [ nikon ] did not get a piece of the action [ shame on them ] .

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

camerapapi wrote:

In 1965 I returned from Europe where I was studyin... (show quote)

Actually, Nikon USA will repair cameras that were legitimately purchased overseas. If you show them a copy of your hotel bill, or if you were military a copy of your orders, if you were living there show them with a utility bill or letter addressed to you in that location. If you purchased it while traveling, just show a copy of your hotel or airline ticket or even the passport entry. They really are pretty fair on what they will accept to show the camera or lens was legitimately purchased from an authorized dealer overseas. AND, not purchased in the US from a grey market dealer. Oh, and as for class action lawsuits, they've already been tried and lost. Nikon was able to show that (in essence) the grey market dealer was the initial customer so they are selling the out of country camera to you used and so there is no obligation to repair it. Lawyers won't even look at filing this type of suit against Nikon in hopes of getting paid by recovery. They will only take the suit if you pay them up front because they know that they will loose.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

agillot wrote:

the only reason they are doing that is that [not fixing gray ]they [ nikon ] did not get a piece of the action [ shame on them ] .

Shame on you for trying to beat the system then blaming Nikon because you didn't want to play by the rules.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Actually, that opinion is close to reality.
--Bob

agillot wrote:

the only reason they are doing that is that [not fixing gray ]they [ nikon ] did not get a piece of the action [ shame on them ] .

JeffDavidson Loc: Originally Detroit Now Los Angeles

One repair not covered by a non-existing warranty, could wipe out the savings instantly.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Last time I went to purchase a water heater, Lowe's had 3 models: one with a 3 year warranty, one with a 6 year warranty, and one with a 9 year warranty. The prices were something like $300, $400, and $500. I talked to a plumber friend of mine and he said that they are all the same water heater. The price difference is due to the different levels of insurance.

A grey market camera is cheaper than a US market camera. They're the same camera. The difference is insurance.

Jim Bob

jerryc41 wrote:

"The D7100, D610, D800, D810 and D4s..."

http://nikonrumors.com/2016/05/16/great-news-you-can-now-repair-some-nikon-grey-market-cameras-at-third-party-us-repair-facilities.aspx/

Exactly. Waiting for Gene to pony up an apology for his gross misinformation.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Never throw away receipts for photo gear that costs over $10, and has a warranty/guarantee, regardless of where you bought it! ESPECIALLY keep receipts for items purchased in another country.

Gray market stuff is warranted by the gray market importer, *if at all*. "Official" stuff is warranted or guaranteed by the "official" importer. If an item has a serial number, authorized repair centers can trace its provenance. If you have a foreign receipt, they will honor the terms of the international warranty, no matter where you are now.

And yes, Nikon authorized repair facilities offer SOME exceptions on SOME gear. It's worth a phone call to find out.

WessoJPEG Loc: Cincinnati, Ohio

DirtFarmer wrote:

Last time I went to purchase a water heater, Lowe's had 3 models: one with a 3 year warranty, one with a 6 year warranty, and one with a 9 year warranty. The prices were something like $300, $400, and $500. I talked to a plumber friend of mine and he said that they are all the same water heater. The price difference is due to the different levels of insurance.

A grey market camera is cheaper than a US market camera. They're the same camera. The difference is insurance.

What I said all along.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Jim Bob wrote:

This is misleading and inaccurate. Nikon authorized repair facilities will repair certain gray market units. Come on Gene. If you don't know what you're talking about, keep quie.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

jerryc41 wrote:

Projected to 15.6% by the third year. Accidental damage is even higher, though not covered by the warranty.

https://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/Camera_failure_study.pdf

Interesting study. However, it is probably inaccurate to extrapolate the results of a sub-$300 point-and-shoot reliability study onto a $3000 dSLR or $1500 mirrorless.

At Herff Jones, we used hundreds of mid-priced Canons from 2004 to the point where Lifetouch bought our division in 2011. The failure rate was very, very low, despite very hard use. We had 440 bodies in the hands of our retail photographers, and probably had fewer than a 3% failure rate over the first five years. After that, our EOS 20Ds with over 50,000 clicks started to need new shutters (or replacement). We retired many of them for use as backups and replaced them with 50Ds...

NikonCharlie Loc: Kansas USA

D810= $2795 from USA dealer, $1950 for the exact same item, Import.
500mm F4 G, $9,800 USA dealer, $6699 for the exact same item, Import.
Nikon USA is making a bundle on the cameras and lenses, not a surprise they strong arm to get us to pay the extra.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

NikonCharlie wrote:

D810= $2795 from USA dealer, $1950 for the exact same item, Import.
500mm F4 G, $9,800 USA dealer, $6699 for the exact same item, Import.
Nikon USA is making a bundle on the cameras and lenses, not a surprise they strong arm to get us to pay the extra.

If you need a lot, the savings would go a long way toward a trip to Hong Kong to buy the stuff there. Just save receipts!

I used Nikon stuff from 1969 to 2012, and had only two small problems in all that time — with an FTn (I dropped it on concrete and had to have the Photomic finder repaired) and an F3 (mirror lock up switch failed). Neither issue was covered under warranty. My FTn was 13 years old, and my F3 was 8 years old... I have lenses that still work fine after 40 years. I do have a 35 year-old 55mm f/2.8 Micro Nikkor that needs lubrication, but I'm not using it...

I never had any problems with my digital stuff.

c49smith Loc: Ohio

For what it's worth Nikon isn't the only manufacturer with the "no repair" policy:

http://www.tamron-usa.com/lenses/gray_market.php