duck72 Loc: Laurel Ridge, PA

No tears for manufacturers that purport a "bought in USA from an authorized dealer" product is different from a camera (D7200) bought for less$ Multinational companies need to get their stuff together. Buy a BMW stateside for ridiculous $ - or grab one as a cab ex-U.S. Yeah, we've all heard the "Gee- grey-market cameras are eating our flesh" routine. Volkswagen concurs.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

There is no physical difference between USA and gery market gear. The difference comes in when you want to have the grey market equipment serviced or repaired.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

With todays fast shipping via air freight, I don't see the downside of grey market purchases as long as its from a reputable retailer. I bought my Sigma 150-600 from a retailer in Hong Kong. They've been there a long time and probably will be there for a long time. The price, even with shipping and tariff was still way cheaper than in the USA. If something happens to go wrong with the lens while under warranty, I put it back in the same box it was shipped to me in and ship it back to Hong Kong for repair. It may take a little longer and cost a little more to get it there but n the end, it was a gamble I was more than willing to take. And after the warranty is up I seriously doubt Sigma USA won't work on it if needed. The fee they'd charge is the same regardless of where it was originally purchased. The same goes for Canon and all the other manufacturers. The service technicians in the country of sale should be just as competent as USA technicians. Do people from Hong Kong send their camera to the USA for repairs? When the warranty has expired, what difference does it make anyway. How many Canon or Nikon or Sony or Pentax or whomever cameras are manufactured in the USA? None. As long as the product is genuine then I don't see the problem, other than corporate greed.

duck72 Loc: Laurel Ridge, PA

There's NO difference. Gery. Point is: multi-national purveyors of products need to get rid of marketing ploys, support their worldwide product. A Nikon is a Nikon - since 1960's "F." There is no physical difference between USA and gery market gear. The difference comes in when you want to have the grey market equipment serviced or repaired.[/quote]

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

RM, most of what you say is true. BUT, you were speculating on Sigma USA working on that lens. I don't know, but I DO know that Nikon USA won't work on a Grey Nikon, ever! Canon will, so no worries there but I would certainly research the policies of each brand before buying grey.
When you gotta ship that lens back, hopefully you will NEVER need to, but the shipping and insurance will probably make you cry!

And the OP, like most, just knows more than anybody at the multinational corporations of which he speaks.
That's what I LOVE about this site. When you sign up, they issue you a full set of hats.
Wanna be a pro photog, just put the hat on. Wanna be an MBA, just another hat.
And my favorite...., go to the attic and everybody is a politician!! But peel off the sticker and the hat actually says FOOL!!!
SS

duck72 Loc: Laurel Ridge, PA

You, perhaps, lost track of OP and "hats." NEVER say never, Fellow UHH'er "And" is a better term than "but." Post a picture- better yet, don't. Too much verbiage.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

The comparison with cars is false. Quality repair shops are available in every city in the country. Quality camera repair shops are very rare. Furthemore a Mercedes dealer will work on any mercedes regardless of where it was purchased. Plus they will honor the warantee no matter where the car was made. Can't say that about Canon or Nikon

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Don't worry little Ducky Boy, I wouldn't want to steal your thunder!!
Oh wait, I looked at ALL the pics you've posted...., NO thunder to take!!!
SS

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

[/quote]
You're right; there is no difference in the manufacturing of the products (except branding and ID plates). In most cases, there is no difference in quality control. The difference is quality ASSURANCE, which is different than quality control.

I have worked with three major companies that manufactured and sold products; two as an employee, one as a subcontractor. One company was an aerospace manufacturer, one manufactured electromechanical products and one sold electronic devices. All had different quality assurance programs. The first involved frequent (up to 50%) destructive testing, the second used random non-destructive and destructive testing and the last used sampling. When you use a rigid sampling technique, you pull a sample from every set of x number of products, e.g., one test sample from every 100 products that come down the line. If you have a failure rate on one in ten thousand, sampling one in ten will give you a better chance of detecting recurring faults than sampling one in a thousand. And I'd your QA guidelines for the "one in ten" manufacturer one failure requires that the entire batch of ten thousand be subjected to complete inspection, whereas the guidelines of the " one in a thousand" manufacturer require only retesting of the previous and following one hundred products, the former will yield a more dependable run. Factor in that the retailer is willing to pay extra for frequent inspections (of course, passing that cost along to the consumer) AND that warranty repairs are more costly and more time-consuming than a retailer who offers little or no warranty and/or whose warranty repairs are less expensive (and perhaps more shoddy) than the first retailer, and you have justification for higher retail prices and more rigid restrictions on which products will be accepted for service.

It's a small leap to understand that the first retailer in in the USA and the second retailer is elsewhere.

LESSON LEARNED: Better quality assurance may result in a more expensive product AND may limit warranty options.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

When I purchased the 150-600 Sport, it had just been introduced in the US market and was going for top dollar. You're correct about the speculating. I could have spent the extra few hundred dollars and purchased the lens, that was manufactured in Japan, here in the US thus paying a premium for the US warranty, or, save the few hundred, get the same manufacturer's warranty from Sigma, not Sigma USA, on a gamble the lens will be just fine. So far, the gamble has payed off. Now that the warranty has expired and I've had no problems with the lens, I'd say I chose wisely. The serial number on the factory warranty card matches the number on the lens so it is a Sigma factory assigned, valid, serial number. From my research, that is the key variable in the, will Sigma service the lens equation. If the lens needs service, Sigma will more than likely do it, for a fee. But, since the shop I use for service and repairs is authorized to service Sigma and Canon and several other manufacturers products, and he could give a rats tail about where I purchased something, that's where it will go in necessary.

I've never been to the attic, is that the munchausen forum?

I've been doing photography since I was 15, and that was a long time ago. My biggest regret from way back when is not having pursued a career path in photography. As much as photography was a part of me, I had other interests that guided my career path. But I always had a good camera and I was the group member who was always taking pictures.

The only hat I wear regularly is made of polycarbonate, is silver in color, just like my Goldwing, and had a DOT label on it. I don't pretend to be anything or anyone other than who I am.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

The difference is not in the camera but in the importer. The importer supplies the support, and that costs money. They get that money from the sale of the cameras they import.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

[/quote]

Just bought a replacement battery cover for the SB800. It was inexpensive, shipped free, arrived in 3 days and fit perfectly.

Didn't come from Nikon or authorized dealer. Want to bet I couldn't find a repair shop that will work on "Grey Market" (if I had one).

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

I worked on a dictating/transcribing machine once, needed a small capacitor. I bought one at a local parts house. When I put it in and tested it, it smoked and blew the top of a gain balancing transistor. When I contacted the factory, they apologized and said the original capacitors (and schematics) were printed incorrectly. We later found out that they did this to this model to prevent using after-market parts. We soon went to another manufacturer.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

The difference is not the "fast shipping" but in the Duty Fees. If you have to ship a camera or camera equipment to Australia, Europe, or South America for warranty repair (or out of warranty repair because Nikon and Canon (I've heard Canon is beginning to strengthen their support of "authorized dealers") are restricting parts to "authorized" repair locations. Unauthorized repair centers are purchasing used cameras and using other means to get parts to complete repairs) because that was the intended sales location, you will have to pay duty taxes on the piece of equipment (plus the cost of shipping) both going out of the United States to that country and on it returning to the United States from that country. The amount of duty fees on one repair will easily be as much as the difference in the purchase price between an "Authorized" purchase and a "Grey Market" purchase. Basically, when you buy grey market, you are betting that the equipment you purchase will never need repair.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

[/quote]

The only difference is the one you pointed out, AND, the Nikon US market is owned by the official importer, who, along with Nikon, have put in place a policy that if you do not buy from Nikon and the importer, you will not receive service on the Nikon product. In other words, it was a deal struck in heaven between two companies. Nikon is not the official importer, they have given that away to a middleman. And, you know what they say, you have got to pay the middleman.