abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Seeing that you are a photographer from Rochester, how could I not think of Eastman, one of the most extraordinary companies of all time. Its contribution to society is inestimable.

To your point of jobs going overseas, I agree with you and would add that employees, employers, customers, vendors, unions and government have all contributed mightily to the loss of jobs. Despite that, the US is still one of the largest manufacturing companies in the world. Worldwide, manufacturing jobs have fallen as much as they have here thanks to relentless process improvement. The days are gone when factories could employ untrained or semi-trained labor. The sharp increase in job skills needed for a manufacturing job is as important in how automated manufacturing has become.

Nevada Chuck

While I have never bought anything so major as a whole camera or lens, I have spent thousands of dollars worth of just about everything else from Hong Kong, and have had universally good luck, if luck is the right word.

Like another UHH'er, I've had only one situation that initially made me unhappy, and the problem was resolved quickly and to my satisfaction.

For a major item, such as the lens you are contemplating, if I were you I would name the vendor you're considering and get feedback on that particular seller.

Napoleon Photo

I have bought several lenses from merchants in Hong Kong but only while I was there. The lenses are all fine but there can be differences in warranties. In one case, I was given a manufacturer's warranty but paid about $100 less than US for the lens. With others, where I saved more money, the warranty was a local one, i.e. I would have to bring or send the lens back to the store in Hong Kong. I would recommend checking the warranty before buying.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

I think as long as the sellers rating is very high, you should be ok. I've bought items through ebay (from Hong Kong) on several occasions, and never had a problem, but I would stay away from sellers, who's rating is rather questionable!

blackest Loc: Ireland

I don't really have an issue with dealing with sellers located all round the globe. Most of what I want isn't available locally and it's the same stuff made in china or HK just at double or more of the price. Usually its postage which makes up the bulk of the difference anyway. By buying without the mark up i'm left with more money to spend in the local economy and i'm able to buy locally produced goods.

For the case of your lens your local supplier will be sending a comparable amount of cash out of the country, your supplier may be his supplier or pretty close.

On the other hand its a lot of cash and the comeback if the product fails well you are paying for the risk of failure instead of your local supplier. He can offset returns against aggregate profits you on the other hand do not have that cushion. you either save $500 or cost yourself $500 depending on if it fails or not. (buying at $1000 replacing at another $1000).

With me I must have bought 40 low cost items in the last few months mainly from china and HK if 10% fail within a year i'm still winning since I paid half the price , heck most of the time the cost of fuel to buy locally (around 70 miles round trip) plus parking pretty much covers the cost for me. I can't lose buying from china because I buy a lot of things cheaply. Ebay even stacks the deck in my favour by forcing the vendor to refund should i not be satisfied and making them take the loss.

Would I buy the lens from hongkong probably not, the reason being that i'd be exposing myself to a potential loss of $500 on one item. That would probably put me at a loss over all.

The only way i could really justify the risk would be to spend around $5000 with hk and hope i get very little loss from failures. You are gambling, I don't gamble like that.

Your local supplier is spreading his risk over larger volumes he should be able to take the hit if he sells you a lens and it fails in 3 years.

Will your lens need servicing? who would pay for that?

Yes logically the right thing for you would be to buy local
A friend of mine imported a guitar from the USA about $1000 that works because a guitar is good or bad from new any repairs needed later would be relatively cheap. I don't think a lens would be cheap to repair.

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

I had two "bad" experiences with China/Hong Kong sellers on e-bay. One put down the wrong size silver reflector umbrella on the ad; they let me keep the two (wrong sized) and sent me two of the right sized ones. I received a flash that did not work; I contacted the seller; they had me ship it back to them (they refunded the postage via paypal) and shipped me a new flash upon receipt. The one thing that struck me with the sellers was how they apologized for their mistakes and made them right.

flashgordonbrown Loc: Silverdale, WA

You have been drinking the kool-aid again. I have purchased many thousands of $ of photo equipment over the past several years, about 2/3 of it overseas(Gray Market). I only purchase it there when the savings is significant, and I am reasonably assured of good service. I will repeat my tale of Sony service on a 'gray market' body: I purchased my A77 from Hong Kong(had it in my hand before it was available at the Sony store!). In an ill advised attempt at cleaning the mirror, I damaged it. I called Sony to get an idea of what it would cost to repair. I was quoted a price and given instructions for shipping to their Texas repair facility. I let them know up front that the damage was my fault, and that the camera was purchased overseas. Three days after I sent it off, I received an e-mail stating that the repairs were completed, and that the camera would be shipped out the next business day. I called them to find out what the exact charge was, and I was informed that there would be NO charge! I was curious as to what service had been done, so I called them back and asked. They looked it up and told me that the damaged mirror has been replaced, and that all of the functions of the camera had been checked to verify proper function!

I won't sit here and say that people can't be burned buying gray market products, but if you are reasonably careful, there is often substantial savings. I worked for a number of years in the photo-retail & wholesale business, so I am aware that it sometimes seems unfair that the same products can be purchased for less than the 'authorized' dealer cost. One of the stores that I worked for actually would buy "gray' and provide a house warranty. I know that both Adorama and B&H do this. When purchasing equipment from anyone, you need to have some idea of what is supposed to be included in the package, so that when some fast-talking salesperson tries to sell you the '6 hr battery for $100 you can say with conviction that you just want what comes in the box. Most times they will cave-and if they don't, I just hang up and go elsewhere.

flashgordonbrown

Ozzie Loc: Australia(NSW)

I must confess , most of our cameras and equipment such as tripods, external flash,filters,cards etch come from Hong Kong. Everything is so ridiculously expensive in Australia that we have decided to shop elsewhere. Service is fantastic, postage, if any cheap from Hong Kong and as you see...one can save a fair bit of money ...
I don't think I'm allowed to give their name , but if you send me a private message , I will let you have the link.

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

Why not?
We name vendors all the time!
My personal favorite for accessories is MKStudios (or Meking Studios) in HK.
BUT, all my bodies and lenses were purchased in/from the US.

WayneL Loc: Baltimore Md

I just ordered a Yongnuo flash from Meking Studios. I think the only place to buy this brand of flash is from China, my second one.

Ozzie Loc: Australia(NSW)

Well, thanks for MK's info...we buy from e-Infinity...have saved MK's info in my Photographic Needs folder...

splitsecondimages Loc: Atlanta, GA

First time post on this site, hello everyone!
I am in the market for a Nikon D7100 and I shoot primarily sports photography. I am wary of buying a product without a Nikon USA warranty but know that most cameras are manufactured from the same location, just don't carry a USA warranty if sold abroad. So, based on your experience, and link to a site that allegedly sells "gray" mkt. products (?), do you feel confident in purchasing from this org.?

toddb Loc: Taipei

As Hong Kong is duty free, it is always going to be the least expensive and Hong Kong is known as the place to buy electronics. It is not difficult to find a reputable vendor at a great price but like any where, you can also get burned. Going through Amazon should make it a little safer as you stated they have a good rating. If you provide the vendor name I can check on the vendor for you. But I am not sure about customs duties charged coming into the States. There should be some i would imagine but I wouldn't know as I have lived in Asia for a long time and go to Hong Kong periodically. I have been always happy with electronics and camera equipment there.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

I have heard good things of Digital Rev before.
I just sold one of my rental lenses to a customer who didn't want to wait for a new one, so I find myself needing a replacement. Digital Rev has it for $160 less than I can get here here in the US and offers a 1 year "door to door" repair policy so I decided to give them a try for myself and just ordered the lens with free shipping. Expected delivery Jan. 3-Jan. 6, that's nice and fast and will get it here faster than the free shipping option from B&H. Looking forward to taking the new lens out for a spin, hopefully there will be no issues.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

You take a chance buying from the USA, too. I have gotten many small items from China and Hong Kong, in particular. DigitalRev seems to be a reliable seller.

Checking here about sellers is always a good idea.