Linckinn Loc: Okatie, SC and Edgartown, MA

If one buys through Amazon from another company, and the camera is "gray market", is there any difference other than warrantee? Is the camera itself not built as well? What about lenses?

Thanks

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

Nikon USA web site is having a refurbished sale going on thru 7/6/2015 - 10% off.
D7100 --- $779.96
D7000 --- $619.96
Both have internal focus motors - I would act like lighting if you want one.

Don

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

Gray Market is Gray Market, Neither Amazon, nor anyone else can change that. What some companies do,(Adorama for one and probably a couple of others but I am not sure) is that since they are Authorized Nikon, Canon or whoever repair centers as well as Authorized Dealers, they can repair what they sell. Keep in mind though that if you purchas a grey market camera, regardless of whether it is from Adorama, 42nd Street Photo, or Joe's Back Alley photo emporium and hoc shop, it is still grey market and will NOT be serviced by Nikon USA or other manufacturers that punish the grey market. If you purchase a "grey market" from an entity like Adorama, it can ONLY be repaird there. This is whether it is being repaird under warranty or later when the warranty period is up. Nikon will not ever repair a grey market camera or lens. I can not speak to the other manufacturers but with Nikon, if the serial number shows that the camera was intended to be sold in Canada, Mexico, Europe, or anywhere other than the US, they will refuse to fix it under any circumstances, unless you can provide an origial copy of the invoice in YOUR NAME and proof that you were in that country at that time. If you were in the US Millitary and stationed in Japan, and purchased a camera there, then you would be expected to provide a copy of that invoice and proof that you were there at the time. Then Nikon USA would repair the camera for a charge. They would not transfer the remaining time on the warranty (for instance 5 years on a lens). You would pay the retail repair charges as if the camera or lens was out of warranty. If you can NOT provide proof that you were physically in that country when you purchased the camera or lens, Nikon will refuse to make any repairs at all and tell you to ship it back to the original country for repairs.
As far as differences between US cameras and cameras intended for other countries, there is only a slight difference and that is in the battery chargers and any other items that would look for non-USA voltages and plugs. A Nikon D610 USA is the same as a Nikon D610 Japan, Europe, Africa or what ever.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

From what I understand the quality is the same, but the warrantee will not be honored. They might not service or repair it either, but there are independent outfits that will.

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

You are correct, HOWEVER: A couple of years ago, Nikon's factories in Japan and SE Asia were all hit, within a 6 month span, by natrual disasters. Japan was hit by the Tsunami, and the nuclear power plant problems that had the factory closed down for some time. Shortly after that, factories in Laos, Thailand and other Asian countries were hit with earthquakes, floods, etc., completely closing all of Nikon's plants at the same time. This caused a shortage of not only new Nikon cameras, lenses and other equipment, but also completely stopped production of repair parts. Nikon corporate repair facilities were busy raiding each others spares for parts. Nikon completely shut off providing repair parts to all of the non-corporate owned repair facilities during this 6 month period. Durring that time, it was impossible for Adorama, or any of the other independant Nikon repair facilities to get replacement parts, so anyone that had a grey market camera, was unable to get repair at any cost from anywhere. Nikon USA was having to repair cameras based on what they had in stock. It was durring this time that the D600 shutter issue came up, further complicating repairs. Many cameras had to sit in the repair facility for a couple of months while Nikon searched for or production was replaced on a specific part. Nikon USA was constantly air shipping parts from repair facilities all over the world to repair cameras here, and was air shipping parts to other parts of the world to help them with shortages. This is why many Nikon "Authorized Repair Facilities" that were not Nikon owned were compaining that they could not get Nikon parts. And they were, of coarse, unable to repair their grey market cameras and the owners could not take the camera anywhere else for repair because it was grey market.

MarkD Loc: NYC

I'm also to some degree a fan of Ken Rockwell. But it shows how much gear is subjective. I now use mostly a P7800 as my compact, but I have a P7000 and I'm very happy with it. It is however very slow in going from one function to another, and I can see how that can be a big turnoff. On the other hand the 28-200mm lens is tack sharp and it produces beautiful photographs.

Linckinn Loc: Okatie, SC and Edgartown, MA

Thank you, everyone. Very helpful

Ewil

I got on the Nikon web site, picked out what I wanted. When I got to check out I could not enter my address and card number. A pay pal credit application kept popping up and covered the address and payment info. I messed with it over the last couple of days, no luck. I'm going to try customer tomorrow. Thanks for the tip.

charles brown Loc: Tennesse

Had the exact same problem just a month ago. I had a 70s with lenses and wanted to upgrade but on a limited budget as you. My choices came down to the 3200, 3300, or the 5200. The 3300 and 5200 were the same price with the 3200 being $50 cheaper. I ended up picking the 3300. Reasons why: 1) the 3300 processor was a newer version; 2) the 3300 had the newer lens - there is a difference between it and the older version; and 3) the 3300 felt much better in my hands than the 3200 or 5200 - the redesign did make a difference. So far I have found the 3300 to be an excellent camera, especially given that it is suppose to be an entry level camera. The features are amazing. I also use it with my 55-300 lens and it works great. You will find that the learning curve is reasonably easy, but will take a little time. Overall, I would give the camera 4.5 stars out of 5.