I'm considering adding an Olympus Micro 4/3 lens to my kit, and one option is a used one from an ebay seller. Does anybody know if Olympus USA (whatever its legal name) will repair a lens for a fee if it turns out to be a gray market lens? I.e., one that Olympus USA did not import? I've been a Nikon user for the past ~50 years and it's my understanding that Nikon will NOT repair gray market lenses, even for a fee, but I've not actually had to face that situation.
And if Olympus won't touch a gray market lens, is there any way to tell if a particular used lens is or is not a gray market lens before buying it? (I believe at least some Nikon lenses have serial numbers or prefixes that can be used for this purpose.)
What M4/3 lens are you wanting to buy? Have you posted on UHH that you are in the market for a ??? Maybe someone here has a USA copy they are willing to sell.
I'm looking for the 9-18mm. There aren't any offered in the classifieds. I haven't posted a WTB.
Yes, they will repair the lens for a fee.
Vast Micro 4/3 lens inventory list. Take this list and run it by a few repair shops. This is a fairly recent and not complete list of lenses that will fit micro 4/3. Your answer is in this list likely. Of all mirrorless camera's Olympus and Panasonic very likely have the largest lens inventory, having a leap on everybody in 4/3 since 2003 and mirrorless since 2006.
http://hazeghi.org/mft-lenses.html
I bought my 9-18mm from KEH and love it. They have another for sale at $418,
Thanks for all the suggestions. I ended up discovering the refurb page at Olympus and got one there. I assume they'll fix it again should it ever need attention. ;-)
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