'Grey' imports (1 Viewer)

I was wondering how you can tell a 'grey' import from a genuine item.
Are there any tell-tale signs to look out for, and are the items sub-standard ?

It varies, sometimes the whole model name will be different... Canon Digital Rebel vs Canon 300D or going back, Nikon N80 vs F80 and so on. And just look at the digiscoping Nikons with different colour strip. Often though it will only be the serial number that will give indication for what market it was mean't to be sold in. And watch to see which language is default in any menu system.

Grey Imports are certainly not sub-standard in themselves, but may come with power supplies/battery chargers that won't work on your supply and obviously there's the warranty problem... so i suppose some may say the purchase as a whole is somewhat sub-standard vs domestic purchase.
Regards,
Andy

I bought the Digital Rebel recently.....£659 inc' vat and delivery and the much debated 18-55 lens. It arrived with UK 13amp charger & plug + standard warranty and another years warranty from the supplier.(ukdigitalcameras)

Though this offer seems to have dissappeared now....only genuine 300d's @ £699 !

Needless to say - it's the same thing with a different badge and works perfectly.

Probably the secondhand price of your camera would be hit badly........but isn't it always - anyone wanna buy my Canon A1 & AE1 ?

The warranty usually is the differance and on a high-priced item sacraficing the factory warranty is not a good idea. I can't recommend add-on warranties unless you have a shop you can bring it right back to close by, otherwise there's no guarantee who is doing what work on it.

As I suspected I have bought a 'grey' Nikon D70.
I ordered it from Digitalfirst as they were the only supplier that had any D70's in stock (that should've told me plus it was £100 cheaper than the RRP) they have given me a two-year Warranty on it, although obviously I'll have to send it back to them for any repairs (fingers crossed I won't need to). Everything was in the box as listed except the Warranty from Nikon.
When I questioned this their reply was :-

We are unable to get sufficient stock from Nikon in the UK and most Nikon D70's come from European Nikon main stockists at the moment with the additional benefit of a lower price. Some of our European suppliers remove the g'tee card to avoid identification with Nikon in their own country. Your receipt is good enough for us, we will look after the camera for you and in the unlikely event of warranty work we will return the camera to Nikon or a Nikon-approved repair department.

Regards

Digitalfirst Team