buying camera equipment in japan

wheresdavid

i just booked a trip to SE asia and i will be stopping over in japan for a week. it just occurred to me that i may be able to get a good deal on camera equipment there. I heard the mark III is about $3k. i was looking to lighten my backpack but if i could get a great deal on a lens or body, hmmmm.

has anyone bought a camera or lens there?

cheers,

Dave

Tanuki

wheresdavid wrote:

i just booked a trip to SE asia and i will be stopping over in japan for a week. it just occurred to me that i may be able to get a good deal on camera equipment there. I heard the mark III is about $3k. i was looking to lighten my backpack but if i could get a great deal on a lens or body, hmmmm.

has anyone bought a camera or lens there?

cheers,

Dave

I've purchased quite a bit of equipment in Tokyo.

I find that USA prices are usually slightly better than Japanese prices for Japanese camera equipment. Check the prices first to make sure you can really get a much better price in Japan.

If Canon does their warranties the same as Nikon and you live in the USA, you won't be able to register your camera online and you will have to trust that Canon USA will honor the warranty. Save your receipt to prove that you purchased it in Japan and it's not a grey-market import.

If you do decide to purchase in Japan, be prepared that the salesperson probably won't speak English.

A benefit to purchasing at home is that you'll have time to learn the camera before you start your trip. I imagine the initial learning curve is steep on a Mark III.

Another benefit to purchasing at home is that you will have more time to exchange the camera if you have any initial problems.

Regards,
Mike

photobug

Photo Eqpt prices usually higher in Japan

Tanuki wrote:

I've purchased quite a bit of equipment in Tokyo.

I find that USA prices are usually slightly better than Japanese prices for Japanese camera equipment. Check the prices first to make sure you can really get a much better price in Japan.

Agreed -- you'll likely do better at B&H, Adorama, Amazon, etc at home than in Japan. It's been a few years since I was last there, but at the time, the prices were higher there. ...Kind of like how American-made prescription drugs are more expensive in the U.S. than elsewhere , I guess.


...BTW, I'm in China as I write this and just picked up an awesome Chinese-made Benro carbon-fiber tripod and carbon-fiber monopod for less than they can be ordered over eBay (from Hong Kong distributors). And the cost was about half of what the U.S.-imported Benros (U.S. brand name "Induro") cost! So unlike Japan, one can buy locally-made eqpt here for less than in U.S. (but the bulk of our photo eqpt is still made in Japan)

Seefutlung

I echo what the others have said about pricing. It seems that Japan has two different economies. One for the export market which is highly competitive and one for the domesitic market which is surprisingly expensive.

Gary