"Grey Market", Should You Avoid It?

Another question I get frequently from photographers that are new or photography students is “should I buy “grey market” camera gear and what exactly is it other than cheaper?”

First, let me start by saying ALL the major camera manufacturers are foreign to the USA and have USA counterparts that import and sell their products in the US. Nikon and Canon both have their US offices located on Long Island, NY and most of the rest of them are located in New York City as well.

These US offices are the ONLY source for importing the camera bodies, lenses, etc from the factories in Japan, Germany and elsewhere and selling in the US market with USA warranties.

Image of legit Nikon D7000 USA model box from Ken Rockwell

The reason many people are attracted to “grey market” items is the savings in pricing vs buying in the US. Most of the time, the “grey market” items are made in the same factory as the USA items to the same specs and using the same parts and quality control, but in this day and age there is a LOT of counterfeiting going on out of China, so you have to be very careful.

When you by a “grey market” item, you cannot go to Nikon or Canon US and get service or warranty repair. Even if the item is made in their factory, since it was not imported by the US division and they did not get their mark-up, they are not obligated to honor any warranty and they won’t.

Right now their is a large legal battle between Canon and “Grey Market” sellers on eBay. Canon USA is suing them for hurting their business, which is odd as the “Grey Market” sellers have been doing it for decades and Canon didn’t seem to care until just recently.

Some of the large, reputable dealers even sell “grey market” lenses at least, B&H is one of them and they even have a “grey market” section on their site that explains this. Now in the case of a large company like B&H, they offer a comparable warranty on their “grey market” items and service and warranty them through their massive store in NYC.

Many people have differing opinions on “grey market”, my opinion is do your homework and then decide for yourself. I have bought some “grey market” lenses as the savings were huge compared to buying the USA model and the dealer I bought from is very reputable and warranties the items themselves, but not all of them do and many use slick talk and ads to con you out of your money so you do have to be careful. I would NOT buy a camera body “grey market” as it’s the most important piece of my photography set up. I buy genuine USA models only from an authorized Canon dealer so I know when it needs service I can send it to Canon US.

I’ve mentioned in earlier blog posts several ways to save on lenses, like buying them from pawn shops, CraigsList, eBay or from a members of local camera clubs. Most new photographers, and especially photography students don’t have Trust Fund money, so find those deals where you can. I’ve even made a fair share of extra money buying old FD lenses for almost nothing from local pawn shops as they had been sitting on them for 10-12 years and them sell them on eBay for a massive profit and then use that money to buy the new lens or body I wanted.

Is “grey market” for you? Only you can decide that, but be careful and do your homework. Remember the old adage, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.

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ImagingUSA 2016

This week I wanted to write briefly about last weekend’s Imaging USA 2016 event put on by PPA here in downtown Atlanta.

Welcome banner at ImagingUSA 2016

Imaging as some of you may or may not know is a huge annual photography convention put on that draws huge crowds and the largest companies in the world of photography and photo equipment.

Companies such as Canon, PhaseOne, Millers, Denny’s were there as well as Tamron, Sigma and many others. Speakers included Julianne Kost from Adobe, Lindsay Adler, Sue Bryce, Landon Day, and Ty Fischer just to name a few.

Sigma Photo Art Lens banner

 There were tons of new photography tech items there such as an item called the Ice Light, which can be used for portraits and is nice and portable and can actually be held by the model wherever the photographer needs lighting. Another company, GroWing had a newer invention called the Lens Flipper, that allows you to attach two of your lenses to either side of this device and quickly switch lenses in the field while shooting.

Just a small sample of the crowd waiting to get into the expo opening day.

The expo had tons of things to see and do and plenty of give-a-ways going on every day as well. I was lucky enough to win a few 8 x 10 metal print from AdroamaPix as well as a free phonebook from another print vendor.

I didn’t not get to take in any of the speakers or spend as much time as I would have liked because of the car accident I was in back in October and still having a lot of back and neck pain, but I had volunteered to help out and didn’t want to leave them in a lurch so to speak.

Imaging USA is certainly something I highly recommend everyone take in at least once. If you are a photography student, you can sign up as a student volunteer and get to attend the entire event for free with a full access pass and attend all the lectures you want during your downtime. Volunteers are generally only scheduled to work 2-5 hours a day so you can take in a LOT.

Next year’s Imaging USA will be in San Antonio, TX January 8-10th, 2017.

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A New Year, New Opportunities

With the start on Friday of the 2016 calendar year we are faced with new opportunities as photographers. This is a good time to reflect on the past year and what worked, what didn’t and what you can do to change things up in the New Year.

Maybe you have an idea for a new personal project, or want to have your first exhibit of your work in a local gallery. Now is the time to be making those plans and working on making them reality.

As photographers, we must alway be learning new things, trying new things and challenging ourselves to be better, more creative and more business minded if we want to do this as our chosen career. Don’t let yourself get caught up in the hype of new camera gear coming out in 2016 with new bells and whistles, remember my earlier blog post about it not being about the camera.

Build on the the skills you know, become a master at what you do, but also learn new things. Don’t let yourself become stuck in a rut only doing one or two things when it comes to photography. You need to learn to be versatile and ready to tackle anything new head on.

One of the things I want you to avoid in 2016 is changing gear unless it’s absolutely necessary to your business. I have read article after article on pros who have started out on Canon or Nikon and sold all they had and switched to the other, or to Fuji, or Sony, only to eventually switch back. It’s a total waste of money to do silly things like this, so unless you have tons of cash to burn, don’t do it.

Generally, you are better off once you choose the system you are going to work with, to master it and stick with it. If you invest tens of thousands of dollars in bodies and lenses and then decide to switch systems, you have to sell all your gear at a loss because it’s used and buy all new again. Stick with what you have and learn to make it work for what you need.

You did’t originally choose the platform with the best high ISO, low light capabilities, then get better glass, like F/2.8 or wider lenses to compensate for that. Better glass is always a sound investment as you can use it over and over again for years on body after body.
For me personally, since I was side-lined by a bad car accident in October, I am dedicating my time and energy into drone photography for now. With my back messed up, I cannot walk a lot or stand for hours shooting right now, so I am learning and studying drones as a platform. I have already been working with three different systems to learn and train on and will be buying my first DJI Phantom 3 this coming week, so look for more articles and posts on my work with this new aerial platform in the coming weeks and months.

I can work with the drone platform, especially the Phantom 3 platform as it has the most intelligent systems of any drone on the market for photography. It can be set to basically fly itself so I can concentrate on operating the camera to capture great stills and stunning videos. All while sitting fairly comfortably in a chair, allowing my back to heal from my surgeries.

So, for 2016, I want you to get out there and take the bull by the horns and move yourself forward as a professional photographer and business owner. Expand your horizons, learn new skills, make your clients happy and LOVE what you do!

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