Buying from Asia, China specifically

Thirdfox

Hey guys, I've got an opportunity to buy camera equipment while staying in China... from what I've seen it's cheaper than the prices in the US.

Specifically I'm looking at the Nikon D40 (with lens) coming to 4200 RMB - equal to 420 euro (only 525 dollars!) I'm not doing shady deals off the counter but rather looking at proper Nikon and Canon shops here in China...

I was thinking that since an American warranty would be just as useless as a Chinese warranty should I purchase now from the Nikon vendors here? Has anyone bought equipment from China before? Is the quality inferior or equal?

And of course, they're still open to haggling!

rymus

get a 3 year mack warranty... tis worldwide and some would say better than the manufacturers warranty

Thirdfox

Hmm, do you know whether Chinese Nikons would be any different quality wise from an American/Irish Nikon? (All Nikons do have Chinese as a menu language so it must be somewhat of an important market for them...)

kenmc

We had a good look in China when looking for our Canon 350d - the main problem wasn't getting good quality products, but finding someone who spoke good enough english to get the information we needed. With broken chinese we found out conflicting details about the warranty, and compatibility etc. After a few weeks of shopping around, we decided to hold out and bought it in Hong Kong in the end for quite a bit cheaper than anywhere we were quoted in China (and an international warranty too).
If you spoke Chinese or could take a friend with you, I'd recommend that - just for peace of mind.
To this day, I still remember the Mandarin word for 'lens' ;o)

Roen

If you'll be in HK an awful lot of eBay shops have physical outlets near Prince Edward in southern Kowloon.

Thirdfox

Chinese isn't a problem (fluent Chinese speaker) lens = 镜头 right?

I'm not going to Hong Kong anytime soon but I will be in Japan for a few weeks in a few weeks time...should I wait to buy there (I've been told on this forum that Japan isn't cheap, and I would want to start taking photos while on my holiday in Japan anyway).

Any thoughts about the d40 in general? I'm just upgrading from point and shoots so lens incompatibility isn't an issue (maybe if I want primes in the future...)

Should I get any accessories with it? Remote control, sb400 flash, camera bag, UV lens filter come to mind (all the things appear to be cheaper than in Ireland).

Fajitas!

Personally, I think if you know what a sb400 flash, a prime, a camera bag or a UV lens filter is, you're already too advanced for the D40!

Check out the D80 or 400D would be my advice...

Sorry if it seems a bit harsh.

rymus

Again perhaps a bit harsh, but it strikes me after reading the spec for the D40 that if you know how to turn on a camera you're already too advanced to even remotely consider buying a D40.

Presumably Nikon went into partnership with Fisher Price to produce this camera...

Thirdfox

Edit: sorry for that double post - earthquake in Taiwan has slowed down the internet here to an almost M50 style stop

I do think you guys are being a bit harsh (Canon users I guess ?)

It has received glowing reviews from dpreview, kenrockwell, letsgodigital...pretty much every photography review site.

Also most importantly since I am just a student my budget doesn't stretch to the D80 (even the 400D would be out of my range)... I can take agreeable pictures with my point and shoot right now so hey it's not the camera that counts but the photographer* right?

*of course if I had the money I would get all the L lenses and the Canon Mark 1 (is that the most expensive body?)