Are Gray Market Deals on Cameras Too Good to be True?
#460 // Photography News / Pros & Cons of Buying Gray Market Camera Gear
Before we get to gray market deals, here are some photography news and deals updates.
[Some of the links below are affiliate links.]
Photography News
New Fujifilm X-T50
Fujifilm just announced a new X-T50 camera. It shares a lot of similarities with the X100VI (which I’ve been shooting with lately), but a key difference is that it takes interchangeable lenses.
An interesting feature is that it has a dedicated film emulation dial on top. So you don’t have to go through the menu system anymore. Not sure that’s something I’d use a lot, but it’s at least playing to Fujifilm’s distinctive strengths.
It’s priced at $1399 (body only) to $1799 (with the new XF 16-50 ƒ/2.8-4.8 lens) and available for preorder now with an anticipated shipping start date of June 17. It’ll be interesting to see whether it’s dogged by the same production delays as the X100VI!
New Canon EOS R1 Flagship
Canon has teased their new flagship mirrorless camera, the EOS R1. But the announcement that the camera is currently in development is very light on details.
They say they’re shooting for a 2024 release, but it’s pretty clear that it’s not going to be ready in time for the Paris Olympics, which would have been a natural time to have it out.
Standardizing Photography & Filming Regulations on Federal Lands
As part of a legislative package aimed at expanding access to federal lands, the FILM Act standardizes photography and filming regulations on federal lands. This is flying under the day-to-day radar of many of us, but if it becomes law, it should provide a number of useful protections.
Not just to landscape photographers. Even wedding photographers faced permit nightmares. As a clear illustration of the problem, the PPA explains that "under the existing federal law, photographers may face imprisonment for up to 6 months if they photograph on federal property without a permit" if their content is deemed to be for commercial purposes. Did not know that!
Next stop is the Senate. Then, hopefully, the President's desk for his signature.
Weird Side Effects from the Solar Storm
This one is only tangentially related to photography, but apparently the solar storm that has created the dazzling aurora lights displays in the sky that so many photographers have captured beautiful photos of over the past weekend also knocked out the GPS systems that modern tractors rely on. Which has caused a major disruption right in the peak planting season.
Online Product Reviews Might Not Be What They Appear
It’s getting harder and harder to find authentic, human-written reviews online. That’s true of everything from camera gear to vacuum cleaners to restaurants and hotels.
A fascinating expose at Futurism dives into the big-dollar businesses behind some of it, and it includes some shockingly well-known publications. Those “reviewers” might not even be real people!
You can read it here. It’s a long read, but eye-opening for anyone who buys anything based on online reviews.
SD Card Speed Test Updates
I’ve recently added two more fast SDXC cards to my speed tests. The most notable is the new version of the Delkin Devices Black V90 UHS-II. While it’s not #1, it’s right up there near the top of the list.
I also tested the new Samsung PRO Plus V30 UHS-I SDXC card. The results were practically identical to the PRO Ultimate, which isn’t entirely surprising.
New Firmware Updates:
Nikon D850: This is not what you'd call a big update: "Changed the default password displayed on the connection menu after all the camera's settings were reset." Find C v1.31 here.
Insta360 Ace Pro: This action cam, which I have and competes really well with GoPro’s flagship model, has a new firmware update that is quite substantial. Amongst the updates are improvements to wifi security, wind noise reduction, underwater image quality, better gesture control, a new battery level display, and other general improvements. Find the details here.
Photography Deals
Nikon is running some big savings on many of their cameras and lenses. Examples include $800 off the Nikon D850 (body only), $500 off the Nikon Z6 II, and many more details across their mirrorless and DSLR camera and lens ranges. You can find the deals here.
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Pros & Cons of Buying Gray Market Camera Gear
[I have a longer version of this on my website.]
When you’re looking for deals on camera gear online, you can often come across deals that seem too good to be true. Sometimes they are too good to be true—old-fashioned scams.
But sometimes they’re legit. Quite often, these are what are known as gray market sales.
Gray market deals used to be a bigger thing than they are now, and I’ve taken advantage of it a number of times over the years.
Basically, they’re often the very same equipment off the very same manufacturing production line. They’re brand-new and unopened.
The difference is that they’re being distributed through a different supply line than the manufacturer wants. For instance, rather than coming through Nikon’s US distribution system, a retailer might have sourced supplies directly from the supply line in Singapore or Japan.
The upshot is that you can get big-name cameras that are priced significantly below the usual. And not just by a few dollars here and there, but often by hundreds of dollars. In other words: real money.
But before handing over your money, there are some things worth knowing about buying gray market gear that might make a difference in your decision.
Pros of Buying Gray Market Camera Gear
I’ll start with the pros. Without them, there’s no reason for gray market to even be a thing.
Price
This is by far the major factor in gray market gear. You can often find some great prices for gear. And not just a few bucks here and there, but really big savings.
Availability
The other big pro in favor of gray market gear is availability. That can mean a couple of things.
It might mean that you can find stock of an item when your local market is sold out and on backorder.
It might mean you’re after a specific model or feature that maybe was never officially sold in your market.
Cons of Buying Gray Market Camera Gear
The cons are crucial here, because they can make a meaningful difference in the decision on whether to proceed with buying gray market gear.
Warranty & Repair Restrictions
This is the big one.
Camera manufacturers don’t like gray market gear. They don’t have a lot of leverage in controlling what you buy, but one of their strongest points of leverage is in controlling after-sales service. One of the effective ways they do that is by cutting off the warranty and repair options for gray market cameras.
How tightly they turn the screws varies, but you can usually assume that, at minimum, the warranty will be considered null and void. Often official repair centers won’t touch it all; some will do repairs but demand full price. Sometimes you can find third-party repair facilities to do the repair, and sometimes the manufacturer will cut off the supply of parts even to those facilities.
Some retailers offer their own warranty on gray market gear. It’s usually a much shorter duration–say, 90 days–and might be more limited in its coverage. But they do it as a way to offer at least some peace of mind to the buyer that they’re not going to be stuck with a defective item right out of the box.
Reduced Resale Value
Related to this, gray market gear will often attract a lower resale price if you ever go to sell it on the used market. Used gear is often outside of the manufacturer’s warranty anyway, but there are instances where manufacturers tighten the screws so much that they won’t even provide parts of service centers to repair items. And this might scare off some buyers.
Regional Differences
This is a somewhat lesser concern, but the products may have variations such as product manuals in different languages or chargers and accessories designed for specific countries.
What I’ve Been Working On
This past week, I’ve been out shooting with the Fujifilm X100VI. I’ve previously used the X100V and X100T. This new model continues that distinctive lineage but also makes some pretty big improvements. They’re a somewhat quirky type of camera to use, but they’re also a *lot* of fun to shoot with, and I can already see why this one is such a big hit.
I’ve included a couple of early shots from it in this newsletter.
I’ll have a lot more to say about this camera, but here are some things I’ve posted already:
I’ve also been wrapping up my testing of the Sony a6700. Here are some of the posts I’ve put together so far:
In Case You Missed It
Here’s last week’s newsletter.