Buying camera kit abroad...

[Swisstony10]

I'm wanting to get my hands on some more delicious Canon L glass, but it's pretty expensive (worth it for what you get, of course, but still...). I'm going on a cruise in October (it's free - I'm visiting my sister on board, don't want to rub it in or anything) and I'll be visiting, amongst other places, Shanghai, Nagasaki, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore

I've been looking online to see if I can possibly save myself a few quid by combining my lens purchase with my holiday, but I'm struggling to find any websites for shops with prices for lenses bought locally. Does anyone have any experience of buying expensive lenses in these countries, and if so, do you have any idea which of those countries is likely to give me the best deal in terms of initial price and currency conversion.

I need to do all the research before I go, because I'll only be in each place for a day at a time (apart from Singapore - I'm staying there for a few days before I fly home), and I'm unlikely to have more than an hour or two to do any shopping - don't want to waste that trailing around shops pointlessly.

Cheers,

Russ.

[jdepould]

You may want to be careful about importing gear. Can't speak directly to the UK, but in the US you have to pay duties on the stuff you purchase abroad. Obviously many people don't pay it, but still.

[Swisstony10]

Oh yeah - I already thought about that one. Here in the UK, import duty and VAT is generally designed to be a complete pain in the backside, but if the exchange rate and the foreign price is good enough, it can still be worth it.

The other thing I'm thinking is that if I come back from a holiday abroad with my camera bag as hand luggage, with the lens attached to my camera, what's to say that I didn't take that lens out with me when I went? Chances of getting stopped and checked are pretty slim, so if I'm still going to have a good deal even if I do get stung for import duty, I reckon it's worth a shot..

[gturner]

It should be easy enough to see the rate of duty (+VAT) on the HRC website

Customs Duty rates
In all instances Customs Duty is waived if the amount of the duty payable is less than £9.
For other goods brought into the UK by travellers, duty only applies on goods above £270 or £340 (whichever is appropriate) in value. Over this allowance and up to £630 there is a duty flat rate of 2.5 per cent.
For goods over £630, the duty/duties rate charged depends on the type of goods.

[Swisstony10]

Thanks for the reminder GT! I have all those pages at the HMRC bookmarked from way back when I bought a bunch of l basic lights and stuff from Gadget Infinity and wanted to check how much duty I'd be liable for. The advantage that I had then was that I knew the price of the things I was buying, so I was able to work it out.

So far, though, I'm struggling to find an online seller in the countries I'll be visiting with a list of local prices for lenses..

[gturner]

It must look Chinese...

[gturner]

Lenses are 6.7% + VAT (They add the duty before the vat I think)

[Raoul Isidro]

Check to see if warranty is honored by the Canon local repair center.
If anything is defective or needs warranty repair, will the Canon local office honor the overseas purchase?

[BigFuzzy]

Honestly, in the last couple of years I've been to Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, all over Europe (I live in Holland) and the US.. and if you compare the whole price vs "knowing it's legit" you still can't beat the price of the US.

I think the old days of cheap electronics in places like Japan and Hong Kong are pretty much over unless you go to shady places. Even in Tokyo (was there last summer), I really didn't find prices to be that great... yes, I bought a used 5d really really cheap, but for new gear I think you have as good a chance to get a good deal in the.. plus you have the benefits of having bought it nearby in case you need to service it and you don't have a US warranty..

Others can jump in if they've seen differently, but I think I'm close to being dead on.

But as I said, I bought a showroom model of my 5d for just over 500euros. And it had practically no exposures and was spotless. So, I'd definitely recommend looking for 2nd hand stuff.

In Malaysia I bought my 24-70L after two days of scouring Kuala Lumpur for deals and bought it for the price I could get it at major dealers in the US like Adorama.. which was still 30% cheaper than here in Holland. So, in the end worth it.

[Swisstony10]

Dammit - if only my cruise was taking me to the US! Even with the Dollar/Sterling exchange rate as it at the monent, I could still save money by buying from B&H..

What are prices like in your neck of the woods? I'm going to be in Den Haag next month for an annual get-together with my lunatic Nederlander friends. Mind you, Sterling to Euros is pretty rubbish (from my side of things) at the moment, so I'm probably out of luck there too...