Reply to thread

Very good point.

I've owned, I think, 9 Sony bodies, and more than ten bodies from other manufacturers in the digital era. I had a camera recalled and repaired (it hadn't failed) about fifteen years ago. Another camera was recalled a couple of years later, but I'd already sold it, so I informed the buyer. Apart from those two recalls, I haven't had a failure - under warranty or otherwise. Whether that's because cameras are a lot more reliable now, or I treat my cameras gently, or a bit of both, I do not know. I am quite happy that it has worked out like that.

Despite that, I buy non-grey market bodies and lenses. I think one of the reasons is because I pre-order a lot of my bodies (and some lenses). I own four Sony cameras at the moment, and I pre-ordered all of them. I don't know  if it's possible to get grey market pre-orders. So maybe I'm an unusual case.

As a pre-order buyer, I have to accept some limitations - one is the wait for my camera to arrive. Another is (usually!) the wait for RAW support from the various RAW processing packages - it was a delight (and a surprise) to discover that my latest acquisition was already supported when I received it. And while you can sometimes get a small discount, buying pre-order pretty much guarantees you'll be paying the highest price (it's common to see the camera 10% cheaper not all that long after release). So there are downsides to buying a camera the way that I do.

There are downsides to buying a camera from the grey market, too. The warranty issue is one, and the occasional limitation (like PAL vs NTSC) is another. But the grey market can be a lot cheaper (especially compared to pre-order).

It seems fair to me that there are plusses and minuses each way.