Gray Market Lens?

Ive been wanting this lens for some time.

 

http://www.adorama.com/CA5014AF.html

 

Sorry for the silly question but what does Gray Market mean, and why

should I or shouldnt I buy this one?

 

Price sure is nice!

 

Thanks!

 

-Michael

It means that the warranty you get is only from Adorama. If anything happens, You'll need to send it to them.

 

Happy shooting ,

Yakim.

gray market is something that has not been imported via offical distrubuters, thus you will find that the warrenties for the lens may be useless. other users may be able to tell you if its a good idea to buy the lens.

 

adrian

Michael,

<p>

Adorama has a nice FAQ.

<p>

<a href="http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=faq#Grey%20Market%20Information:">http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=faq#Grey%20Market%20Information:</a>

The great thing about Canon is, whether you buy USA or Grey they will service your unit if it needs it. Grey of course won't be under warranty, but at least they will work on it. I have bought one or two grey market Canon lenses from B&H with no problems, but recently the difference in price between the two hasn't been enough to keep me from buying the USA product. I just checked B&H and the difference in price between the two versions is $15. For that difference I'd buy the USA version. Now with the mail-in rebate the prices are equal! Same thing at Adorama.

I had an EOS 5 I bought in China with a Chinese receipt. It needed some work on the command dial. I sent it to an authorized repair shop in San Antonio, TX. Work was done under warranty.

 

I also spoke with Canon, they honor warranty worldwide, just like what it shows on the product pamphlet that came with your purchased item.

 

As far as I know, the only thing you lose by buying a non-U.S. item is the rebate sometimes Canon USA has for its US customers.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there's a difference between submitting a lens

PURCHASED in China for service and submitting one imported from that market but

purchased in the US. That is to say, your worldwide warranty is valid if you purchased the

lens in its target market, so the China-purchased lens is serviced here just as a US-

purchased lens would be serviced there, but a lens sent to China and imported by

Adorama, then sold here, would be ineligible.

 

Is this incorrect?

I don't think Canon cared in my case. How would it know that the camera or lens was specifically made for that market? By serial numbers? If you have the receipt from Adorama, that's all you need.

 

On another thought, I have used quite a few Canon EOS bodies, lenses, and flashes. None of them had serious issues. The issues that do occur are well known to the photo circle. You just have to homework. In my case, I had an EOS 5 command dial failure, and an EOS Elan shutter glue. Both have been mentioned a lot in EOS discussion groups.

 

Canon lenses are extremely durable. Most of them are not air-tight, though, so you will have dust inside over time. I was told it would cost $60 to clearn one. I have been extremely careful with them.

<a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home;jsessionid=AkfSrf5Jcx!-1359012537?ci=1&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=SearchBar&A=search&Q=*&shs=canon+50mm" TARGET=_blank>Same price</a> with a US warranty.