Are there fake Canon lenses? And do Funan 'camera shops' sell fake lens?

[wizz747]

Hi everyone.

I'm thinking of buying the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens. Will maybe get it at either SLR Revolution or Alan Photo.

However, I am concerned about fake lenses. Are there fake Canon lenses on the market? Has anyone ever been victim of such a fraud? (i.e. buying a fake lens at the price of a genuine one)

If there are fake Canon lenses on sale, do reputable shops like SLR Revolution, Alan Photo and MS Color sell them?

Thanks.

 

[Reportage]

define "reputable".

 

[Spaniard]

You mean you know these few shops selling fake CANON LENSES....

 

[Rashkae]

I have never heard of any "fake" lenses, and even then, I doubt they would copy the cheap 50mm f/1.8.

Most shops here in SG buy from the Canon importer/distributor. As such, it's from canon directly. So no worries about fakes.

 

[daredevil123]

Hi everyone.

I'm thinking of buying the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens. Will maybe get it at either SLR Revolution or Alan Photo.

However, I am concerned about fake lenses. Are there fake Canon lenses on the market? Has anyone ever been victim of such a fraud? (i.e. buying a fake lens at the price of a genuine one)

If there are fake Canon lenses on sale, do reputable shops like SLR Revolution, Alan Photo and MS Color sell them?

Thanks.

There are no fake lenses. Lenses are not easy to make and very hard to fake. The capital investment required to make lenses is quite big already, so if someone pump in money to build a factory to make lenses, they wouldn't risk all that just to make fake knock offs with lenses that is so cheap and such small profit margin.

Even when I buy lenses in China, there are no fake lenses. Only some accessories are often faked, like memory flash cards (they buy rejected chiips to do it), simple plastic stuff, diffusers and remote controls. And most of all these, they do not dare to carry the brand name logos, (except for memory cards and lens caps).

So buy with confidence.

 

[yc2005]

I dont think there is such a thing as a fake lens. Probably u mean grey sets?

 

[YuccaTheFlower]

What is "reputable"?

If REPUTABLE sell you fake, would you call them reputable?

The only close to fake i can think off is probably grey products. But they aint fake either

 

[RenesisN]

most lenses, including 3rd party, have reasonable build quality. :think:
I think it will be very easy to differentiate fake from real, if any exist (not that i've heard of).

However there are shops selling grey sets with local sets price. Always check the warrenty card details.
I always reject any offer from the shop to 'keep the warrenty card so they can reg for me'.

 

[ovaltinemilo]

I don't know..I would even buy lenses at Shenzhen if the price is right... Dslr lenses are one of the hardest thing to "fake"...There are only brands that make lousy lens, nv one that fake the lenses...

 

[waiaung]

Ive never heard of any fake Canon lenses..


unless you're talking about this..


(Photo from canonmugs.com)

But for that one,
even if its fake, i still want it..lol

 

[eyes]

Well, anything can be counterfeited and don't be surprise that capital sometimes aren't an issue with the 'investors.'

Just buy from authorised distributors if you're not familiar with the intended purchase.


An example how a bunch of investors not just feign NEC products but hijacked NEC to morph around as the real deal by setting up an entire plant (factory) and introduced products that NEC never even made.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/01/technology/01pirate.html?_r=1





.

 

[Sn0wMaN]

i am also abit concern but may i know all new lens when u purhcase does it come with any warranty?

 

[frankchn]

Well, anything can be counterfeited and don't be surprise that capital sometimes aren't an issue with the 'investors.'

Lenses are still generally much harder to pirate than white/black-goods products - there are much less companies with the technology to produce high quality lenses and glass than there are companies to produce copies of MP3 players or home entertainment products.

 

[eyes]

Actually a lot of stuff in the market are difficult ascertain genuineness, from pharmaceutical products to iPhones, because high end piracy always mimic the same quality appearances in the physical form. The only time it is busted is when a drug is put through a spectrometer or the lens goes through Imatest equivalent tests- which the normal consumer has little access to.

All it takes to pirate a product is for an engineer from the firm to email a ready buyer with resources the CAD files and manufacturing can be ramped up as soon as a few weeks.

A high end pirated product feels and looks the same as the original one except the actual delivery is poor.

For the lens example, if someone were to pirate a high end version, all he need to do is to get high precision manufacturers (cheap and abundant in China) to produce the enclosure with high quality markings and et cetra. To save cost, instead of using fluorite materials (as in L lens case), just use normal glass. As for coatings, how can anyone tell if the reflective colour is the same and well done to the naked eye?

The only time someone decides to throw it into the bin is when he sees his image compared to the real deal.

 

[jonathann]

i heard someone talking abt fake lens before. but of coz tat guy was a big idiot to even mention it.

 

[justarius]

i am also abit concern but may i know all new lens when u purhcase does it come with any warranty?

As some of the brothers, it's rare to have fake lens per se, but the shop can very well sell you a grey market lens.

Closest analogy for a grey market lens is a parallel imported car: same car as the one from official dealer here, except that there is no warranty as the PI car is meant for a different market and not Singapore.

Likewise, a grey market lens is meant for a different market then Singapore, hence warranty may not apply but it's the actual real thing.

If the shop says something like 1 year shop warranty, chances are is that it's a grey lens. Such lenses are usually slightly cheaper than "official" lenses from Nikon or Canon Singapore.

 

[xxdoggyxx]

Agree on most of cser said... Probably no 'fake' lens... unless you are talking about 3rd party lens?

 

[wizz747]

Hi all,

Sorry for the late reply, was damn taken up at work the whole day today.

I was asking about fake lenses and not 3rd party lenses like Tamron, Sigma and so on.

You all gave very nice explanations. I haven't even heard about fake lenses, forget seen one. This just occurred to me as I don't quite trust salespersonss, even those in reputable shops.

At least now my mind is a bit 'lighter' in the sense that the probability of me buying a fake lens is very low.

Thanks for the responses guys.

 

[kriegsketten]

Hi all,

Sorry for the late reply, was damn taken up at work the whole day today.

I was asking about fake lenses and not 3rd party lenses like Tamron, Sigma and so on.

You all gave very nice explanations. I haven't even heard about fake lenses, forget seen one. This just occurred to me as I don't quite trust salespersonss, even those in reputable shops.

At least now my mind is a bit 'lighter' in the sense that the probability of me buying a fake lens is very low.

Thanks for the responses guys.

You should try to google first... if there is a fake lens anywhere in the world, google will be the first to highlight anything about it...