Getting lens from HK


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k3nshinx

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Aug 9, 2004
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Hello!
im planning to get some lens in HK, read about some shops like wingshing..
im wondering if its not a sharp copy, what can we do about it. as im not going down personally to HK, someone is going down on business trip and helping me get the lens.
any advice :)
 

Hello!
im planning to get some lens in HK, read about some shops like wingshing..
im wondering if its not a sharp copy, what can we do about it. as im not going down personally to HK, someone is going down on business trip and helping me get the lens.
any advice :)

for 3rd party lens, it is highly recommended to test it personally.
 

Bought 2 lenses from Wing Shing before. One is the 24-105L while the other is 50mm F1.4. On different occasions.

The sales staff allowed me to test afew copies. For the 24-105mm, I tried 3 copies, while 2 for the EF 50mm F1.4. The same sales staff was nice enough.

Canon lenses comes with International warranty, so you can still go to Canon Singapore for servicing/ calibration, as long as you retain the international warranty card and the sales receipt. I did that for my 24-105L, just to have a peace of mind. Calibration takes about a week though, no charge. Guess my copy is already a sharp copy, no difference after the calibration.

Best if your friend knows abit about cameras. Ask him to test the lens with the displayed bodies there. And view through the LCD at max. magnification. Best if you can try 2 copies side by side, so that a soft copy can be identified immediately. I usually test with maximum aperture, also closing it down a little to see that the image improves marginally. But some lenses are very good wide open (eg 135L and 70-200L F4) and it is very hard to detect the difference through the LCD.

Also check for back focusing problem. Canon Sg can service for you though.
 

hello guys, thanks for feed back. im afraid my friend isnt camera-pro, i think i will have to rely on the international warrenty since im getting canon and a nikkor for my friend.
 

Just to share my experience;

I got a 17-55 nikon f2.8 recently from the same shop, it's my second piece. The saleman try to sell off the len that doesn't look too new. Once we agree on the price he just shown the len briefly to me before starting to pack into paper bag and ask me to pay. I told him I need to inspect the len, and guess what, the condition doesn't seem new. There's a big dust particle in the len element itself & when I told him, he said it's quite common & nothing wrong with it. The contacts also seem a bit worn off. I got a feeling he's trying to clear off those to tourist like me. (I am a full time photographer, so I guess I can trust my own judgement)

Anyway he act blur & show me another len in the shelve, this time told me this is the last piece they have. Turn out to be another len full of dust in the front element glass & a few stratch mark on the len's contact. I decide not to buy & he quickly told be he will check his store if anymore stock. This time he brought out a len that perfectly ok. How can a len that cost almost $2000 be full of dust ??

So when you are buying from oversea, do yourself a favor to check the len clearly to avoid getting cheated.
 

Just to share my experience;

I got a 17-55 nikon f2.8 recently from the same shop, it's my second piece. The saleman try to sell off the len that doesn't look too new. Once we agree on the price he just shown the len briefly to me before starting to pack into paper bag and ask me to pay. I told him I need to inspect the len, and guess what, the condition doesn't seem new. There's a big dust particle in the len element itself & when I told him, he said it's quite common & nothing wrong with it. The contacts also seem a bit worn off. I got a feeling he's trying to clear off those to tourist like me. (I am a full time photographer, so I guess I can trust my own judgement)

Anyway he act blur & show me another len in the shelve, this time told me this is the last piece they have. Turn out to be another len full of dust in the front element glass & a few stratch mark on the len's contact. I decide not to buy & he quickly told be he will check his store if anymore stock. This time he brought out a len that perfectly ok. How can a len that cost almost $2000 be full of dust ??

So when you are buying from oversea, do yourself a favor to check the len clearly to avoid getting cheated.

i have been buying from reputable shops and so far they were pretty honest on their pricing, warranty and never sell me a "recycled" set. ting cheung, wing shing are among the few shops i frequented and i have no complaint on their customer service.

selling "recycled" copy is not something new, my friend encountered once when buying from mainland China. mind sharing which hk shop did you get yours from? it is good to warn fellow CSers so that they can avoid this shop if possible.
 

i have been buying from reputable shops and so far they were pretty honest on their pricing, warranty and never sell me a "recycled" set. ting cheung, wing shing are among the few shops i frequented and i have no complaint on their customer service.

selling "recycled" copy is not something new, my friend encountered once when buying from mainland China. mind sharing which hk shop did you get yours from? it is good to warn fellow CSers so that they can avoid this shop if possible.


That shop is WingShing, so call reputable shop. I have brought from them a few times before in the past years, no problem, until now.

I dun think it's recycle len as I trust them not to do it. It's more likely the len have been around sometime in the shop for testing by buyer, so condition not that good. Just like when you walk into camera shop in SG where you can bring your camera to test out the lens before you decide to buy.
 

yeah which shops? Tsim Tsa Shui area?

I bought 2 lenses last weekend from Wing Shing. Good service. No need to bargain as it is fixed price. They allowed to test the lenses before made payment. Show me the lenses code is the same as stated in the warranty card.

save a lot man.... dun understand why in Singapore sell higher price, tax perhaps? :confused:
 

Wing Shing shop is good. Staff that is nice and they dont have the 'air' like some other shop i visited.
I think the one I visted is near the 'lady street' (sorry, dont know the name of the street).
Lots of people in the shop when i was there.

Just want to add my comment about the shop.
 

I beg to differ, there is one really grouchy old man at the lens counter at the Wing Shing at Mong Kok... his attitude really sucks! even when u are buying a HKD15K lens from him!
 

Hi all, I just bought a Tokina 12-24 lens from Tin Cheung (at TST area) last week. Absolutely honest people. I actually did some research on their website and was prepared to pay the price quoted there. The salesman actually gave me a lower slightly lower price (about HKD100-150) without me prompting, instead of acting 'blur' and accepting the higher price. In the end, I spent over HKD5000 at that shop.

Do note however that they do NOT allow customers to 'test drive' different lenses before purchase. You can of course test it after you decide that you want to purchase a particular lens to make sure it is not defective.

Hope this helps.
 

There are 2 Wing Shing shops in Mongkok area. I went to the big one, I was served by a young nice chap

In fact i was planning to get Kenko 1.4x extender but he advised me not to as it will degrade the IQ of the L lense i bought
 

generally how much cheaper is it to purchase lens from hong kong instead of singapore?

as mentioned, canon comes with international warranty. how about nikon?
 

generally how much cheaper is it to purchase lens from hong kong instead of singapore?

as mentioned, canon comes with international warranty. how about nikon?

May be you can check this thread from HK, something like Clubsnap in HK.

http://www.dchome.net/viewthread.php?tid=349652&extra=page%3D1

Nikon too come with international warranty.

行 = From Nikon HK (Nikon HK will provide warranty in HK)
水 = Parallel import into HK (Nikon HK will not provide warranty in HK)

Anyway, we are bring them back to S'pore, so either one with international warranty Nikon Sg will still provide warranty for lenses and flash.
 

i compared 70-200 2.8L is
its 2.8 in sg and 2.4 there. mm
generally how much cheaper is it to purchase lens from hong kong instead of singapore?

as mentioned, canon comes with international warranty. how about nikon?
 

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