Japanese 5D Mark III's on ebay / other stores -VS- USA 5d3's

Hey Guys,
I'm not sure if this has been covered or not but I wanted to bring up the topic. I'm going to preface this by saying I'll be purchasing my first 5d3 here in a few weeks and the question always arises WHERE i'm going to purchase it. I've seen a lot of people talking about how they got their 5d3 from bhphoto or adorama for the fixed price of $3500...I've ALSO seen people pick theirs up from beach-camera or other ebay vendors for much less. I've seen copies go as low as $2800 (new from stores). I've seen others where you can get a grip with the camera for $3200.

What's going on? After further investigating and calling these stores, it looks like these are Japanese models. Supposedly, the japanese models ARENT covered under warranty and do not allow for firmware upgrades. This means any firmware that canon releases you won't have access to (i'm not sure how, I normally just download firmware from their site?). The other thing is they say the battery is only good for about 20 shots (just some crappy battery).

When I called Canon and asked what the difference was, they basically said your warranty is your receipt and supplied me with a list of approved vendors that the warranty would be covered from.

So...what to do? Pickup a full priced one for $3500? Or save $700 roughly. What were to happen if you were to purchase a used one, I'm assuming the warranty doesn't transfer?

http://www.rythercamer​a.com …nfo.php?product​s_id=42083

I would get a new camera from a vendor on the approved list, it's much safer. The vendors with 'too good to believe' prices are usually scammers. They usually hold your order for some reason and try to up sell you on accessories for far more then they are worth to recoup their losses. If you hold tight and do not fall for the up sell they usually cancel your order and give you an excuse (like there is no stock available at this time).

If you do get a grey market (Japanese model in your case) camera you will still be able to install firmware updates. You will not get warranty service or after warranty service from the USA though.

Those stores are going to sell you as little of the camera as possible, then tell you you need to buy X, Y, and Z to make it work, and, before you know it, you're spending $4,000+ on the camera versus buying it from B&H, Adorama, or your local brick and mortar for that $3,500. And that's if you even get the camera. Sometimes, you'll order the camera, pay your money, and then never get anything in return. After a drawn out "battle," they'll return your money.

I've seen that you can sometimes get some stuff thrown in for free (though you get what you pay for), but if you ever see things significantly less than a reputable store like B&H or Adorama, buyer beware. You can check out a company's reputation at a site like Reseller Ratings.

Or just buy a Nikon D800 and save $500 off the bat.

When it's too good to be true... then it most likely is.

jwcdds wrote in post #14857126
Or just buy a Nikon D800 and save $500 off the bat.

When it's too good to be true... then it most likely is.

then id' have to sell all my L glass, and relearn the settings, strengths, weaknesses etc.

btmlinedan wrote in post #14857310
then id' have to sell all my L glass, and relearn the settings, strengths, weaknesses etc.

Julian shoots both systems, so can you!

meh. im good, plus i'm not made of money.

have a look at this site the 5d3 is selling for less than the d800

http://www.digitalrev.​com …5d-mark-iii/MTIwNDgwODg_A

Personally i wouldnt be paying the full price from any of these stores if i lived in the states, id happily get 700 off the price, a lot of people here in the UK are going through the likes of HDEW and HDEW are will take the camera back and deal with warranty issues.

even if the shutter went out 6 months in, the shutter's only $250 to fix...?

btmlinedan wrote in post #14857033
Supposedly, the japanese models ARENT covered under warranty and do not allow for firmware upgrades.

Plain wrong. I have been using a Japanese 5DII and now a 5DIII. They are in every way the same as other models. I have updated my 5DII firmware countless times with no issue at all. The firmware is just a piece of software running on the DSLR.

When a shop tells you idiotic lies like that, stay away.

One more thing I like to add is, prices in Japan are actually more expensive than the US due to the strength of the yen. Parallel import from other countries make sense, but Japan? Dream on.

The only difference between the japanese and us models is the language support.
japanese models only have 2 options, japanese and english

aaah. well looks liked i lucked out and found a local seller who purchased from a reputable store. $3200 and I had it in my hands. Not bad