Wireless Flash Trigger from China

[FUJI]

Hi, Folks,

During the past year, I have successfully ordered and had delivered quite a few bits and prices direct from Chinese eBay sellers..........because of excellent eBay and PayPal security and rules, I have received excellent service each time......from bits and bobs for my wood turning plus a few Photographic Accessories.

The Speedlight works well, as do the pair of small but very powerful Photo Lamps.......

........Over Christmas I became frustrated at having to fire my on-Camera flash in order to fire the Speedlight off camera.......Last night I ordered a dedicated SONY Alpha Wireless Trigger set selling for circa £20 including P&P.

I will post a review as and when they arrive and I've had chance to familiarise myself with it.

FUJI

[Guest DaveW]

You can usually get low value goods in from outside the EU by post without paying import charges and VAT. The usual ruse those firms abroad often use is to mark them as "gift", but Customs are getting wise to that, particularly for the more expensive items like lenses and cameras. Here is Customs and Excise information on gifts through the post from outside the EU:-

"Are there import charges on gifts?

In summary gifts up to €45 correctly declared, sent from a private person outside of the E.U. to another private person within the E.U. with no commercial intent and which are of an occasional nature, such as a birthday or anniversary, are allowed relief from payment of Customs Duty and VAT."

Strangely enough I believe you can actually bring in items to an even greater value in your luggage from outside the EU Duty Free. I suppose it is hard for them to tell if you took a laptop or camera and lenses, I-phone etc out with you and then brought them back, or purchased them abroad?

DaveW

[colinb]

that's worth knowing Fuji, often wonder about stuff from the east via ebay, although I think you do have to be careful with some of the tat on ebay - even UK based items.

[Guest DaveW]

These days much of the camera brand name stuff is made there anyway, gone are the days when everything branded Canon or Nikon was made in Japan. Labour in Japan, like the UK and America, is often now too expensive to produce competitive consumer goods. Many years ago quality camera stuff was produced in Germany, Canon and Nikon being considered cheap Asian imports compared to say a German Exacta SLR, which was about twice the price of the original Nikon F. Eventually the Chinese will bump up their labour costs and become uncompetitive too and production will again move to another third world country, by that time the third world country may be Britain! What goes around comes around!

[NannyFerret]

Some of the Chinese stuff is being distributed from Britain too, I have ordered from there only to find that it came from London or suchlike, so you could be right DaveW. lol

Edited December 30, 2012 by NannyFerret

[Guest DaveW]

My "grey import" Nikon 60mm Micro Nikkor originally came from a London Camera dealer about 5 years ago now. It was obviously imported from abroad and cheaper than through regular channels. You maybe don't get the makers guarantee but the firms usually give you a similar guarantee since a lens is nothing to them. If one proves faulty they just swap it for another rather than repair. All most guarantees cover you for is the initial period, probably a year, when the equipment is least likely to go wrong, now a lifetime guarantee would be worth having!

That's what gets me with additional guarantees many shops try and sell you, they usually just overide the makers guarantee so if it goes wrong in the first year the shop gets it's repairers to try and put it right. Sorry but if it goes wrong during a makers guarantee period I would sooner the makers put it right, not an independent repairer. If I am buying an additional guarantee I want it to follow on from the makers guarantee that I have already paid for in the cost of the goods, not to duplicate it at extra cost!

DaveW

Edited December 30, 2012 by DaveW

[NannyFerret]

I've bought "white box" lenses from http://www.buyacamera.co.uk/ and never had a problem with any of them.

They were a lot cheaper than other places too.