Buy new camera in Japan?

[proseak]

Asking for a friend - visiting Japan later this year,and considering an upgrade to mid-range Nikon DSLR

Is there any advantage to buying in Tokyo rather than Mumbai in terms of price, guarantee etc?

[pschlute]

Asking for a friend - visiting Japan later this year,and considering an upgrade to mid-range Nikon DSLR

Is there any advantage to buying in Tokyo rather than Mumbai in terms of price, guarantee etc?

If your friend lives in England, then I suggest Mumbai is the better option. Not quite so far to take it back if there is a malfunction.

Seriously, I suggest supporting a UK based dealer.

[Manfred M]

No. As I recall the import duty on luxury goods like cameras in India are quite high, so a lot of Indian photo gear tends to be quite high, so a lot of people there will buy out of country. The warranty could be an issue. Most of the mid range gear is made in Thailand, not Japan.

The last time I visited Japan, I priced out some cameras and found that I could get the same camera model at home for less than I would pay for the same model from a major Japanese retailer.

[William W]

Not enough detail provided to answer the question: especially not knowing where your friend resides.

I’ve bought photographic gear in various countries. There are advantages and disadvantages. Not an exhaustive list, but one that your friend might consider:

> Is Final purchase lower? Include any taxes etc bringing through home customs; currency exchange rates; time taken to source the seller and negotiation on site
> Confidence level in seller: I’ve only ever bought gear O/S from reputable firms
> Is warranty valid? Does it matter if it isn’t?
> Is the item easily obtainable locally? If yes, possibly it will be ‘on sale’ at some distributors, if not now then later.

***

Simple answer:

On the face of it, buying a relatively inexpensive item which is easily obtainable in many countries and also online, there would have to be a LARGE final price difference to warrant ferreting out the purchase when I was going to be on holiday in the future, especially considering many stores (bricks and mortar locally and worldwide/online) have Nikon rebates running at the moment. (e.g B&H Nikon D5600 @ US$597.00)

WW

[rpcrowe]

The prices will depend on the international rate of exchange for the currency that you are using...

I do know that you can often find great buys on used cameras and other photo gear in Japanese shops.

If you are interested in buying used; Google "used cameras in Japan"

[loosecanon]

To me the camera is the item most likely to develop a problem.

In uk often no duty is applied to items sourced via Hong Kong, use pay pal or credit card to reduce risk of fraud.

An alternative is a "grey import", there are a number in uk, I used Cotswold Cameras to buy my canon 100-400 at 25% less than the then shop price. Its a choice, companies in uk like Wex and LCE give good service.

I recently had a faulty zip on a three month old lowepro bag, bought as an old version end of line 1/2 price offer. The bag was taken back by Wex, I had the choice of my money back, or buy the new version at a special discount price, little more than the discounted old model.
No questions asked, real service, which gives one confidence when buying expensive gear from them.

[proseak]

Thanks for all your replies - some things have been mentioned I hadn't considered before.

My friend lives in Mumbai, and will be visiting Tokyo for a week in November for a conference, so there may not be much time for shopping.

Does anybody here know of any friendly, easy to find camera shops in Tokyo?

[rpcrowe]

Thanks for all your replies - some things have been mentioned I hadn't considered before.

My friend lives in Mumbai, and will be visiting Tokyo for a week in November for a conference, so there may not be much time for shopping.

Does anybody here know of any friendly, easy to find camera shops in Tokyo?

There are several videos on YouTube regarding Japanese camera shops...

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...a+store+tokyo+

[proseak]

Thanks to everyone who commented - most helpful.

[lunaticitizen]

Does anybody here know of any friendly, easy to find camera shops in Tokyo?

The biggest and the most reputable one would be MapCamera, 3-minutes walk from the west exit of JR Shinjuku station. Not sure if they have English-speaking staff, though, so it might not fit your definition of "friendly".

https://goo.gl/maps/zCKWRB58S8tac8Av5