The old 'will I have to pay import tax' question, and another one

alexthecheese

alexthecheese

alexthecheese

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Been taking photos for a whole now, with my humble D5100. I've just taken redundancy and have the summer off, so am thinking of investing in some decent kit to keep me busy, and perhaps (don't laugh) move into photography. Make a few quid. Perhaps. Figuring I can sell it all on if I get poor.

I have a 70-200 2.8, but want to go full frame, so am thinking of going D800. Second hand they appear to be about 1450, but digitalrev offer them for £1620 new. Will I get hit on that?

I'm also thinking of picking up a 14-24mm lens and 24-70mm lens. Anyone have any suggestions for online forums etc to watch for second hand sales? Talkphotography is one I'm aware off.
 
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Legally you will have go pay it, otherwise you are committing tax evasion and breaking the law. However AFAIK you probably won't get caught... I'm assuming digitalrev do the usual tax fraud of putting "warranty replacement" on the label. Some people do get invoices but others don't.
 
Buy from HDEW - also grey import stock but shipped from within the UK and warrantied with them for repair in the UK as well. No worries about import tax or sending stuff abroad for warranty claims.
 
I recently used 'the moz' for a lens and when it arrived it was all labelled correctly, even down to price and product. It clearly had "70-200 lens for Canon" written on the paperwork, attached in a bag that customs could open. Not sure if they're taking the hit from the outset now, or only doing it occasionally, but how it should work is that you pay the price you see over here or if there's a saving that matches import/tax duties it's safe to say they aren't paying it. However, both Digi rev and the moz will immediately refund you any tax/import duty you pay IF you do have to.

There was an issue with 'the moz' (I'm referring to them as this as their name is blocked) previously mislabelling items as toys, etc, which is why Talk Photography don't let them have a forum section on their forum anymore. Although Digi rev do the same, so I'm not sure what that's about.

Money no object, buy from within the UK. Personally I'd say get camera bodies from within the UK, lenses from outside if it saves enough money, especially where it seems they're now operating correctly :)

I really must pull my thumb out and go outside and use this 70-200 in anger as I've only taken test shots in the 2 weeks I've had it!
 
Just about covered in the previous posts, but also consider ( you mentioned `Figuring I can sell it all on if I get poor`) that folk tend to pay a bit less for grey items & SOME dealers won't touch them.
 
PhotoPixels said:
Just about covered in the previous posts, but also consider ( you mentioned `Figuring I can sell it all on if I get poor`) that folk tend to pay a bit less for grey items & SOME dealers won't touch them.
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There's no reason not to buy a grey import lens as they're international warranties on them, so it would not matter. Camera bodies are warranties from their own country of purchase only.

Prime lenses hold their value pretty well too.
 
I've ended up picking up a mint D600 with 4kclicks on talkphotography for £800. Not bad, I hope?

Was thinking about a D700, which were about the same price, but being my older, had a lot more use. This one has a warranty of over a year left that the guy is going to transfer to me. I might still up it to e D800 in the summer, depending how I get on with the D600, but I'm not sure how necessary or likely that is. I figure I won't lose my money if I chop I the D600 so I wouldn't be losing much.

Next up is the 14-24mm, but they don't seem to be sold second hand much and they're £1100 new so not cheap. Also a proper flash, as I've not used one in anger before. SB700 or SB800 used seems the way to go.
 
ElDude said:
Because you implied people won't touch them if they're grey imports, which makes no difference.
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I said- "folk tend to pay a bit less for grey items & SOME dealers won't touch them." (in case the OP wasn't aware when/if he decided to re-sell, so he could factor in any possible differences)
Again, I never mentioned warranties!
 
Guys, what about a fix prime. I've been reminded by some other threads here that the Sigma 1.4 is held in high regard. Versus the Nikon 50mm 1.4, what do you reckon is better in a full frame camera? Is the 35mm lens going to be more usable, more of the time? There's also quite a price difference. £270 vs £510.

Also, is there a new version of the 24-70mm? Can't tell if I buy a second hand is going to be an older version or not.
 
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I've owned the Sigma 50mm 1.4 and currently own the 35mm 1.4, and I have to say I'd have 35 over 50 any day on full frame. I tend to stick to primes most of the time myself, and my bag is usually just my 35mm and my Canon 85mm 1.8, pretty much a perfect combination on FF cameras, in my opinion.

Also regarding Nikon, I'm not sure how much truth there is to it, but I've heard that the 50 1.8 is actually better than the 1.4? If you get a good copy of the Sigma though, it should be better still.

Sigma are also releasing a new 'Art' line 50mm soon, the same range as their 35mm, although I'd be surprised if it was anything short of £4-500
 
Keep your gear sped to a minimum until your in a position to know what you need to make money or even if you can and really want to. Blowing a huge chunk of redundancy money on gear for a hobby that you 'might' want to make some money out of is not sound career planning.

If you are really serious about making money out of photography the money would probably be better spent on courses in both the type of photography you plan on doing and running a small business. That way you can get upto speed on the essentials of making money out of photography quickly!
 
I've been buying second hand kit, on the basis that I can sell it for little loss if I need to. A D600, 50mm 1.4 AF-D (hope that won't be a regret, but it was £140 the so again not too bad), 24-70mm f/2.8 and a 14-24mm f/2.8. I've already got a 70-200 f/2.8.

As for making money, I know it's unlikely, hence my 'don't laugh' quip up front. I've got the money, am reasonably sensible, and will have a lot of free time on my hands.

I guess now I'll have to fill my time taking photos of events in and around London to make the most of it. :p
 
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alexthecheese said:
I've been buying second hand kit, on the basis that I can sell it for little loss if I need to. A D600, 50mm 1.4 AF-D (hope that won't be a regret, but it was £140 the so again not too bad), 24-70mm f/2.8 and a 14-24mm f/2.8. I've already got a 70-200 f/2.8.

As for making money, I know it's unlikely, hence my 'don't laugh' quip up front. I've got the money, am reasonably sensible, and will have a lot of free time on my hands.

I guess now I'll have to fill my time taking photos of events in and around London to make the most of it. :p
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Sounds like you've got it pretty much covered with those lenses. The hardest part is finding where to make money from. Unless you have people interested already, it's VERY hit or miss. I've spent years doing gig photography and only got hired to do serious stuff about 3 months ago after talking to a drunk journalist in a pub. That's lead to being asked to cover some bands for a magazine in the future. I asked where they look for photographers and they said they only use word of mouth from people they trust. Annoying really that people don't look in depth for photographers and just use word of mouth. It makes sense from a safety point of view I suppose, but it highlights the difficulty in finding work.

PhotoPixels said:
I said- "folk tend to pay a bit less for grey items & SOME dealers won't touch them." (in case the OP wasn't aware when/if he decided to re-sell, so he could factor in any possible differences)
Again, I never mentioned warranties!
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I've no idea why you're obsessed with me seemingly misquoting you mentioning warranties when you haven't. I mentioned it because it's a valid point when purchasing, not because you asked about warranties. If it's a body, it's got country only support, so a body would have to go to the origin of purchase for repair or you'd have to shell out yourself (which I already said). Lenses are not the same (again, which I already said). That is why I mentioned that, and only that reason. You were saying some will not touch them as they're grey import; my obvious point is that if an item has a valid warranty then it would make no difference to a buyer at all where the lens came from.
 
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I only found out on these boards, as I've only ever bought in the UK until 2 years ago. I'll go out of my way looking for items in the UK, but it the savings are great enough then I'll look elsewhere, as long as it's safe to do so. I still mainly use WEX, Jessops, etc though as they, especially WEX are VERY reliable.
 
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