Buying Camera Equipment From Hong Kong

A friend of mine is going to hong kong in a few days, he said that he could pick up a few things really cheap. In fact he was going to look at a nikon 50D while he was there. Has anyone ever purchased anything directly form hong kong and if so was the equipment ok? Also do you know how much cheaper the items are there versus here. I noticed on ebay that a few sellers are from hong kong, there prices look cheaper but the items do not look to be quality items. Any suggestions?

I have heard of tourist being had, so make sure you look at the box and check and see that everything is there. Also I do not think there will be a warranty.

jim1975 wrote: I have heard of tourist being had, so make sure you look at the box and check and see that everything is there. Also I do not think there will be a warranty.

You are correct, that camera equipment won't have warranty here in USA. That is the trade off.

Agree with the warranty deal, unless the equipment is just a steal, I would not bother buying it.

I wouldn't risk it. Buy locally and save yourself the headaches

1st is it a Canon 50D or a Nikon? Nikon don't make a 50D.


As for the warranty, I think if you don't buy a gray market camera it should have an international warranty with it.

Nikon have "Worldwide Service Warranty" in the box (I just checked).

I'm pretty sure Canon do too.

the following is FYI:

Kinefoto
THE BEST IMHO (sometimes they don't have stock, but they are helpful and have good prices/aftersales service)
G/F., Shop 1
66-68 Stanley Street
Central, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Phone : ‎+852 25232087
Fax : ‎+852 25221587

Down the road from Kinefoto is:

Photo Scientific Appliances Ltd.
6 Stanley St., Central, Hong Kong; tel: 2522 0871
These guys sometimes have new lenses, they aren't the cheapest, but they're worth checking out.

Around Hong Kong there's
CAM2
(This is a small Camera chain store, they have very good prices and are totally ligit - my 2nd Choice)
camtwo.com/main/index.php

The next two (Man Shing and Wing Shing) are basically the same (owned by the same company). They have a lot of stock, but are more close to retail. Buy here if you can't find the lens anywhere else:

Man Shing Camera
萬成
G/F, Shop 106, Tung Choi Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong
旺角 通菜街 106 號舖地下
2396-2996


Wing Shing Camera
永成
G/F, Shop 66, Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong
旺角 西洋菜南街 66 號舖地下
2396-6886,
2396-6961

Tin Chung
(only store worth buying in Tsim Sha Tsui, bit expensive but they're ligit and have quite a lot of 2nd hand stuff):
www.tincheungcamera.com.hk/contact-us.php

Citicall (big chain store, but specialises a bit more in DSLR stuff that broadway)
www.citicall.com.hk/index.asp

Broadway (this is a big chain store, so retail prices here)
百老匯 (電器用品連鎖店)
www.broadway.com.hk/

Last resort you could try
Digital Rev
www.digitalrev.com/en/index.php
These guys sometimes have stock that others don't. Most of the time they're a bit more expensive than others too. Personally I'll only buy from them if I really need to.

Keep away from the camera stores in Tsim Sha Tsui, they're tourist traps (apart from Tin Chung). Also try to avoid the smaller shops in Mongkok (for the same reason).