Has anyone taken a chance on a gray market Tamron 24-70 f2.8?

1

10 Gauge

Senior Member
Did you get a good copy? How do you like it? I am considering selling my Nikon 24-120 and going with a gray market Tamron 24-70 after reading many reviews and comparing it alongside the Nikon and Sigma versions. The gray market body is about $450 less than a US warranted version, which is a LOT of money to pay for a warranty (which I've never had to use on any camera gear before). It's sold via Amazon Prime so I would still get a 30 day return period (if I were to get a bad copy) to try out another one. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......

What to do?
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
My current Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD is grey market and so is the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 I just bought. I've had three grey-market camera bodies over the years and all of them are still in service and still going strong. Personally speaking, I've never had a single issue buying grey market and doing so has saved me a TON of money.

Not telling you what you should do, that's just what my experience has been.
....
 
1

10 Gauge

Senior Member
Thanks for the input [MENTION=13090]Horoscope Fish[/MENTION].

It's really hard to justify over $400 for the warranted copy, it really is.

Next question, what's the going rate for a used, condition 10, 24-120?

Sent from my HTC One M8 using Tapatalk
 
H

handsomeguy

New member
I bought this lens two days back and my fears were allayed when it turned out to be a good copy:p This lens is wonderful to say the least and it makes sense to go for it..but with so many stories doing rounds on Internet about its bad copies being dished out to a number of buyers, buying from gray market seems a risky proposition.
 
1

10 Gauge

Senior Member
handsomeguy said:
I bought this lens two days back and my fears were allayed when it turned out to be a good copy This lens is wonderful to say the least and it makes sense to go for it..but with so many stories doing rounds on Internet about its bad copies being dished out to a number of buyers, buying from gray market seems a risky proposition.
Click to expand...
Luckily if I buy on Amazon I can return as many times as needed in a 30 day window until I get a good copy. It's hoping that after the 30 days everything stays good. Hehe.

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L

Lawrence

Senior Member
I've never had any issues with Grey Market purchases - they're still the real deal but imported by an unofficial distributor. All that means here in New Zealand is the parallel importer doesn't have the New Zealand sole agency rights. Having the sole agency and everything associated with it must cost money for there to be such a big difference in price.
 
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mikew_RIP

Senior Member
In the UK some of the price difference is because you dont pay import duties,most of the companies have small print saying you are acting as the importer and they are acting on your behalf.
 
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petr

Senior Member
Hi there,

Yes, I gave it a try and got Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD for myself couple months ago. It has a slightly wobbling zoom barrel in vertical plane (horizontal is fine) which creates rattle when the lens is shaken. This is felt and visible most when the zoom barrel is a half-way out around 50mm focal length. Never noticed this mechanical imperfection affects final image optically though. Did you noticed any technical issue like this on your Tamron?

Petr
 
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