Canon Lens manufactured in Japan vs Australian Model.

[PEDIOZ]

Hi i am wondering if anybody Could explain the difference to me why Some Retailers in Australia promote their Australian Model Lens and warn about the Japan model? I thought canon makes all their lenses in Japan? Particular I am interested in the canon 70-200 f2.8 is II lens and found a special for $2205 in an online camera store? What are your thoughts?

[ricktas]

They are made in Japan, though some models will be made elsewhere (China, Taiwan, and other places). The only reason they warn you about it, is that you will not have an Australian Warranty, so if there is a manufacturing fault with the lens you will need to either pay to get it fixed, or send it back to the country it came from to get it fixed. But the lens itself is made on the same production line as any other lens of the same type.

[Tannin]

Look up "grey market". There will be approximately 2147 relevant threads on this forum alone. But the short answer is that they are not talking about the manufacture, they are talking about the import arrangements. "Australian stock" is sourced through Canon Australia. It costs more but it comes with excellent local warranty service. Other items, exactly the same in all other respects, are sourced through China or another country. These can be quite a lot cheaper but generally don't have local warranty and you have to depend on your dealer or muck about sending stuff OS. Exactly the same applies to Nikon, Pentax, and the others.

BTW, from memory, all Canon equipment is manufactured in Japan; the same for Pentax; Nikon manufacture in Japan and also the Philippines. So far as I know, there is no quality difference between the different plants.

[ricktas]

BTW, from memory, all Canon equipment is manufactured in Japan; the same for Pentax; Nikon manufacture in Japan and also the Philippines. So far as I know, there is no quality difference between the different plants.

Thanks Tony, I was not sure about Canon's manufacturing arrangements since the Earthquake/Tsunami. Nikon opened a plant in Taiwan after that. I thought maybe Canon had also opened some plants in other countries as a business continuity protection mechanism in case of future events causing access/plant/manufacturing issues.

[I @ M]

I thought maybe Canon had also opened some plants in other countries as a business continuity protection mechanism in case of future events causing access/plant/manufacturing issues.

Canon have been making lenses, mostly the "kit" range I believe, in Taiwan for some time now.
I don't know if it is due to geological "backup" or simply cheaper labour costs though.

[Tannin]

Thanks Tony, I was not sure about Canon's manufacturing arrangements since the Earthquake/Tsunami. Nikon opened a plant in Taiwan after that. I thought maybe Canon had also opened some plants in other countries as a business continuity protection mechanism in case of future events causing access/plant/manufacturing issues.

They may have done just that, Rick. They were 100% Japan-based up until not long before the earthquake, I haven't been keeping track since then. But in any case, the point is moot. Nikon has been manufacturing in the Philippines (or was it Thailand?) for years now with no loss of quality; I can't imagine that it would be any different for Canon or Pentax. And, of course, Taiwan is a very high-quality manufacturing economy, similar in both cost and quality to Germany and Japan. The average wage in Taiwan is higher than the average wage in Australia, and skill levels are higher too. Taiwan has been the capital of the world computer industry for more than a decade (Gigabyte, ASUS, and all the other major independent motherboard makers are from Taiwan; ditto for graphics cards) but, sadly, is now busily offshoring everything to save money, mostly to China. The quality remains good even so.)

[I @ M]

They were 100% Japan-based up until not long before the earthquake,

A bit earlier than that actually.

http://www.canon.com/news/2008/sep05e.html

[arthurking83]

Nikon have manufactured some upper end gear in Thailand. D300 is made in Thailand.

I think the D800 was also supposed to be(made in Thailand), but the natural disasters at the time delayed it's release and they eventually had them made in Japan.
Not sure where they're now made tho.

I think that a fair amount of Nikon's stuff is also made in China too.

I've never had any problems with their Thai/China made gear(camera/lens/accessories).

Strangely the only problem I've had so far with Nikon products has been the ENEL15 battery in the D800. One guess where this is made

So far, I've somehow managed to kill off two of them with barely any use(I use my cheapo Chinese made battery as my preference).
Bot batteries have the same issue. They report the battery as an old almost completely wasted battery with not much life left in it.
They charge OK, but don't hold it as well as the cheapo Chinese one.

The first battery took a couple of months to reach this idiotic status .. was replaced by Vanbar as a confirmed warranty item, and a new genuine ENEL15 was subsequently given to me to play with.
This replacement took all but a week or two to display the same fault on the camera ... a battery rating of 3(out of 4) indicating that the battery is on it's last legs.

As for the Chinese cheapie .. it goes through the same processes, same charger, and camera, and reports that all is well.

The point is that it's not about the place of manufacture that's important .. it's simply one of those anomalies. Problems occur in all parts of the world.

Anyhow, as already said. Nothing wrong with grey market gear .. it all comes from the same factory as the 'official' supply chain products. If warranty is a major concern for you, then be weary of grey market.

[bricat]

If warranty is a major concern for you, then be weary of grey market.

[/U]
Most grey market suppliers have an Australian based repair firm for warranty/defects. And the shipping to O/S is mostly quicker than getting an item within Australia. (letters and postcards excepted.) You should not have to worry about warranty. cheers Brian

[peterb666]

Most grey market suppliers have an Australian based repair firm for warranty/defects. And the shipping to O/S is mostly quicker than getting an item within Australia. (letters and postcards excepted.) You should not have to worry about warranty. cheers Brian

I think that varies enormously. I had an Olympus camera repaired under warranty. Posted it on the Tuesday, it was delivered on Wednesday morning, repaired (replace the LCD), cleaned and had the firmware updated, posted out the same day and delivered back to me on the Thursday. I was gobsmacked over the promptness and thoroughness of the service. Sent OzPost registered mail and returned by courier with approximately 48 hours between posting and return including the repair.

Strangely, there are many complaints about the slowness of Olympus service in the US.

The performance of every company/distributer varies and overseas performance is not necessarily an indicator of performance in Australia.

[Allan Ryan]

i have brought 2 good lenses from different grey importers with no issues.
Since they are both over 1 yr old I assume i am in the same position now as anyone who brought from the official imports. no warranty left anyway..

As to where lenses are made - I think Ls are made in Japan but my Nifty Fifty is made in Malaysia.