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I decided to take a chance and buy 2 filters through Ebay via a Hong Kong seller (HKDirect) for my 18/200 VR lens.

The price was exceptionally good;
72mm B+W slim MRC KSM circular-pol, MRC UV-haze, plus a Gittos rocket blower, all for £100 including P&P.

The goods arrived within 5 days, they are brand new and appear quite genuine. To give an idea of what I saved, the polarizer alone would have set me back about £135 from a UK dealer.

I was a little nervous about this transaction, but am delighted with how it's gone. Thought I'd share my experience on here in case anyone else was toying with the idea of saving money this way.

Tony

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Nikon D80, 18 /200mm VR lens, B+W filters (UV & cir pol), Manfrotto 055proB/322RC2

Hi Tony, did you have to pay any VAT or duty on it?

Then again if it was around £100 it may have passed under their radar...

Gordon

Fourtunately not Gordon
they'd filled out the customs declaration on the back of the jiffy bag, listing; 'blower + 2 x photo filters'. and listed the value as $12(!). In their blurb on Ebay they say you won't have to pay duty...glad I didn't have to put that claim to the test!
Emboldened by the experience I've just ordered a spare battery and remote control also from HK.....riding for a fall???!
Tony

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Nikon D80, 18 /200mm VR lens, B+W filters (UV & cir pol), Manfrotto 055proB/322RC2

just got D80 spare battery, ML-L3 wireless remote controller and MC-DC1 remote cord for £64 inc p+p from Hong Kong. All new and genuine. Probably saved about a third on UK price

Tony

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Nikon D80, 18 /200mm VR lens, B+W filters (UV & cir pol), Manfrotto 055proB/322RC2

Have you got any links for this stuff?

I like a bargain.

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http://zorrofox4.deviantart.com/



Various lenses, SB800 & Manfrotto 190 with 460MG head

Please be aware that as in so many areas of electronic goods, "genuine" Nikon batteries are being manufactured all over the place, after a talk to a tech support guy from Nikon Australia yesterday, he pointed out that they had a battery returned for a fault in its internal electronics ( the bit that the camera relates to in its capacity measurement) and when examining the battery circuitry under a microscope they found that the battery was non genuine, the only reason they found it was because the Japanese born tech support guy found a misspelled Japanese word on the circuitry. They could not tell the difference any other way. He then went on to tell me about several known cases where Nikon cameras had been damaged by non genuine batteries and also of a Canon that was literally fried internally due to the circuitry components being incompatible. It seems that batteries just aint batteries.

Wise words Andrew.

I travelled a lot in India a few years ago and was amazed at the variety and quality of 'genuine fake' products...and also the really bad fakes that were worth buying just for the comedy value(!).

I guess you pays your money and takes your choice. I feel comfortable that the stuff I've bought is genuine, if I wasn't, I wouldn't use it. However I do absolutely take on board your warning which I appreciate you posting.

If anyone is still interested, I got my filters from

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZhkdirectQQhtZ-1

and the battery / controls from

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZnewi ... essQQhtZ-1

But as Andrew points out - it's your call.

Tony

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Nikon D80, 18 /200mm VR lens, B+W filters (UV & cir pol), Manfrotto 055proB/322RC2

Gordon, thank you for pointing me to this thread. However, it doesn't answer all my questions.

Knock-off (counterfeit) batteries are one thing, but what about batteries made by legitimate third-party manufacturers? In the same way that I can get a generic drug for 30% less, I don't see why I shouldn't buy "generic" batteries for less if they are made by reputable companies.

I have already looked at eBay, and I am seeing a lot of batteries that say they are equivalent to the Olympus battery and made to specification. None of the batteries I have looked at claim to be made by Olympus.

When I bought my Canon point-and-shoot, I didn't want to pay the high price for their adapter, so I went to Comp USA and bought an equivalent adapter. It has worked fine.

Caleb

Hi Caleb, ultimately it's your choice. If you're willing to take the risk to save some money, go ahead, but do check your warranty to see if it invalidates it.

As regular readers of PCW magazine know, I'm more than happy to overclock and tweak my PCs, or look for unofficial solutions, but I fully (and personally) accept the risks and consequences of doing so. I realise should something go wrong, it's my fault.

It's a choice each person has to make for themselves. There may not be much risk involved, but I can't offer any support if your camera is damaged as a result. Having not tested any third party batteries, I'm also not in any position to comment on them.

Gordon

I personally used a third-party battery in one case and never had any probs with them. But when you read about exploding laptop batteries - even from a manufacturer like Sony - you better make sure that it is from a big manufacturer who can bear the cost of damage, should that happen to you...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

I bought a spare battery for my D80 that's made by a third party and it's delivered just as good performance as the supplied Nikon battery. I got it through a high street store and the people in there all knew their stuff so I was quite confident that it would be ok.

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My Flickr

I also bought the Polar from HK Direct.

I have a nagging doubt and a question for Gordon/Thomas. If this filter was a cheap copy and was a linear not circular polar, what effect would I expect on my D80 exposures?

I ask because one of the problems I have had with the D80 is that all my polar shots were under-exposed and the white balance (auto) was shot to bits in most cases. I have post processed and actually got some great photos once corrected, but out of the can they were shocking.

The Ultra UV looks super multicoated but I do just wonder about this polar.

As far as batteries go, I decided to go for the best price from a trusted UK source for the D80 battery plus also (oddly I guess) a non-OEM battery from a UK known good source on the basis that a fake Nikon from a dodgy source might be less stringently built than a up front copy from a known reputable dealer.

I have however had for around £5 total price delivered TWO non-OEM canon Ixus batts from the USA - perfectly reliable for over a year now. How they do this for the price God knows. But for sure the OEM's are ripping us off.

Its a gamble at the end of the day, but I think the risks with batteries are probably less than the OEM's would have us beleive, but I did go chicken on my new D80 (My IXUS was older, so I worried less) !!

And finally, PICSTOP have 4GB Sandisk Extreme III SD's coming in stock in 3 days for £43. These are the 1st batch from Sandisk and I am reliably told if you've got one much earlier than this from anywhere, they are fake! There were some on E-bay six weeks ago.

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Canon IXUS 850IS. Nikon D80 & 18-200VR

I just took a plunge and bought a Hoya 72mm Pro 1 Circular Polarising (DMC & LPF) for £36.95 (UK price for this is around £135). The seller (kea-photo)has an ebay store and is 100% rated with 13600 positive feedback responses so I'm fairly confident.

They've got an About Us page and they seem pretty genuine.

It should be arriving in a few days so I'll let you know how my experience goes. If all goes well, they may be worth checking out for all us UK folk who get shamelessly ripped off.

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My Flickr

My filter arrived on Saturday and perfectly packaged. The filter case was factory sealed with the original silver tabs over the case opening. Postage speed was very good and all in all I couldn't be happier with the experience.

At 30% of the price of filters in the UK, it's worth checking out.

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My Flickr

Hi there. I'm looking to buy the Tokina 12-24mm lens for my D80. I've never used Ebay before and can't seem to figure out how to purchase more than one item. It makes sense to buy a UV filter at the same time. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

Zorro.

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http://zorrofox4.deviantart.com/



Various lenses, SB800 & Manfrotto 190 with 460MG head