How can I tell the difference from a grey market and USA Nikon?

Question

any specific features,details and so on

Answer 1

If you're buying it new, the USA model will have warranty cards.

Answer 2

If you buy your camera at a camera store or from a online store like B&H Photo, Adorama, Amazon or Ritz Camera you can be assured that the camera is from Nikon USA.  Better call Nikon USA's free live tech help line, (800) NIKON-UX, is open all the time, 24/7/365 and ask them for "real" stores, Internet or brick and mortar.

If you already have the camera, try register it with Nikon USA.  If it takes the registration it is a real USA Nikon camera ... if not, you have a grey market camera

If the seller includes any of the following extra's, there is about a 99% chance the camera is a grey market camera.

Camera Bag, Extra Memory, Lens (not a Nikon), Lens Cleaning Kit, Memory Reader (the right name for this is a card reader), Tripod, 58mm 0.5x Wide Angle Lens (really an add-on lens) it is probably a grey market camera

Answer 3

Hi Yuchi1,  This is a great question and perhaps other readers will look on and be informed as well.  On an actual Nikon camera,  you really cannot tell by looking at it whether it is or is not a grey market.   Grey market does not mean defective or refurbished or a different body or anything really noticable.  A grey market camera (Nikon, Canon, whichever) is one that has been imported to a country that it was not intended to be sold in.

Anyway,  Nikon/Canon intend the European/Japanese versions to be sold there and the USA version be sold here.    So a valid warranty  only applies to a camera that is bought in the country that it was meant to be sold in.   There is more to the story,  however.   Even after the one year warranty period is up should your camera need servicing, repairing, cleaning, upgrading, anything at all,  neither Nikon nor Canon will accept it.   Should you send it to their repair headquarters,  they will simply  box it up and send it back.   Now that does not mean you cannot get it repaired because you can send it back to Nikon Europe or Japan or wherever it came from... but I don't think that is very convenient.    I put your question to a Nikon representative earlier this year.   He told me the way to tell if a camera is grey market is by the serial number.   So, if you have a camera in mind and not sure whether it is or is not a USA version...  you can call and Nikon will verify it by asking the for serial number.   A few years back, the camera companies would repair only after the warranty was up... and of course, the repairs would be charged to you.  Now they just don't accept non-USA versions under any circumstances.   It is their way of discouraging people from importing other versions because they are discounted.   Hope that helps you or someone else that does not have a good understanding of grey market cameras.  Thanks for reading.

Answer 4

One is the Nikon emblem on fake cameras are usually hot glued and not glued on well. The camera body is usually solid on fake  cameras and not the Tolex covered metal like the real ones. Also most fake ones have dust through the viewfinder or very noticeable imperfections when looking in it. Also most Nikon owners will never put a cheapo lens on their camera, this is a dead giveaway if nothing is printed on the lens. Also the biggest dead giveaway is a gold sticker that says CHINA. If it's not stamped into the camera body Made in Japan, then It's a fake.