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Archive 2013 · Voigtlander US imports

  
 
Lee Saxon
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Voigtlander US imports


Is Cameraquest legit?

All the Voigtlander products I've owned until today have been repackaged for the US in green boxes with English on them. Today I received a supposedly-new supposedly-legit lens from Cameraquest in a black box with only German on it. I also noticed that their website claims that lenses don't need to be registered with Voigtlander or come with a warranty card because they're already registered when you purchase them, which sure sounds a lot like "please don't check with Voigtlander about whether this lens is registered."

I care/ask because I know that some makers such as Nikon won't service "grey market" lenses even if you pay them.







Nov 25, 2013 at 05:07 PM
naturephoto1
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Voigtlander US imports


Lee,

See this link:

http://www.cameraquest.com/frames/CVCQW.htm

Rich



Nov 25, 2013 at 05:12 PM
ISO1600
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Voigtlander US imports


Cameraquest is a "legit" business, but Steven Gandy is a madman/evil-genius/asshole, and a total scam artist.
He puts the craziest markup on some of his products, when compared to domestic pricing, and actual wholesale price of the items.



Nov 25, 2013 at 05:22 PM
j.liam
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Voigtlander US imports


ISO1600 wrote:
Cameraquest is a "legit" business, but Steven Gandy is a madman/evil-genius/asshole, and a total scam artist.
He puts the craziest markup on some of his products, when compared to domestic pricing, and actual wholesale price of the items.



B&H and Photo Village, both in NYC, charge the exact same prices for new items. The other stuff, well, no one is forcing you to buy some of the collectibles at crazy premiums.



Nov 25, 2013 at 06:06 PM
Lee Saxon
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Voigtlander US imports


Interesting, I found a 35/2.5 on eBay with the green box and English writing, so it's not just that this model is boxed differently.


Nov 25, 2013 at 06:29 PM
naturephoto1
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Voigtlander US imports


Lee,

As I recall what happened was Cameraquest was importing Cosina Voigtlander lenses and cameras before there was an official US distibutor. Once there was a US distributor, Cameraquest made an agreement? with Voigtlander as a US Distributor. As a result there is now a US east coast and a west coast Distributor as you can see in the link below:

http://www.voigtlaender.de/cms/voigtlaender/voigtlaender_cms.nsf/id/pa_partnerimausland_e_onav.html

Stephen Gandy and Cameraquest includes a B&W with at least some of the purchases of Voigtlander lenses purchased directly from them.

Rich



Nov 25, 2013 at 06:58 PM
Lee Saxon
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Voigtlander US imports


That would explain there being a change. But it seems strange that the older unofficially-imported lenses would be in English boxes while the newer officially-for-US lenses would be in non-English boxes, rather than the opposite.


Nov 25, 2013 at 07:06 PM
naturephoto1
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Voigtlander US imports


Lee Saxon wrote:
That would explain there being a change. But it seems strange that the older unofficially-imported lenses would be in English boxes while the newer officially-for-US lenses would be in non-English boxes, rather than the opposite.


Lee,

The original Official US Distributor is from the East Coast and Cameraquest is the West Coast Distributor. In your first posting you indicated that what you had received in the past was in Green Boxes and in English. You also indicate that the box from CameraQuest was a Black box and in German.

This would make sense since the East Coast Distributor is supplying as they were for the US Market while Cameraquest through agreement is importing and Distributing directly from Voigtlander as would have been the case since they began importing these products.

Rich



Nov 25, 2013 at 07:15 PM
Jabberwockt
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Voigtlander US imports


Cameraquest and Photovillage are the official distributors and they are the ones to buy from if you want to make sure you can get warranty service. With that said, don't expect service from the warranty to be fast, I had send my 35/1.2 for adjustment to the rangefinder coupling and it took 3-4 months to get it back from Japan. I should have just paid a local camera shop to adjust it and have it back within a week or two.


Nov 25, 2013 at 07:24 PM
sirimiri
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Voigtlander US imports


From what I've seen, the "classic" lenses come in green boxes.

The other stuff comes in a black box, with German on one side and English on the other. Are you positive there's no English anywhere on your black box, at all?



Nov 25, 2013 at 07:26 PM
Lee Saxon
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Voigtlander US imports


sirimiri, I don't think it that's it. My 35/1.7 and 35/2.5 are black box but I've seen green box copies of both on eBay. (btw, my 35/1.7 is German/English like you describe but my 35/2.5 is German/German, maybe just a printing error)

I'm thinking Rich is right about greens being repackaged-for-US ones from Photo Village and blacks being imported-straight-from-Voigtlander ones from Cameraquest but that both qualify for warranty coverage. I'm emailing Cameraquest to double-check.



Nov 25, 2013 at 08:38 PM
joanlvh
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Voigtlander US imports


I have purchased several lenses from Stephen Gandy and Camerquest. I have had great service, my communication with Stephen has been very helpful. joanlvh


Nov 25, 2013 at 08:45 PM
buggz2k
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Voigtlander US imports


My Voigtlander 75/1.8 Heliar Classic came in a black box from Cameraquest also.
No German language on it though.
I have zero problems with it, the price was good also.



Nov 26, 2013 at 10:42 AM
Dpedraza
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Voigtlander US imports


I bought my cv 15mm from there it was legit. got it in 2 days


Nov 26, 2013 at 10:47 AM
Lee Saxon
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Voigtlander US imports


I emailed Cameraquest about whether different colors are for different markets and if any of them are considered "grey market" insofar as warranty/service and got their usual vaguely-helpful single sentence fragment ('yes I'm an authorized distributor' and nothing else, basically). I emailed Photo Village and got a real response.

The colors don't mean anything. Photo Village gets black, green, gray, blue (some SL) and yellow (Contax RF). Most lenses stay the same color (40/1.4 has always been green) and but not all (58/1.4 SLII changed from black to gray).

Sounds like I was just being paranoid, luckily.



Nov 26, 2013 at 03:11 PM





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