"Grey-market" S2's

[JIM COX]

Greetings S2 users... I am just getting ready to buy my S2. Reading through the forums has already been enormously helpful to me in figuring things out. Thanks to everyone for that. My first question is about purchasing a "grey-market" S2 in the US. many of the online camera retailers are selling these grey-market models. Does anyone out there have any info on this? has anyone purchased one of these? Am I crazy to even be considering this?

[jknights]

Buying grey has advantages until something goes wrong.

In your case I would say if the Fuji warranty is worldwide thane you are safe-ish.

However beware I hav eheard from friends in US that some grey S2 come wthout the free HyperUtility and AC adapter.

Check before you buy.

[X-Sync]

I have read on another forum that some grey market S2's come with no warranty, copied manuals and missing some items that maybe standard in your part of the world.
Apart from the warranty cover which is essential (you need cover in the states).
The USA package has an AC power adapter, Hyperutility and camera control software. The UK package has none of these, if you buy a grey market import it could well be missing some of the above.
Another issue is the TV out, some models are Pal some Secam etc etc, dependant on where in the world they were manufactured for. If this feature is important to you and you don't have an all singing multi region TV, I would check this out.
At the end of the day if the price is right and the dealer legit, I would find the answer to these issues and there returns policy if your not happy, and go from there.

[Tom V]

I bought my camera, knowing it was a "North American Package" last August. It came from Canada (I live too close to Chicago), which I thought would be OK, because Chicago and Canada are both in North America.

The camera from Canada did not include the Shooting Software, RAW File Converter EX, or AC Adapter. It IS a NTSC [video out] model, which is different than the UK package. I ended up getting all the missing parts at a later date, for additional cost.

You should have the AC Adapter to clean the sensor, which you will eventually have to do. I had to clean my sensor about 1 month (800 exposures) after getting the camera. I ordered my AC Adapter from the Canadian store my camera came from for about $70US. Ordering an Adapter from a US Fuji-authorized dealer can cost you $300US+! (Fuji USA puts the hurt to you UNLESS you provide a reciept for a US Fuji Package.)

Finding the "missing software" can be done, but does cost quite a bit. The gray-market model may include RAW File Converter LE, which is a very very very
very limited program. The shooting software and RAW File Converter can be very useful, and has saved me hours of work.

When I bought my camera, I did not know that there was a USA Package, so never suspected that the "North American Package" would be lacking anything. I got the camera about a month before the USA stores where delivering cameras to the people on their waiting lists. I was already using my camera, when other around here were waiting. Then I found out that they were waiting for the "USA Package" which included other things I didn't get. However, in that month, the camera paid for itself and all the "missing" parts easily. I don't regret my purchase one bit. It would have been easier if the "North American Package" included everything - but Fuji thought otherwise.

However, now that there is no wait for USA models, I do not see any advantage in purchacing a grey-market package. By time you make the additional purchaces, deal with the possiblity of warranty hassles, I don't think it would be worth it. With the higher cost you pay up front, you get the complete package the way it should be, and peace of mind. Your sanity alone is worth it.

[JIM COX]

THANKS!

Very helpful information from all of you, and especially Tom! After having called several of the US dealers, (and some of them I called a few times each), and hearing practically a different story each and every time... I have decided to take your advice, Tom... and just stick with the USA warranty model. That way, too, I will be getting it from a company I know and have bought from before.

now... my next issue will be with the memory storage. Microdrive or CF? and to download directly to a portable hard drive, or to my laptop? I have a big job starting soon and will probably be needing to shoot several gigs of photos each day while on location.

THANKS AGAIN!

[Tom V]

Originally posted by JIM COX
... my next issue will be with the memory storage. Microdrive or CF? and to download directly to a portable hard drive, or to my laptop? I have a big job starting soon and will probably be needing to shoot several gigs of photos each day while on location. ...

The only way I know of to download to a portable hard drive is to route it through a computer. UNLESS the portable drive is a digital wallet, which I suppose can automatically download CF card contents without the aid of a computer. I suggest downloading right to your laptop. Make sure you have enough room on your HD for all the downloads.

I have a 1 Gig IBM MicroDrive and a 512 MB 24x Lexar CF card. I prefer the 512 card despite having to empty it more often. On location shoots, I download the cards to my laptop via PCMCIA adapter. In the studio, I download to the desktop computer via a FireWire CF card reader.

MicroDrive: Pros: volume, price. Cons: speed, moving parts, increased battery use, heat, volume*.

CF Card: Pros: speed, construction, reliability. Cons: price.

*Some people don't like having 1 Gig of shots on a card - it's a lot of reshooting if something goes wrong with the card. It is like shooting a 200 exposure roll of film - what if the lab messes up the processing on that one roll?

See the forum regarding MEMORY for many more comments.