Tin Can
Interesting comments about mold smell on Japanese goods. I've bought about 2 dozen items (large and small) from Japan in the last year and never had that problem. The only place I've gotten several horribly stinky items from is Florida.
Regarding tariffs and duties: In the U.S. if the customs form says "used" there's no charge. On the other hand, I've bought new items (watches) from Europe and it was something like 12%, plus UPS and Fedex add their own charges for walking it through customs. National mail services do not.
It can be that I got very unlucky. My success rate so far is 1/4. The main risk factor for me is that I have never gotten the tax back and everything entering the EU is taxed on the sales price, used or not. This is why I like eBay and Amazon global shipping. It takes significant risk out of the deal for me. Of course I will return the item when it is faulty regardless of this issue. It is just a huge extra expense for me.
I have always had excellent item quality & fantastic service from Japan - cameras, lenses, film holders - all great. One bit of (possibly urban mythology) is that if it comes into the USA via the postal service (Japan EMS-to-USPS) there's no duties, no hassle. Supposedly if it's coming in by courier/carrier the US Customs may pay closer attention. Also (supposedly) used goods are of less interest than new ones. Heard the same thing about receiving things from Canada. Post Canada-to-USPS has never been a problem.--alfredian
I found this to be a very helpful thread. Over the last week, I've checked eBay for availability and pricing on several large format lenses. It appears that most of the vendors are located in Japan, and between them they appear to have a broad selection of lenses by all four of the major manufacturers. My read of this thread is that experience with purchasing from Japan, including shipping and customs, is generally very good. As some have noted, there's some boilerplate in a lot of the listings. For me, that gets in the way of evaluating the vendor and the item, but I'll be less concerned about it after reading the thread.
My impression is that Japan has become the principal source for large format lenses. Is that correct? If so, does anyone know why?
Maybe it's misinterpretation on my part, but it also appears that some lenses by one of the German manufacturers were made in Japan as well as in Germany. True? Does it matter?
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the thread.
Last edited by r.e.; 17-Oct-2021 at 15:35.
My sense is that sellers in Japan have so many LF lenses for sale primarily because, over the 20th Century, so many Japanese people have been such avid shutter bugs, and LOTS of them indulged in better quality MF and LF film gear. However, in more recent years many of those photographers have faded to black (so to speak). Of course, the big switch to digital photography had a lot to do with the continuing availability of a lot of good film gear. All of those sales of film cameras, lenses and associated gear to photographers in Japan over those decades, including by prominent manufacturers like Nikon and Fuji, also explains (I think) why Fuji has tried and struggled in recent years to continue making quality films available. But Fuji seems to be heading for the exit on their film offerings. ....
... JMOwens (Mt. Pleasant, Wisc. USA)
"If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all." ...Michelangelo
Back in the '80's, the Japanese economy was strong, and Japanese dealers bought a lot of quality vintage gear to send back to Japan.
There were full-page ads in Shutterbug, and camera swap/shows almost always had a Japanese buyer present.
I’ve never heard of German large format lenses actually made in Japan, unlike 35mm lenses.
My main sources of large format lenses are yahoo Japan auction, FB, this forum and local professional large format shops in midtown Tokyo while very few still exist and owners are very old and soon retiring.
I’m very lucky to live very close to those shops in 10 to 25 minute walk.
Many large format lenses come from out of business studios and retired high amatures.
Many *bay resellers are resellers as a side business.
Certainly there are professional resellers in *bay.
Kumar is certainly reliable as you all know.
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