It's tentatively priced at $11,995 at Videoguys Australia (http://www.videoguys.com.au/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=3133).

When they had a tentative price on the V1, they were pretty accurate - they were $500 more expensive than it ended up being.

So it's about $1000 more expensive than importing it from the U.S.

How do people feel about doing that? Is it too risky and problematic? Or is it perfectly ok to do?

I wouldn't import a grey into Aus unless you were SURE that where ever you bought it from will take care of you while the cam is away for service (i.e., hire a replacement or what have you).

As for service, I'm referring to preventative maintenance, or actual defect repairs. All manufacturers aside from Canon (here in Aus) won't touch any Grey Market goods... as for the extra grand, consider the fact that the unit is not only tax deductable, but can also be used as a tax deduction for the next 7 years with 20% depreciation each year.

If the difference was over $1500, then I'd consider it (I imported my own DVX100's and paid $5400 as opposed to the Aus asking price of $8800... that's a significant saving), for a simple grand though, you'd make that money back on one job anyway.

Videoguys.com.au (not to confuse them with Videoguys.com) can be quite cheap or expensive, really shop around and try dealers that aren't on the web. Macrays in Sydney who are exclusively Sony can usually do better than most but they only sell Sony broadcast gear which in this case will be OK.

I've imported quite a bit of gear from the USA, most of it carried back personally for very significant savings. An expensive video camera might make me a little nervous about warranty but this one doesn't have so much to go wrong with it and firmware is user upgradeable. Still I'd want more than a $1,000 saving to contemplate it.

The grey importers will, I'm sure, get their act into gear pretty quickly with this camera.

I just bought an FX 1E from an ebay importer in Sydney, as I needed a second HDV camera for the rest of this year, and got excellent price and excellent service, so I'd go that route if I had to.

Luckily I won the door prize at the Sony roadshow in Melbourne last year, (an A1), and now have AUD$3,800 at Tasman AV, so I ordered an EX straight after NAB to be covered by my credit.

Hope they still give me a good deal!!!!!!


Cheers Vaughan

Luckily I won the door prize at the Sony roadshow in Melbourne last year, (an A1)

No way! My business partner won the second prize (a PSP) at the roadshow. We were mad as hell that we missed out on the A1.


I have a few concerns with importing.

1: The lack of warranty, but I suppose that any Sony place that could fix the Australian model would have zero problems fixing the U.S. model.
2: GST - I'll surely have to pay it, right?
3: eBay - I know a guy who ordered an FX1 on eBay and the seller sent a proper FX1 box with a brick inside! No camera of course.

I went to the 2 p.m. session.

When they rang me up to tell me at approx 6.30 p.m......I had tooo havvve anooothhhhheeeeerrrrr ddddrrrriiinnnkkkkk!!!!!!!! (LOL)

Cheers Vaughan

I don't remember which session we were at but when they drew it and the A1 winner wasn't there we suggested letting us have it and he could get the PSP. We figured he'd never know whether he was drawn out or not. Lucky for you they said no!!

I really hope it doesn't cost over $10,000 or i'm sure you would be able to get it from www.globalmediapro.com in NZ they just slug you on tax when shipping it to Aust. maybe if it's cheap fly over same day pick it up and put it in your bag
save on tax and GST.

just a thought.

Rob.

maybe if it's cheap fly over same day pick it up and put it in your bag

Holy cow, that is a cheap site! I can't find on their site where it's located. Do they have a storefront?

There's no shop front, I'm sure it's just a guy sitting on his studio taking orders, shipping from Hong Kong, but they have made quite an impact on Australian distributors!

As we have very high prices compared to world parity on anything electronic (Sony and PSP in particular), I don't have much sympathy for Aussie distributors.

Nearly bought a Z1 from them recently, but got a FX 1 grey import from Sydney - GST paid -delivered to Melbourne for $4,200 which can be our second camera for this year until EX day arrives.

(Actually it's become our main camera, I like it much better than my FX 7).

Also I have in-laws in Wellington, so we have to visit NZ occasionally, so I look up their wesite regularly.


Cheers Vaughan

I have friends in New Zealand too so I might seriously consider purchasing over there and bringing it back over.

Do we know yet whether there are going to be differences between the U.S. release and the PAL releases? Will there just be one worldwide model or will they differ a little? If they differ, it's possible we'll lose the CineAlta 24p capability from the PAL model. Or am I worrying too much?

ALSO:

Half way down on this (http://xdcam.com.au/modules/news/) page is an ad for the 2007 Australian Sony Roadshow in October where they're giving away one of these cameras but I don't know anything about it. Does anyone have any news? Dates/Locations?

GlobalMediaPro.com are undercutting everybody, and i know a lot of people in the industry here in nz who have bad things to say about them.

This is pro broadcast gear people, support your distributors, that way you will always get a real warrently and real support.

I could of saved a bundle on gear if i'd bought from them however the relationship i've developed with my retailers is a much better thing. You get kept in the know and i've ended up with a bunch of good deals because of that.

Why'd you ever want to save a few bucks (even if it is a grand or 2) and buy something gray market is beyond me. Money shouldnt be a problem if the job the equipment is needed for is paying for it, and hell im only 19 and i've learnt this.

Guys, I bought a Sony Z1 from Globalmediapro - and have to say that their service was excellent. The camera arrived in 2 days and was exactly the same as ones purchased in Australia. You can buy a worldwide warranty (services in Australia) for not too much more ($100-200) if you are worried about warranty, but GMP offer their own return to seller warranty, and to be honest sending it to NZ is about the same as sending to Melbourne for me. I also bought an A1 from videoguys because they offered a deal very close to Globalmediapro. I am of the opionion that if the local distributors provide reasonable prices I will definitely support them, but there is no way that our prices should be 30 -40% higher than US prices (which is often the case). If globalmediapro can stock and sell items at these prices - Australian distributors should be able to sell for the same price plus 10% - and get my custom every time!

"but there is no way that our prices should be 30 -40% higher than US prices (which is often the case). "

this argument has been going on since the days of sega vs nintendo where grey imports first took a foothold in the electronics industry here in aus.

its an old story but it rings true that basically, our market is much smaller, we obviously wouldnt sell as many units as lets say the US.
WIth that, Aus needs to make as much money, and to do that, they charge more.. as an example, in the US, there might be 10 units sold for every 3 units sold here in aus. As those distributors in aus need to make up that comparative loss (ie 7 units) they up the price, in turn, what is sold for 3 units here in aus, equates to the cost of 5 or 6 units sold in the US (when it comes to actual profit)
So, your then left with 3 units valued at 6 units, in turn, THIS is then compared to the sales of the US... the 4 unit loss isnt as bad as a 7 unit "loss" and this can then be argued back down to user base...

but i agree if pricing was more uniform, i dont think the issue of grey imports would exist.. but lets face it, u can get a PS3 in the US for about 500 to 600 bux, while its still selling for a grand here.. go figure..

Joe, if I saved two thousand dollars for buying the exact same camera overseas, heck I would, you made it sound like you are buying an inferior product. They come from the same place, you just don't have Sony Australia charging more because they are selling fewer units to a smaller market. Especially with the EX1 when it will be the same as overseas models anyway.

I don't even think Sony have a repair centre in Sydney anymore which is a joke for professional products they only repair broadcast equipment for networks.

As long as there is international warrenty that's sweet

I agree, until Aussies distributors can supply products at reasonable prices (they're often 30% more than the average price overseas) they are going to have people looking very seriously at imports (aren't "grey" imports second-hand products?) especially in the "prosumer" end of the market. Larger companies can afford to absorb the additional costs, but smaller operations(videographers, indie filmmakers etc.) are often stretched to afford a $10,000+ camera.

In this market segment a few thousand dollars IS a big deal, and distributors need to act on this if they want the market's total support - and they'll get it if they can make their prices more reasonable. People don't want to buy imported goods without proper warranties or support, but if the price difference between domestic and imported goods keeps them from being able to afford the additional equipment they need to turn a profit - they're going to import. It's sad, but true.

Here's the link for Sony xdcamEX roadshow:

http://www.sony.com.au/article.jsp?id=4015

thank you David i have put my name down this is exciting

Robert

Are they giving away a camera per state or just one for the country?

videocraft said the unit will cost under $10,000 with a card

videocraft said the unit will cost under $10,000 with a card

Robert, you've just made my day!

If that's the case I will own one for sure!

"support your distributors" sounds great, but when they are getting shafted by the manufacturers, there really isn't much that can be done.

The manufactrurers (some, anyway) are well aware that the prices they are selling stuff here for are (in many cases) way above what any sane person is going to pay once margins, shipping etc are added on top, and have put the distributors between a rock and a hard place.

I can give you two different scenarios, both absolutely true:

1. Looking for a shed load of new camera support gear, and approached the only NZ distributor for the stuff I wanted (who shall remain nameless). The price from them worked out 40% (yes 4 - 0 percent!) more than buying from B&H NY, including shipping, duty and GST!!!

Their response: "We can't get them any cheaper from the manufacturers"

My response to them was to give that particular manufacturer the flick and do all NZ camera/ video pro's a favour. And to tell that particular manufacturer their equipment business had moved to NY! (which is where I bought it from).

2. Looking for yet more camera support gear, different manufacturer, part of same group. Different distributor.

Their deal was withing a hairs breadth ($100 NZ) of the cost from B&H (all costs included) and they could get the gear to me in 2 weeks, whereas B&H didn't have any of the stuff I wanted in stock and/ or was on 14 days delivery TO THEM!

No doubts, I ordered from the NZ distributor.


I don't see any point getting into the "grey" argument, as I believe the market will sort the wheat from the chaff here, if manufacturers will not see what is happening, they will lose their local market, and serves them right - if their stuff gets either "greyed" or "B&H'ed", they only have themselves to blame.


CS

Chris, you make some good points. However the fact is things do have to get shipped here, and our governments do impose tax's etc. This is the price we pay for living in 'small' countries far away from the states.

Even if you buy grey market.. your still spending 8 or so thousand on the equipment. I dont know about you but i sure as hell want a warrenty and support when spending that much money.

Buying form B&H is slightly different, i have bought from there, however i still dont think i'd buy a professional camera from there. They are as legit as they come, however you still run the risk of having no 'real' support in your home country.

Im not going to get into a fight about this. You guys can buy from whoever you want. Im going to stick with local authorised retailers who i know will give me support if the gear fails.

Just got the email -

PDW-EX1 will cost $11,490 + GST including 8GB SxS card. Additional SxS cards will initially cost around $750 + GST for an 8GB SxS card and around $1,295 + GST for a 16GB SxS card

Was that from Protel, perchance?

I agree with you on the camera front BTW, at those prices I want a Warranty too, and that's without the PAL/ NTSC problems buying from the States.

Lower priced stuff and bomb proof items like camera support etc are a different kettle of fish entirely.

Interestingly, buying off shore doesn't always mean losing the manufacturers support services - I had an issue [ I stress, not a fault] with my new Vinten Vision 3 head (bought from B&H, NY), and Vinten UK had a triple pack of counterbalance springs in my mail box in less than a week, now THAT's what I call support!


CS

Yup Protel. Will be interesting to what it'll drop too when specials start.

Good ol' vinten. I've heard they were good at looking after people. I've got 2 sets of Vision 100s at work, quality tripods and when i need to upgrade my personal gear from my current miller solo i'll be going vinten.

Anyway, im glad at least someone agrees on the camera front.

Joe

Prices are now floating between $10500 and $12k AUD.

>>>Aus needs to make as much money<<<

I guess you've somewhat simplified the argument, because it doesn't read well to me. The argument for charging more can only be on the basis of the cost of supporting the item (training staff, holding parts, slower turn-over of stock). The cost of staff is less than in US. If the argument is that Sony/Canon in Australia is entitled to an income similar to their counterparts in the USA, or that TASMAN or Videoguys are entitled to the same income as B&H, then GlobalMedia are on to a good thing. I saved $2K buying from NZ and you'll note that Sony guarantees cover Australasia (Aust & NZ).

EDIT: GlobalMedia appear to hold their stocks in NZ (and UK). They'll deliver to your residence in NZ and my stuff was shipped from NZ

I see that Videoguys (Aus) now has it for $10,440 inc GST + extra card