I recently was looking for a XHA1 in the States. I finally bought from one of our sponser : ZGC

They are not the cheapest around. The price that I got for the XHA1 was slightly more expensive than the lowest Canon Authorised Dealer around.

The reason I bought from them was the service that they offered to me.

I am living in Munich Germany and I wanted a PAL camera. The XHA1 is a camera that is possible to be upgrade to do both NTSC & PAL. The Upgrade is only done in the New Jersey Canon Service Center.

ZGC is also located in New Jersey. ZGC send the camera that I was buying to Canon and Canon later send me the camera after the upgrade. It was send to my friend's house while I was in New York for a visit.All these for no shipping charge.

If you were to buy a camera and wanted to do a Pal upgrade. You need to send in your camera to Canon in New Jersey. Not only do you have to pay for shipping, you risk having it damage or lost while you are sending it in to Canon.

With ZGC . I got mine in the original box (and another box protecting it when Canon send me the Camera).The shipping was spot on, I didn't need to worry about it being lost or damage .

As it works out, I think I had a better deal then going with the cheapest Canon dealer.

Christine from ZGC is very helpful.She relpied my emails and answered all my questions . I highly recommand that those of you who are looking for a XHA1 to buy from her.

Thank you very much Christine.you made my buying experience a wonderful one.

I bought my XH-A1 from Christine the first day they were available. My purchase experience with ZGC was very good, recommended.

These kinds of stories show why it's important to buy from reputable dealers instead of the lowest-prices-in-the-world.com type places. I bought a Libec tripod from Zotz, also a sponsor, and it arrived with the ground spreader instead of the mid-level spreader I had ordered. Brian immediately called the distributor and in about 3 days I had the mid-level one in hand, and they said don't send the other one back, keep it in case I need it, for my trouble. And a freind bought his XH A1 from Tapeworks Texas, also a sponsor, and had excellent service, plus a followup phone call to make sure everything was satisfactory. It doesn't cost much more to buy from the good guys, and the benefits outweigh the cost.

I have purchased two cameras with ZGC, Christine attention is so awsome I'm thinking to add ZGC and staff to all my films credits.....yeah I'm
Kidding, but it is an excellent service. Next day service are always on time.

Alexis

Yep. Bought mine from Christine at ZGC as well. VERY friendly and helpful customer service rep. 2 weeks later when I tested out my firestore and found it defective, she still did an even exchange no questions asked. I would highly recommend buying from them. Also got next day delivery free ( I Live in RI).

Christine has been so incredibly popular on DV Info Net over the years that she even has her own fan club thread (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=8876) in our Sponsors forum. And you should meet her in person sometime... she's a knockout!

Chris-
You said I was a knockout......and after that weekend in Santa Barbara.........

Jim

You're definitely a handsome man, Jim, and you had me at "hello" in Santa Barbara.

Christine is a knockout of the blonde bombshell variety though. Oh wait... you fit that description too!

I am living in Munich Germany and I wanted a PAL camera.

Have you received your order yet? Do you know how much you will be charged in import taxes? If so, is it still a better deal than buying from a dealer in Europe?

I have so far been reluctant to order from the US because import taxes is that unknown variable and returns becomes so much more complicated, as does guarantees.

Cheers, Erik

I pick it up in N.Y when I was there on Hoilday. I know that the taxes can be really high when you send it over. For me it is still much cheaper to get it converted and shipped. I can do 24f straight to film, no more 25f down convert to film.It would cost me about 3900euros (400 for upgrade) for a converted XHA1 if I buy it in Gremany. At the moment the U.S.D is so low.

I am not sure about the taxes in Spain. I bought a 4 year Mack warranty to cover the warranty issue. You can get it from the U.S ebay for about u.s$160.