Cost of a Nikon D70s with 18-70mm kit lens?

[prolyfik]

Anyone know the going price of a Nikon D70s w/ kit 18-70mm kit lens in Beijing? Any recommendations on a place to buy? I've heard that "fake" units don't really exist, but that sometimes the batteries included may be non-Nikon reproductions....

[roddy]

Now this I can help on, as I recently picked up a D50 kit in Beijing.

I used two websites for price checking, Rayi.com.cn, and they have the D70s kit at 8500Y.

Nikon-shop.com.cn has the same at Y8480.

Meanwhile, Zhongguancun Online reports the 北京报价 as 8600Y

After loads of research, I went out to Beijing Camera Equipment City, where I was able to price-check at about a dozen different places very quickly. My impression was that the prices were virtually identical in all the stores, and scope for bargaining was very limited - maybe a small discount or a cheap bag / small memory card thrown in, and the shops that weren't budging on price were telling me that the only reason the other shops were going cheaper was because they were going to swop the original battery for a 国产 one. There might be more flexiblity in the price of an older model, but at the time the D50 was pretty new, and I saw a number of people looking at it while I was there. The D70s isn't quite so new, so maybe there's more give in the price, I"m not sure.

I wound up purchasing from the Rayi shop just inside the entrance there, as although it was marginally more expensive than some places the service there was a lot more professional, and it's the kind of place I could go back to for accessories quite happily. It also seems to be a well-run firm rather than one bloke and a shop - it's nicely fitted out, the website (above) is up-to-date with active forums, and they've just opened a flagshop store at SoHo (see the front page of their website). Like i say, not the cheapest, but I felt more comfortable buying there.

[prolyfik]

Thanks Roddy for the great reply! You're right that Rayi seems to be a little more of an established company than many other vendors. I've asked around and have been quoted 8200 RMB for the D70s kit pretty consistently.

I'm wondering, do you know how the warranty works here in China? Do you need to register your camera body & lens after you've purchased it? One shop told me just to keep the receipt and if I ever have a problem to take the camera into the Nikon service center with the receipt. And then another shop said something about a two-year warranty, but I didn't quite understand what they meant.

As this is a big purchase for me, I'm a bit nervous about it all!

p/s - As for the shop I recommended to you earlier, I did take some files shot with a friend's D70 there and they made some pretty nice prints of them. Just remember to crop them to the size you want them beforehand - otherwise, you may end up with big white borders or strangely cropped images...

[roddy]

I've always been told just to take the receipt along to a service center, but I've never actually had to rely on a warranty.

Rayi (I think) offer a two year warranty, where the first year is the official Nikon warranty and the second their own - so for the second year you have to take it to Rayi, not to any service center. (EDIT: Actually now I think about it this might be restricted to purchased made with a Rayi VIP card or something.)

Roddy

[guest1234]

Hi all

Just a quick question for Roddy. What do you thing of the D50 kit. I am on my way to Beijing in the next couple of weeks and am looking at a new camera while I am there. I have been thinking of the nikon. I wondered what your first impressions are.

cheers

phil

[roddy]

I've had my D50 for a couple of months now. I'd say it's a great entry-level DSLR - it's very user friendly, I've got some good results with it, and (like all DSLRs I guess) I can either set everything up myself, or set it to auto and just point and click.

My only caveats would be that if you've had an SLR camera before, or perhaps even a feature-rich consumer camera, you might wantsomething more sophisticated - the D50 is very much aimed at peopple who have previously just pointed and clicked, I think.

Also, I currently only have the one lens so can't really compare, but I've seen comments online that the D50 kit lens is not great - adequate, but it doesn' help you get the best the camera is capable of. If I was buying again I might think about buying the body only and getting another general purpose lens.

There's a very good review of the D50 here, with a chart of differences between it and the D70/s. I was initially planning to get hold of the D70s, but decided I wouldn't actually use the additional features, and getting the D50 leaves me with a bit more spare cash for lenses, tripods, bags, batteries, memory cards, filters, and everything else this expensive hobby requires. . .

Roddy

[ala]

Being used to my Nikon FM2 and F4, I found the D70's viewfinder was a big disappointment, it was no better than point-and-shoot viewfinders.

[karmakid]

I saw D80 without lens for 6900, including for 7900. A little to expensive for me so I guess I'll get the sony a100 instead.

[Mike]

大家好!

下个月我要在北京买照相机。

I'm thinking about buying a Nikon D50 (or maybe a D40 or a D80) in Beijing. I've had a look at some online retail sites in China. But the ones I have looked at seemed to be just online stores. Does anyone know of a shop in Beijing selling Nikon cameras that has a website?

Any recommendations about where to buy a Nikon camera in Beijing also gratefully received - whether or not that shop has a website.

谢谢你

[roddy]

Mike, have merged your topic with one that should more or less answer your question. Rayi is your best bet (that I know of) for shop + website. Rayi now has a store at Soho, but if you head to their Beijing Camera City you can also visit a ton of other shops on the same day.

[Mike]

Thanks Roddy - I should have searched beforehand - great information about Cameras in Beijing!

Chance to up date this thread on the Nikon D40 to D80 cameras. For ages I used a Nikon F301 (a Mamiya SLR before that) but in recent years I have had a couple of compact digital cameras - currently Sony W17 - great camera for snaps - full stop! I want to get back to a big object lens and the options of manual work: with shutter speed and f-stop control, depth of field preview, bounce flash and all that jazz.

I'm interested in the choice between the D50 and new D40. And because I am interested in doing more photographic fiddling - should I go for the D80?

Appreciate any comments about this Nikon range (I think Canon make great cameras but I'm going to stick with Nikon for the time-being).

[roddy]

D50 doesn't have DoF preview, and I'd be very surprised if the D40 does - I'd say you're better looking at the D80 / D70s. What the differences between those two are I don't know. I like the D50, but if you've had an SLR previously it could appear a bit simplified. The lack of a second control wheel is probably the biggest drawback.

[anneastorga]

Hi everyone

would anyone know how much and where i can find a Nikon D80 in shanghai?

Btw, RODDY i checked out the site you recommended below. (raji) would you know if they have an english version of the site? i cant read chinese. and or if they do deliver internationally. need your help guys.

Thanks.

[londoner]

If you can afford it, I would recommend getting the D80 body and the superb AF-S Nikkor 18-200 DX lens, rather than the bundled D80 with 18-70mm lens.

[cdn_in_bj]

The Rayi site looks good, thanks for that tip Roddy.

I've also ordered from this site recently:

http://www.camdv.com/

Decent prices and they had a guy deliver it in person to my office, which was a big plus for me as I didn't have time to make a trip out to Wukesong or Zhongguancun. He carefully unpacked the box in front of me and we checked that everything was brand new and in proper order. The camera had a Canon China warranty and was not an HK grey import.

My next camera's going to be a Pentax, which these guys don't carry, so it looks like I'll be ordering from Rayi this time.