Now that the F100 is for real (I notice that it is not an N100 in the USA) I am wondering if a grey market F5 might be a better buy. That is subject of course, but what is the best price you have seen for a grey market F5 from a reasonably reputable dealer?

-- STanley McManus (stanshooter@mailexcite.com), November 24, 1998

Answers

The best price I've seen (presuming it was grey market), was from Del's at 2099.00. I've seen the 1700-1800 range from the sharks listed in PP, but assumed they're not really selling at those prices.

-- Mark Mitchell (mmitchell@inetnow.net), November 24, 1998.

At the recent Hunt's show in Boston, they were selling the F5 for $1995. This was a price with a US warranty and is basically a factory direct price. Generally, the prices at this show are about the same as B&H grey.

I find Del's to generally be a ripoff since they often try to sell used stuff for as much or more than B&H grey.

-- Paul Wilson (pwilson@ultranet.com), November 24, 1998.

No one will find Del's to be the cheapest, and a number of his used items do sell for as much as B&H grey market, but he has a liberal return policy, warrantees his used items well & is extremely honest and is good to deal with.

-- Mark Mitchell (mmitchell@inetnow.net), November 24, 1998.

I don't deny that Del's is an honest business. I just won't pay more for a used item than I can get it for new at another honest business, B&H. If getting a cheaper price meant going to Cambridge Camera or the like, maybe I would though.

-- Paul Wilson (pwilson@ultranet.com), November 24, 1998.

You may want to check out www.cameraworld.com. They don't deal in grey market, but a new F5 is $2000 ($2200 minus a $200 rebate from Nikon). This new rebate must have happened in the last few weeks, since I bought my F5 two months ago for the $2200 price. I will add that the autofocus and color meter is everything I had heard them to be. I don't regret spending several thousand for this camera. It is impressive.

-- Rick R (rwreev@concentric.net), November 25, 1998.

Adorama has it for $1900 US warranty.

-- Chris Hawkins (peace@clover.net), December 16, 1998.

I spoke with Camera World of Oregon today and was quoted a price of $1900.00. This was just a blind taste test, as I have a normal rep that I work with. I would expect that the price would be around the $1700.00 range if I had spoke to my normal rep. Hope this info helps.

Camera World of Oregon

-- J. Satriani (dr_satch@hotmail.com), January 25, 1999.