Hi,

I live in the US and am bidding on the Japanese version of the Sony 16-35 f4 lens.  Are there compatibility issues I should know about?  Thanks

 

 

Hi,

When a company makes a lens, they make the same lens for every one. Official distributors in different countries state they have a specific version, say a USA Model. This means the lens was officially imported to the official US distributor. The paperwork in the box reflects this. It also means the warranty is supported by the official distributors service centers (SONY USA). SONY USA is a different company then SONY Japan, so will only generally honor warranty work that was purchased through their distribution system. Many sleazy camera stores will try to explain their is a difference in a USA product as opposed to a grey market (one that was imported by other than the official distributor, nothing illegal here). I have had stores tell me the USA lens has a metal mount, the grey market has a plastic mount, the USA model includes case and shade, the grey market doesn't, etc, etc. This is all basically bull.

The only times it may matter a little is if you receive a camera that was originally designed for the Korean market, so the inserted documentation is in Korean first, or any other country than your own. This is rarely significant with a lens purchase.

You may/will have warranty issues with buying a lens from a Japanese dealer that was intended for the Japanese market. SONY Japan will repair it for you if under warranty, SONY USA will probably not, not for free anyway. The decision comes down to finances. Do I pay $300.00 more for the Zeiss USA version of the 16-35mm FE, so I have the warranty available, or do I save the money and buy the exactly same lens in Japan and hope I don't have any problems, or I decide I have time to deal with any problems. I have purchase numerous Sony lenses from Japan or Hong Kong and have had no problems. There are also warranties available such as square trade or MACKS that offer the same warranty as the official distributor for a lot less than the price difference between the lens. So, to answer your question, no, there are no compatibility issues. Once you buy it and show it to your friends they won't be able to tell where it came from.

Thanks for the very informative reply Captmatt. It helped a lot.