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American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:30 pm
by machineman9
Howdy, as you may know, I am currently in the Los Angeles area and I've got some spending money which I would like to put towards some new camera parts. My brother-in-law is a photographer and he is usually pretty good at finding good deals on camera equipment.

I'm looking at a fixed length lens, maybe something like the Canon 50mm f/1.8 II. It can be bought from Amazon at about

Re: American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:38 pm
by Sir_Crashalot
There is an easy way to find out. Look at the bottom of your camera. Does it say "Made in Japan"? Now look at the lens. Does that say "Made in Japan"? Yes on both accounts? It'll fit.

Crash ;)

Re: American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:42 pm
by Craig.
yes it should.
My camera is american canon, my 300mm lens is from here in uk.

Re: American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:46 pm
by machineman9
That sounds good then. Yeah, the parts may even have come from the same factory but I am just checking that they haven't been modified to some restriction or regulation or other standard. I know some things from USA won't work in UK and vice versa, but this sounds like it is not a problem.

Thanks for that.

Re: American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 5:54 pm
by Hagar
The type of fitting should tell you. The one you mentioned has an EF mount which should fit all Canon EOS cameras no matter where they were purchased. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_EF_lens_mount

One little snag is that the warranty might not be valid in the UK.

Re: American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 6:44 pm
by machineman9
Yeah I can take EF and EF-S fittings that isn't a problem. My concern would be if for some reason over time it didn't like my British batteries or anything ridiculous like that.

Better safe than sorry. I don't know what kind of concerns there could be, but I'm just making sure there aren't any. The lens will fit fine.

Hagar, this is just checking that it will work so that I shouldn't need warranty. I would like to be able to send my lens back if it were faulty, but this is making sure that it won't break because it is on the wrong camera. If I accidently break it myself then that is a different matter. I plan to take good care of it anyway, but if it broke because the power supply was different or something odd like that, then I would want to know before I bought it. I'm guessing it is all international parts though so it should be fine.


The lens fitting type is fine, so I think that is probably enough to convince me. Cheers, guys.

Re: American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:28 pm
by Craig.
As far as batteries and power go. Again, I use a standard Jessops battery in my 300D, there no issue there at all. It's charged using an american charger through a plug convertor. But I would imagine I could go out and buy a standard uk plug charger. But have never had the need.
The same goes with memory cards, and flash guns and Remote shutters. All of them work perfectly fine despite being from a different country to the camera's origin. ;)

Re: American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 7:51 pm
by BAW0343
One nice thing about cameras is that they are universal. all Canon lenses will fit on a Canon body, As long as the lens was made for that camera it dosen't matter where it was bought  ;D

Re: American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:37 am
by Fozzer
Machineman...

Your visit to L.A. is already turning up some scary language...>>>

"Howdy,
...........

Cheers, guys. "..... :o..... :o....!

Leave it in L.A. when you return!....Please!... ;D... ;D...!

Paul....don't forget the Hollywood sign!... ;)...!

Re: American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:34 pm
by machineman9
Paul, I stuck those phrases in just for you.  ;D

Re: American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:08 pm
by expat
I have bought quite a bit of camera "bits" from many different corners of the world. Providing what ever it is, is made for your camera you will be OK. My experience is that cameras are not like other products where a particular function etc is only for a certain market (though there will always be a exception somewhere). The only thing you are playing roulette with is the guarantee and only because making contact or sending the product back may prove difficult. Saying that I have never had any problems. Another thing to watch for. What ever you buy, remember if caught, you may be liable for tax as you re-enter the UK. Discard all the packaging before you come back if the item could cause questions as the the value. Try and make it look like you took it with you (it is not fool proof though, customs have a knack of spotting these things and you sweating buckets will not help ;D) You can always post yourself the instruction book and guarantee paperwork (done that a couple of times too :-X).

Re: American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:28 pm
by BAW0343
There was a discussion I saw in a photo forum about buying lenses in other countries. Apparently if you use it before your return there's no Tax on it so no worries about customs.

But that may have been a specific canada/usa debate...

But still how will customs know how many lenses you left with and return with? I know they didn't count how many I had when I went over the pond.  ;)

Re: American bought equipment on a British bought camera

PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:00 pm
by Fozzer
[quote]Paul, I stuck those phrases in just for you.