Hello from Shanghai - tons of camera gear....

[keylight]

So I'm in Shanghai for the next few months, and today I went to the Xing Guang Photographic Equipment City, which is basically a 5 story mall filled with photo gear. You can buy pretty much anything you need in this building, sometimes at higher than US prices, sometimes lower (basically all the domestic products).

For example, I saw the Wondland/Came/Lots of other names Stabilizer system that typically sells for about $800 (including shipping and duties) for $500. And lots of LED panels, including one which was the spitting image of the F&V K4000 (which I own) for $250. And air cushioned heavy duty light stands from about $30 - not at all cheaply made (although there were also some shops selling stands with cheap plastic locks and heads for $10-15). Oh, and very nice 4 x 5.6 matte boxes with double rotating filter trays for about $300. Lots of 15mm rails and support gear, sliders (like Konova) and..... well all the stuff you can find on ebay. Saw pretty much all of it and more, for pretty good prices. Overall, I was pretty impressed with the quality and prices.

And of course I saw some obvious copies of gear like the Aviator jib, and Arri's classic tungsten fresnel (right down to the silver body with blue front and back).

There were also a ton of imported products, like Gitzo and Manfrotto tripods. Pretty much all the imported stuff looked to be about 10-30% higher than prices in the US. The GH3 grip was going for $300 (a big increase over the US). (BTW, they also had a very cheap plastic copy - what they guy called "special for China only" for $100. It had cables coming out of it that you would have to plug in to the camera's ports, rather than using the camera's built in contacts. Total piece of crap actually.)

Anyway, I wanted to take some photos of gear, but nobody would let me. Maybe next time I'll sneak a few. Or I'll tell them I'm buying for a friend back home and he needs to see it before I buy it.

 

[henryqiu]

Unless you badly need something, would you buy in mainland China as opposed to elsewhere (such as in HK or in US)?

Probably not!

Most Chinese citizens residing in mainland China don't have easy access to products sold elsewhere and they can't travel as freely as most residents in other parts of the world. So they typically don't have the options to buy elsewhere. They are stuck with what they can get in mainland China.

With reference to what you could get domestically in US, lots of the same or similar photo/video/sound gear stuff in mainland China are really

1) either cheaply made for low or very low prices, or

2) imported for much higher prices (as if exchange rate were 10 to US$1, as opposed to the actual 6 to US$1), or

3) (typically in the case of made-in-Japan stuff, like Canon 5D3 camera or Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens for example) imported for similar or even slightly lower prices.

4) Truly quality equipment made in China are not cheap at all (an example: Benro tripods and heads have made their way to B&H store in New York. They are good alternatives to similar products from Gizto or Manfrotto. They are priced similarly inside China as in B&H, though always cheaper than the similar Gitzo/Manfrotto products).

The primary issue of buying gear (regardless what it is) in mainland China is that they very likely lack the post-sale service, or quality of it, that you would expect from a reputable store in US. That makes buying in mainland China to be more or less like buying on eBay here in US. Another issue is, of course, that cheaply made stuff are typically not as good or as reliable. Their lower prices are matched with their lower quality, cheaper materials, poorer craftsmanship, and/or poorer (sometimes virtually non-existent) support.

 

[keylight]

Unless you badly need something, would you buy in mainland China as opposed to elsewhere (such as in HK or in US)?

Probably not!

Most Chinese citizens residing in mainland China don't have easy access to products sold elsewhere and they can't travel as freely as most residents in other parts of the world. So they typically don't have the options to buy elsewhere. They are stuck with what they can get in mainland China.

Actually, they can buy pretty much everything right at home. Every major brand and every major camera was on sale. I also went to the BuyNow Shopping mall which had pretty much every computer brand available. Even the hugely overpriced Alienware line from Dell. I'm not talking about knockoffs. I'm talking legitimate products. There is also a quickly growing online marketplace.

With reference to what you could get domestically in US, lots of the same or similar photo/video/sound gear stuff in mainland China are really

1) either cheaply made for low or very low prices, or

2) imported for much higher prices (as if exchange rate were 10 to US$1, as opposed to the actual 6 to US$1), or

3) (typically in the case of made-in-Japan stuff, like Canon 5D3 camera or Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens for example) imported for similar or even slightly lower prices.

4) Truly quality equipment made in China are not cheap at all (an example: Benro tripods and heads have made their way to B&H store in New York. They are good alternatives to similar products from Gizto or Manfrotto. They are priced similarly inside China as in B&H, though always cheaper than the similar Gitzo/Manfrotto products).

The primary issue of buying gear (regardless what it is) in mainland China is that they very likely lack the post-sale service, or quality of it, that you would expect from a reputable store in US. That makes buying in mainland China to be more or less like buying on eBay here in US. Another issue is, of course, that cheaply made stuff are typically not as good or as reliable. Their lower prices are matched with their lower quality, cheaper materials, poorer craftsmanship, and/or poorer (sometimes virtually non-existent) support.

The rest of your post I agree with, except I've no idea about support issues. Although what you say certainly sounds like it makes sense. Customer service in the US really came about as a value add to differentiate sellers. Too many small sellers here to really have that sort of system in place I suspect.

Today I'm venturing out to Jin Ling street, which is supposed to be block after block of audio and instrument shops. This weekend I'm planning to venture down to a fake market to gawk at all the cheap knockoffs!

A quick shot from my phone using it's cool panorama mode (HTC One, which I highly recommend btw) last weekend: