Team-BHP - The DSLR Thread

shaju I have bought loads of stuff from ebay hong kong and I told you last evening what needs to be done. Patience man patience, its our Indian Postal Service( if its them you are using). Everytime I bght stuff from ebay Hong kong, it was shipped through India post and I would personally go to the post office after about 2 weeks to find out if the shipment had reached.Usually it gets there within 15-20days if there are no other unforeseen delays.

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Originally Posted by aburagohain (Post 2411286)

Seconding what Mukesh has shared already, the customs check at Bangalore has become much more strict these days, I talked to the new in-charge and he says anything below 10K marked gift is free of duty and all else pay duty, he is right and doing his duty and as such can't question that intention, I did ask him though about goods which are marked as gift by seller and valued down, no answer to be found as usual apart from a contended smile..

You serious ? I just bought back a Monobloc Amp, a set of JL audio compos, a pair of Hifonics Zeus compos, a samsung tab and a few other goodies :D . No questions asked at the customs.

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Originally Posted by aburagohain (Post 2411286)

Good luck on that, prepare to pay the duty though, 27% on goods+shipping+insurance.. nice calculation!

Some sellers on HK ship products through India post and no duty to be paid here. Either ways what duty would you pay for a few Chinese products ? zilch !!

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Originally Posted by aburagohain (Post 2411286)

I was also amazed once that after all duty agreed to be paid and all necessary documents submitted to the customs office in person, that it took exactly five working days for my shipment to be cleared for delivery and forwarded to the post office.. the post office is just one floor down in the same building.. efficiency at its best show :OT

Strange, never had any issues as such dealing on ebay.Again depends on the value of the item that you are buying. Electronics usually attract duty specially tabs,ipads,et all. Anyways am picking up a media player from ebay soon. Lets see if I have go thru all this.

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Originally Posted by Dry Ice (Post 2411488)

Guys, my D3100 takes a long time to 'process' the long exposure(20-30sec) shots. Once the shutter closes, it takes about the same time as the shot for the preview to show up.

Is this normal? My memory card is class-4.

For long exposures the camera takes a "dark shot" for the same time as the image shot. This is to reduce the thermal noise by subtracting the "dark shot" from actual image shot. Depending on the camera you may be able to suppress this function, but noise will increase. Try it and if it makes no difference carry on without the "dark shot".

Note that the thermal noise increases with temparature, so what may be a clean shot at low temparature (hill station in winter?), may be excessively noisy at 35 degree heat.

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Originally Posted by rjstyles69 (Post 2411518)

You serious ? I just bought back a Monobloc Amp, a set of JL audio compos, a pair of Hifonics Zeus compos, a samsung tab and a few other goodies :D . No questions asked at the customs.

You might have been very lucky and let's hope the lucky streak continues.. :)

I have paid on multiple accounts for lenses and even for smaller items like a set of flash triggers costing some ~$90, this is when I had the said conversation with the officer.
Maybe camera related gear comes to attention faster these days because there are other items like shoes, electric shaver, goggles etc. which got cleared for me.
Good day!

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Originally Posted by aburagohain (Post 2411630)

You might have been very lucky and let's hope the lucky streak continues.. :)

Lucky multiple times in your terms :). Well I know of guys who have bought back AVR's from the US , 2/3 laptops et all and simply walk through the green channel without any issues.

Even with eBay shopping I have only paid duty once when I picked up my Tokina 12-24mm. Every other time no gripes. Product delivered at my door or I pay a visit to the post office.

That said we are way too :OT, back to the DSLR discussion.

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Originally Posted by mukeshgoel (Post 2411191)

I bought Wireless Flash Trigger + 3 Receivers on 12th June, dispatched on 14th June and delivered today......

Thanks for that input, exactly what I wanted to hear from someone. Mine was shipped only on 16th June, so I can wait for 2 more days !

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Originally Posted by aburagohain (Post 2411286)

....customs check at Bangalore has become much more strict these days,....... anything below 10K marked gift is free of duty and all else pay duty.......prepare to pay the duty though, 27% on goods+shipping+insurance......

Thanks buddy, but do you think we need to contact the customs for such shipping ? Its my 4th buy from Ebay HK and never paid any duty so far, nor contacted even the post office except the present order. I am in touch with the post office and the guy who is interacting with me is nice to deal with. He even took the tracking number and checked his shelf and promised to call back when it arrives. But I will keep following up on phone.

The 27% what you mentioned is bit too much. I did a big mistake of ordering 2 flashes, 1 trigger and 3 receivers all as one purchase and the seller conveniently shipped all in one pack. Somehow it did not light on me that a bulk pack would attract attention. Lets hope for the best !

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Originally Posted by pjay_in (Post 2411355)

That's terrific output at ISO-6400. Here's one taken with my D7000 - ISO-6400, f/4 at 1/60. Noisy.....

I find it equally good. In fact D7000 claims to be a good high ISO performer.

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Originally Posted by Aroy (Post 2411448)

.....It is better to pay extra and get the consignment through DHL. They collect the duty on delivery.....

There are many Ebay sellers who offer free shipping or paid shipping only through Govt postal service. Private courier companies always have the custom duty collected at delivery, Govt services never made me pay anything till date. Probably I opt cheaper stuff through free shipping, except the present order.

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Originally Posted by rjstyles69 (Post 2411518)

shaju I have bought loads of stuff from ebay hong kong and I told you last evening what needs to be done. .....what duty would you pay for a few Chinese products ? .....

Yes your owner, as mentioned above, I am in touch with the post office and its not yet arrived. Patience for another 2 days. What you said is right, why should one pay for cheaper Chinese products :) We should press an amendment in the customs rule book !

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Originally Posted by nilanjanray (Post 2411086)

I am lusting over the D7000 right now, thinking of selling my D90 and buying it. Not ready to move to a full frame Nikon yet - plus I like the added reach that a DX format brings me for wildlife. No, I can't justify investing in a superior lens (e.g. 200-400mm f/4) to SWMBO yet ("you are spending multiple years worth of our child's school fees on some bloody lens! We can even buy a hatchback for that money!!!')

Would anyone know what kind of price I can get for a well maintained D90 body (bought from the US in early 2010), and where I can sell it (apart from ebay)?

During my recent trip to Pench, Kanha and Bandhavgarh, I felt the need for better high ISO performance, and a more robust body with better weather sealing.

I agree about the 'photographer having a far greater impact than kit' line of thought. But, I also know that if one has a good camera and especially a good lens, one can get pretty nice photos, if one is decently capable. If a photographer meets minimum capability standards, how do the photographer capability vs. kit capability graphs look vs. image quality? I suspect with better technology, the kit plays an increasingly important role.

Analogy: mixed martial arts. If one has good enough skills, size usually wins over superior technique. Note that good enough is key here.

Nilanjan, for whatever its worth I just checked out the D7000 at a Nikon shop in KL and two things were not to my liking compared with the D90 in a quick comparison. The first was, I didn't like the black shutter button - too plasticky. I prefer the chrome feel of the D90. Second, all those autofocus points clutter the viewfinder in the D7000. I think the D90 has a decent number and anymore is a pain unless you really need them.

All in all, I thought the D7000 was too marginal an upgrade from the D90 and decided to wait for a more substantial jump. Overall the body size, weight and feel is very similar between the two.

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Originally Posted by shajufx (Post 2411649)

If items get caught in customs for any reason, they will not be forwarded to the EMS post office till clearance takes place.
It happened to me once that a lens got stuck and after almost 6 weeks I got a "final reminder letter" from customs to come and produce invoice as they suspected that the item was undervalued and if I did not produce documents within such and such time the item would be confiscated :Shockked:, I actually never received the first intimation letter and went to the office with EBay order print and explained that it was a used lens and as such the value was less than a new one, after that everything was fine, they calculated the duty then and there and told me to expect the parcel any day delivered by EMS post office and duty amount to be paid at time of delivery (which took 5 days to come one floor down as I mentioned earlier).
So that has been my experience, hope your items arrive without problems of course.
Saturday plan is on and I would be at palace grounds with some friends around 9-10, hope to catch up there.

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Originally Posted by StarScream (Post 2411740)

Thanks. I am planning to play around with the D7000, and then take a call.

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Originally Posted by typeOnegative (Post 2400218)

Same state as I am. For me I am currently evaluating the following options:

Tamron SP 272E Di 90mm Macro
Nikon 60mm f/2.8 Micro - This is for full frame cameras

Both are in a price range of 20-26,000. The Nikon is obviously costlier. There is an AF-S VR version also available which is in the 30K range. I might be going for the Nikon lens mentioned earlier. Providing of course that I can find it.

I was thinking about this Tamron lens and Nikon 105mm but went ahead and bought Tamron 90mm from a shop in Thane. Nikon costs 28K more.

OT: YouTube - ‪I AM NIKON - Nikon Brandfilm‬&rlm;

Awesome Nikon commercial! Non-nikon guys can also relate to it.

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Originally Posted by aburagohain (Post 2411756)

.....Saturday plan is on and I would be at palace grounds with some friends around 9-10, hope to catch up there.

Yes buddy, plan is on, but do you think they open that early ? Last year it got life only after 10.30am. I should be there with few friends between 10.30am to 12pm.

For those who are wondering what it is: Photo Today exhibition will commence at Palace Grounds (Gayathri Vihar entrance) on 1st July that will end on 3rd July. It will have many DSLR/ Video/ Print related products on display in different brand stalls. Lighting/ Tripod related accessories will have good bargains.

I must say, flipkart rocks clap: I placed my bag order on 28th night (lowest price I could find in the whole of south) and its on my table as we speak ! No more GK vale, Jayesh and all those attitude sellers, I dont want to waste a 2% on credit card swipes too. Welcome to the world of flipkart. I hope they keep adding many more things into their site. One of my happiest and best online purchase ever !

Lowepro Flipside 400 AW: One of the best DSLR bags I have seen till date for its price. Perfect for my usage with weather cover. It should happily serve me even if I get two 300mm primes apart from the things I have !

Unpacking !

Will post the 'filled to the brim' image once my flashes and receivers reach !

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Originally Posted by CRV2010 (Post 2411873)

Congrats shajufx, I too bought Lowepro bag from flipkart two months back and Yes as you said no more Jayesh .....

Lowepro has a very pleasing design and excellent quality. This is my third from the same name, life-time addiction to this brand guaranteed. Every inch screams "Quality".

I dont want to de-promote anyone but the fact is Jayesh has lost around 4.67 lakh business in the month of May to June 2011 that came through me. I did not ask anyone not to buy from there but suggested cross checking few others. They did it and started spreading the word too. Forget about the new buyer, I myself have given him over 8 lakh worth references in the last 6 months (each of them mentioned my name too which he agrees) but I had to bargain too hard to get a cheapo umbrella adapter last month which was just a matter of Rs.40/- rounding off. On top of that I lost 2% of the total (17k a lens and umbrella set) on card swipe. Worst feeling: flipkart is selling the same lens for 600 bucks less. A radio trigger and receiver which he sells for 2800 is available for less than 1500 on eBay !

Would I go back to him ? NEVER ! Things have changed, we have many alternatives now.