milandro

Hardly. I am not suggesting that you ask the sender to under-declare the value, although it is my experience that they often do it of their own initiative. Not only, parcels are generally x-rayed and often inspected so if they contain a camera or a lens and the declared value is €1 that would automatically start the procedure that I’ve described. In one case for example I received a saxophone neck from a Taiwanese factory, it was a non commercial item which was a gift to me from the owner of the factory, a good friend, and it wouldn’t have been taxed if only he had it sent from his private address and not from the company address (it had my name engraved on it so something that you can hardly sell!) Sot they sent it, correctly, as a “ gift” but from a commercial address, and when the courier showed up he asked me €40 (where only half was VAT the rest was this mysterious “ handling through customs” charge that both, post and couriers charge for the luxury of them doing the job for which they’be been already paid fat the shipper’s end). I refused the package and it went back to its sender. They gave me the neck “ brevi manu" when we met at a trade fair few weeks after. What customs did was to assess the value based on the commercial value, they opened the “ gift” and looked up the value on internet (easy) and taxed it accordingly, of course they didn’t consider this was a true gift and not a commercial piece. I would therefore discourage anyone to circumvent the rules, even in a bone fide case like this. That’s why your reading of my post is incorrect. Hardly any incitement to commit an illicit. I’ve always paid whatever customs charges me and and as a matter of fact I am rather careful with buying outside the EU unless I am prepared to factor in the VAT (which might vary). Generally I buy small items for less than €25. If and when I buy a larger item I pay what the person at the door asks ( they won’t release it otherwise) and live with it. I also sell things on line (not cameras, saxophones from my collection) and never under-declare de value of the things that I sell. There is a practical aspect to this, along with a moral one, and that is that if you underdeclare the value you can only claim the declared value shod the item get stoled or lost. The saxophones that I sell arrive to wherever they arrive and the people pay the duties or not depending on legislation in the place where they arrive. I’ve sent saxophones to US many times and they never had to pay anything. One time I’ve sent it to a shop and he had to pay duty! Commercial addresses pay, privates generally, don’t. Staying within the law, you can buy from shops in Gibraltar ( in the EU but technically a tax free zone) which are connected to Hong Kong shops. There is no duty from HK to Gibraltar and there is no duty from Gibraltar to the EU. Yes, it was some time ago ( large format wooden cameras) but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that they sent it through a commercial forwarder not a normal courier or post. It was not a door to door shipment. Although I didn’t want that, It was meant to arrive at the airport and for me to pick it up. This procedure is still used when shipping goods from on company to another in containers or pallets. These days it is unusual to do this for a box with 5 cameras in it. A friend of mine ordered 10 saxophones and went through the exact same procedure not long ago. By the way, when, as a consumer since companies don’t pay VAT when importing products but when they sell them on, when paying for a shipment from abroad where you think that you might be paying duty, pay the shipment not in the same invoice as the goods. If you do that you will be taxed VAT only on the imported good (as it should be done correctly) and not on the shipping price which is a “ service” and therefore exempt from VAT. (You cannot add value to a service that you receive and that expires when the goods arrive to you) I hope this clears up you doubts.

he knows from the report so he might tell us. In any case it’s a lot of money for a camera that didn’t suffer any trauma from falling or being dropped in water.

When importing anything which came as a parcel from outside the EU, I have always been taxed+ paid the “ handling through customs” levied by the post or courier . Americans hardly ever get taxed when buying from abroad unless they have a commercial address. Been there, done that too.

the normal one and the APD version http://www.fujivsfuji.com/56mm-f1pt2-vs-apd/

or not, we shall see. In Doris Day’s immortal words... The future's not ours to see. Que Sera Sera

I was thinking to buy one for the X-E2, they are really nice and well made. Unfortunately Mr. Asahi has told me that he hasn’t been able to make one for X-T1 ( due to some shape problems which he couldn’t accommodate) which is a shame for all those who’ve experienced problems with the X-T1 in this region.

I don’t think that there are many cameras with real leather these days. My Rolleiflex GX 2.8 60 years edition came with a real snake leather and gold trims. I miss that camera which despite the fact it was a collector’s edition I used (took pictures for CD’s covers). I sold it because I don’t shoot analog anymore. You can buy the Asahi-Aki skins. Some are sold as “ Leather”(real?) others are sold as “ Leatherette” (Plastic). http://www.aki-asahi.com/store/

Some cameras operated by touchscreen menus are not equipped with the necessary dials and buttons and obviously those brands prefer a sleek look. Not a camera that I might be possibly interested in. I like the X-T exactly as is and will welcome the joystick but that alone won’t make me change the camera. As others have said that is what attracted me in the X system and I would consider it yet another good reason for not upgrading my camera to a camera like that.

it would but Fuji in their wisdom, probably, have thought that they don’t want a 3rd 56mm.

good to know, I’ve always had to pay

I suppose that you are familiar with the term “ contradictio in terminis “ as in “ a scratched camera shouldn’t have new leather(ette) skin” sort of thing? However “ de gustibus non est disputandum “ so you win

I preferred the last version

apparently one of our members @Yukosteel, has made one steampunk camera already. This concept could be ever so simply applied to the X-70!

Thank G-D for that!

Contrary to the suspicions of many, buying from China or many other countries, hardly ever comes with “ problems” and sellers are so keen to preserve their ratings for reputation that will go a long way to fix any problem that there might be. There is no reason why Chinese imports woud be of any different quality than official imports. Guarantee on lenses is, my view, less significant than on cameras and don’t forget that if you pay by credit card or Paypal you can have the right to return faulty goods for up to 6 months ( paypal has recently upped their guarantee). The only problem would be that you can return the goods but you won’t get compensation for whatever duty you might have had to pay at your end. @Sluw, did you pay VAT and the courier “ handling through customs” ? The Dutch customs always get me for anything which declared value is greater than €25, although it is true that many Chinese companies understate the value of the shipment and that you are then (if it is not manually inspected) charged accordingly or, if the value is kept fictitiously under the €25 threshold, you don’t pay anything at all. This is not exactly “ kosher’ and if customs happen to inspect the goods (which they do but they can only do so much) they MIGHT ask you to provide proof of purchase (your credit card or paypal) to assess the real value of the goods. I had to do this a few years ago when I imported 5 large format cameras from China. They didn’t believe the declared value and summoned me to Schiphol where the parcel had arrived with a bank statement ( at the time paypal didn’t exist) showing the exact amount that I had paid. Then I paid the VAT then and there and a forwarder charged me also for the “ paperwork” that they had done (NOT).

... and it’s a very good job that they didn’t fall into this trap because that would be really confusing to people whom, like me, chose this system over Sony ESPECIALLY because things like operating by menus were reduced to a minimum and there were no touch screen functions. I really wanted a camera with button and dials and got myself an X-T1 and then also a X-E2. I like the system for what it is, if they would make it something else I would seriously consider to not upgrade to a newer camera. Which is something that, until now, the X-T2 previews haven’t been enticing me into. It’s also a good job that they kept the size and feel. Making this camera any larger to accommodate a larger and vertical standard grip ( rather than keeping it an accessory for those who, for whatever reason, can’t do without) would go against the grain of what this system, for me, is all about. I’ve always thought that this camera was the modern equivalent of the Pentax LX of my youth. Small, compact, and a tool to take pictures. A mean and lean machine. To me, the real strength of the fuji system is to insist with their concept. It is not only about the looks, but about essence and relative simplicity without Leica’s snobbery. Will I go for the T2..., I am probably waiting for the T3 to see what this is all about, for the time being, my two cameras are still providing the tools for pictures that I can handle. I’ve yet to find their limits which I am daily confronted with mine.

that’s beside the point. Shimashams has been charged a serious pretty penny.

Not that I want to be a wise equine, but I’ve been to China a few times and visas can be acquired at the Chinese embassy in the NL. You walk in, you fill a form, pay and walk away with the visa. There is no delay possible if you can be there in person.

I am sorry, was you camera still under warranty? They charged you £115?I understood that you only had a software problem. Did I miss something? Are you sure you don’t want to get in touch with the Tokyo head office to ask if this is the Fuji policy in general or just Fuji UK being extravagant?

I am sure it says in the book which came with the lens, but there it goes. “...Located under the iconic red XF lens badge is the focus limit switch, which is essential for many wildlife photographers. Take this scenario for an example. If there was a lion in the distance and grass in the foreground it would make sense to limit the focus past five metres. This is so the lens won’t focus on the grass subject in the foreground, but rather on the lion in the background. The switch features two settings: ‘FULL’ provides a full range of focus, whereas ‘5m-∞’ limits the focus from 5 metres through to infinity. "

Probably this in inherent to the fact that it is such an extreme focal length? Does it matter if the focus limiter in engaged or not?

Life is a Dutch Beach!

not only, this answer (like the one to many other questions) can be found without needing to open new thread

I obviously agree, since, as written before, I too believe that Fuji has managed to carve their niche and establish a market base for themselves covering bases left uncovered by the competition. Allow me a digression that is somewhat related to OP’s request about the X-T1 custom setting for ISO, which on this particular camera is governed by a selector dial and not by a programmable button. This is obviously not happened by chance or accident, it happened by design, by choice because it would have been cheaper to make it exactly like that, but at Fuji they have determined that the Fuji customer that they are pursuing has certain wants and “ needs”. I have asked many times FR to join forces with Fuji and ask the people on this forum about their demographics. If such a survey were held among us (and maybe if Fuji would extend it to other Fuji communities ) I think that certain distinctive traits would emerge. I am sure that at Fuji marketing department things like these have been done but I am not sure of their geographical distribution. It is very possible that some choices were made assuming that what they had found on a local market might be exported to all markets and, personally I am not convinced of that. I would really like this survey to be held in a very complete and articulate way.

I had one of those, it was ok, but it was too small for my needs. I sold it when I bought my leather Jill-E design Jack extra large messenger.