How can I tell whether a camera lens is genuine, grey market, or used?
Asked 7/12/2011
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I was offered a lens at a surprisingly low price and want to avoid buying something misrepresented. How can I tell whether a lens is a genuine new retail lens, a grey-market import, a refurb/used lens, or an outright fake? Are there visible signs to check before buying?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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Both refurbs and "grey" lenses are genuine. The only way you could tell the difference from a US made new one is if you had a list of serial numbers for each category.
Fakes are more easy to spot, will usually have clearly inferior materials and often (deliberately) missspelled brand names (so the seller can claim he wasn't trying to scam you, you made a mistake in misreading the name. Something that may not hold up in court when the actual trademark owner sues, but will hold up (probably) if you'd sue). Think fake "Louis Vuitton" bags sold as "Louie Vutton", Nikon might be changed into Nikkon. For the very best fakes though, it'd take good knowledge of the real thing to tell the difference. But this being Manhattan (New York in general, long home to very shady camera stores) I'd not trust anything offered at much under manufacturer RRP.
Originally by user4000. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user4000
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A genuine grey-market lens and a genuine refurb/used lens are still real manufacturer-made lenses, so in many cases you cannot reliably tell them apart from a standard new retail lens just by looking at the lens itself. Condition and packaging may vary, but the lens can be physically the same.
A fake lens is different: obvious warning signs are poor build quality, inferior materials, sloppy markings, or misspelled brand/model names. Better counterfeits can be much harder to spot without knowing the real lens very well.
So the safest practical advice is:
- Be skeptical of prices that seem far below normal.
- Buy from a reputable dealer.
- Don’t assume a low price means “fake”; it may instead mean grey market, used, or refurb.
One community note: for some Nikon lenses, a "US" marking before the serial number was reported as an indicator of U.S. distribution, and lack of it may suggest grey market. But that would only relate to distribution channel, not whether the lens is genuine.
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