A7 III purchase conundrum!

Messages
7
Edit My Images
No
Hi folks

Would appreciate some thoughts. Am going to get the A7 III (have already bought the 24-105mm when there was a £50 off eBay deal!) but trying to work out best place to purchase from.

I'm currently going between three choices:

Amazon.co.uk - £1,849 (although with Amex Offers at Morrisons could effectively get that down to £1,664 via 10% off gift cards!) - however only standard 1y manufacturer warranty with this. Does anyone know if it is possible to by a '+2 year warranty' card from the likes of Wex and activate it on this? (https://www.wexphotovideo.com/sony-2-year-extended-warranty-rx-and-alpha-body-1582306/) - would be an extra £39.99

Wex - £1,849 (£1,812 after Quidco cashback) - comes with 1y warranty extension included, also interested in the 30% off deal on the Manfrotto Be Free Advanced Alpha, which doesn't seem to be discount elsewhere.

Panamoz - £1,680 - grey market but 3y warranty that seems to get a good name. I'm still not clear what else I'd be losing out with by going down this route? No cashback deals, etc. just now anyway from Sony so doesn't matter not being eligible for them.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/advice!
 
Yep do Panamoz

I paid a bit more to get a UK based supplier as they had a sale on with the kit lens and I wanted next day....it's taken 6 days so far and hasn't arrived

Last time I used Panamoz it was 3 days
 
The only downside to purchasing from Panamoz will be that you won’t be able to register for Sony professional support if that is an issue for you.

Other than that the 3 year warranty included is great. The other popular grey market option would be efinity who are cheaper but only offer a 1 year warranty. Delivery is also slower than panamoz.
 
I’m new to Sony’s so can answer the warranty question as Sony’s extended warranties just confused me!

Regarding which is best it probably depends on if you are happy buying grey and happy with what that means (only you can decide that one). There is info in the link below for TPs grey import info:

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...rey-imports-and-other-assorted-topics.512133/

Plenty of people on here recommend the likes of panamoz and are happy with their service. Their prices are usually lower than UK prices. It’s worth comparing like you have as it’s not always the case. I recently purchase the Sony 24-105 f4 and 70-200 f4, it worked out to be £432 cheaper from WEX with their cyber Monday discount and Sony cash-back than panamoz’s price. even without the discount and cashback WEX would still have been about £150 cheaper so grey isn’t always cheaper (although most of the time it is).
 
I’m new to Sony’s so can answer the warranty question as Sony’s extended warranties just confused me!

Regarding which is best it probably depends on if you are happy buying grey and happy with what that means (only you can decide that one). There is info in the link below for TPs grey import info:

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...rey-imports-and-other-assorted-topics.512133/

Plenty of people on here recommend the likes of panamoz and are happy with their service. Their prices are usually lower than UK prices. It’s worth comparing like you have as it’s not always the case. I recently purchase the Sony 24-105 f4 and 70-200 f4, it worked out to be £432 cheaper from WEX with their cyber Monday discount and Sony cash-back than panamoz’s price. even without the discount and cashback WEX would still have been about £150 cheaper so grey isn’t always cheaper (although most of the time it is).
Panamoz are not good on lenses, bodies yes, lenses no in my experience.
 
Thanks for all the replies so far folks. Panamoz definitely get a good name. 10% off Amazon via Amex/Morrisons is helping that side, they've also got a combo with a Manfrotto Befree Advance Nerissimo that is nice and saves another £45. Have also heard decent things about Amazon 2y mech breakdown/accidental damage cover.
 
I always use e-infin if they have it or panamoz if they dont
 
How about John Lewis £1849 and comes with two year warranty as standard.
 
Interesting - they seem to have just dropped their price recently.

Unfortunately I'd already gone on the gift card run to Morrison's earlier today! So have ended up going to Amazon for A7 III body + Manfrotto Befree Nerissimo + 2yr Accidental Damage/Breakdown for £2034.71, which cost me £1,831.24 after the Amex promo - not a bad deal for what seems to be a very decent tripod that doesn't appear to be discounted elsewhere (£175 everywhere I've seen it).
 
The only downside to purchasing from Panamoz will be that you won’t be able to register for Sony professional support if that is an issue for you.

Other than that the 3 year warranty included is great. The other popular grey market option would be efinity who are cheaper but only offer a 1 year warranty. Delivery is also slower than panamoz.
Not any more but I managed it. I purchased two A9's in August last year and got them registered before the change came in.
I've just ordered a new lens from Panamoz. Ordered yesterday, Fedex email to say it will be with me on Monday :)
 
Panamoz are not good on lenses, bodies yes, lenses no in my experience.
I've just purchased a Sigma ART 135mm from Panamoz. Saved £200 on the cost over here. It's not a great deal, but for waiting for four days for delivery it's worth it.
Having sent something back to Panamoz in the past I can confirm it's no harder than here in the UK!
 
Panamoz.

Have bought plenty and returned too.
 
Not sure if this is the best place to post - I'm currently looking at switching to an A7 III (from a Nikon D700) and wanted to hear people with experience using the FE 85mm 1.8 and 1.4. Leaving build quality to one side, did you notice an appreciable enough difference in image quality and bokeh to justify spending the extra money?
 
I have owned both, and regretted "trading up" from the f1.8 to the f1.4 GM. As it turned out, I actually preferred the cheaper lens- it seemed to me to be as sharp and well made as the GM, while also smaller and easier to handle. I am strongly of the opinion that the GM is not remotely twice as good a buy as the f1.8, unless to a highly skilled portrait specialist. For general use, including less formally posed portraits, I prefer the f1.8, not least because it seems to nail focus more quickly, even in poorish light. Both produce lovely bokeh wide open (though opinion on bokeh is no doubt a personal, subjective, thing).
Just my opinion- others may disagree...
 
Thanks for the reply, it's that kind of insight I'm looking for! I'm not a paid photographer but care greatly about round bokeh and image quality. Main use is impromptu family, friends and random people away from setup lighting or a studio. I found I preferred the 1.4 version of the Nikon 85mm D but your experience suggests the Sony versions are more closely matched.

Appreciate if anyone else on here has experience with both lenses.
 
Glad you found my post helpful, but on reflection I should have suggested that you'd be likely to get more response from a post in the "The amazing Sony A7 (etc)" thread in the "Talk Equipment" forum- that's where the Sony A7/A9 in-crowd mostly hang out:)
 
Back
Top