Counterfeit Pentax & Canon Lenses

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Counterfeit_Pentax_lenses_among_gear_s...

If the counterfeiters are making fake Pentax and Canon lenses, I suppose that tells us what they thought was profitable....

Interesting. Recently I was on holiday in Gran Canaria (anyone who's been to the Canarys will know what their camera salesmen are like).

To my barely concealed surprise when one of them spotted my SLR around my neck his imediate response was "ahh, Pentax, you look, I have many Pentax lens".

Now generally speaking these people are the type who will try and argue that whatever they are selling is better than whatever you have, in the face of any and all evidence to the contrary. They are also known for selling large numbers of Nickon, Cannon, Pantex and Ollompus cameras.

I am now even more happy than I already was that I did not go and look at his lenses.

I've seen good lenses and I've seen bad lenses but I've never seen a counterfeit one. Anyone got a picture of one somewhere? Is it just a case of taking a (for instance) DA18-55 and putting stickers on it proclaiming to be a DA*16-50 or something?

certainly manufacturing counterfeit lenses to a standard where there's a chance people might not notice would be crazy expensive. It would probably be cheaper to buy the real thing!

More plausible that it's desirable old lenses like say a 50mm f/1.2 (take a 1.4 and change the numbers)?

Like you hefty I think it seems strange.

edit: Sorry hefty, that last sentance was rather derogatory to you for a moment there!

There's a lot of goods declared as "counterfeits" when in fact they are just grey imports....

I wonder if they come from the same factory in China/Vietnam/Taiwan as the real thing?

You see plenty of cheap lenses for sale of unknown makes. I guess it would be fairly easy to stick Pentax labels on those though.

Only been to La Palma and never yet met a camera salesman there

I never noticed, but then you should hear what my friends say about me...

I'd be really very interested to see one of these lenses as I concur it would probably be cheaper to buy the real thing than to make up a load of copies. Mind you, the 1.7x TC seems to turn up "new" on eBay periodically in batches - maybe they're fakes?

The Vietnamese factory is owned by Hoya/Pentax so probably not, although the odd "reject" may find its way out via a light fingered employee. Not the same as a counterfeit though...

I'm not aware of ever having seen a counterfeit lens.

However, I would imagine that if the box was copied, maybe the instruction leaflets, and a lens was inserted that looked vaguely simlar ir might pass muster until it was opened at home. Showing a genuine lens in a shop and then giving a boxed one to take away could cover a multitude of sins.

I have seen a counterfeit text book and it was inferior to the real thing, but it was good enough to pass as real if the original wasn't there to compare it with.

If it's worth copying a dental textbook then a lens must have more potential.

One of the ways good are conterfieted is by factories in certain countries such as China.

The factory has been producing a legitimate item using the presses, moulds, materials etc provided by the manufaturer but then runs a batch using inferior materials with no quality control.

These items are pretty near indistinguishable from the genuine artictle.

The things to note are whether the box looks right and whether it comes with all the extras such as high-quality manuals etc. If you're ever offered new goods which do not come in the original packaging they are almost certainally fakes.

Especially for faking false teeth?


Sorry, I'll get my coat.

One can just imagine the counterfeiters busily replacing the "Canon" and Nikon" labels with "Pentax" labels, and wondering why they weren't making much of a profit!

The article is a little vague. I guess we'll have to wait for the full details. It might not mean that the whole lens is a knock-off. It could just mean that older, semi-defunct Pentax lenses have been packed up in fake new boxes. An example: old or defunct mark 1 18-55mm kit lenses acquired for pennies in a job lot packed up so they appear to be new and shiny 18-55mm mark II DA ones. I suppose this kind of thing must be quite common on certain internet auction sites and in car boot sales.

I have a few Pentax lenses I am selling, they are in mint condition with some very minor cosmetic damage...the ink has run on the labels.

Any offers?

My first post on here and I know it's dragging an old topic up,but just thought I'd share my experiences.
Had a K-m with standard 18-55 lens for a few months,but fancied a wider range lens without breaking the bank.
Amazon sold me via a respectable vendor a Pentax smc DA 50-200mm f/4-5.6 ED [Made For Digital] for just over £100 delivered.
All sounded good to me,but when it arrived this morning without the hood as advertised and in a plain unbranded box I kind of wondered if I'd been scammed.
Took about 80 shots today and to my novice eye,they look pretty good.
Assembled in Vietnam apparently but the thing that got me was the lack of manual and the warranty card printed in Jappan.....yes Jappan not Japan...
If fakes are rare then hopefully this lens is 'grey goods' etc,but any comments would be appreciated before I order that 50 mm f1.4 from Canada!!