K3 From Australia

Hi,
I notice that the K3 is around £200 cheaper in Australia than the UK. I am visiting Aus in the very near future and am seriously considering buying one whilst I am there. Apart from the warranty issue does anybody know if it the same machine on both continents. I did read, for example, that the drivers and firmware are different.

Anstonian

I'd be surprised if the firmware was different, but you would be eligible for a chunky tax bill when importing back into the UK, which may be worth considering.

It might be worth checking with Pentax. My understanding is that if you purchase personally on a trip abroad it will have an international warranty that they will honour. It is the "Grey Imports" that are not liked.

When a camera is manufactured it is sold to the Operation in that country - they then mark up the price to include the warranty in that country - that warranty premium is then used to fund claims and the warranty operation. Grey Imports can significantly distort that.

Be aware that the consumer laws are different there as well. If you purchase and find that there is a problem with the camera, you do not have a return grace period and will probably have to go through a warranty repair. I was there at Christmas and this made me a little nervous, I had 2 K5's with oil, although the K3 QC seems much better not. Also, I could not find a retailer stocking pentax with it in stock at the time. So now I am still waiting for further UK price drops to hit my target price