Fake Hoya Filters, beware.

[BobD]

The fake filters don't really come from China. They come from a fake China which was secretly manufactured in Nigeria.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

China has pretty high manufacturing quality now. Their government has been cracking down on counterfeit goods so the many fake products are made in other areas of southeast asia where it is less stringent and labor is even cheaper. There is a pop up industry in china that is doing exactly what the japanese did in the past, reverse engineering of goods and relabeling for the home market, or for other markets outside that are not 1st world economies. Clear examples are of items such as iPhones and tablets not only are the real deal made there, there are numerous clones that are sold there comprising of many similar parts down to clone operating systems. A huge amount of goods are constructed as parts in china and assembled elsewhere, I would not be surprised though of high quality counterfeits that may make use of machinery and parts when regular plant hours are not in operation or they plan for over runs and sell off production extras.

 

[spark]

When I was last there, about 14 months ago, the fake stuff was off the first floor but definitely available upstairs or down. You have to expect that foreign-brand goods being sold unreasonably cheap are either counterfeits or factory rejects that got slipped out the back door.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Ha, Newt ... The sitution is worse than ever. More Chinese counterfeits are coming in than ever before, and they're getting better, though anyone with a brain should be suspicious of something
priced too good to be true. If we can't even sucessfully police the mass importation of fraud at our
end of the line, what makes you think China can? This stuff wouldn't even exist if there weren't lots
of crooks and sleazy big corporations here asking for this garbage. Entire cargo containers of fake
stuff come in and inspectors at the ports have been caught using counterfeit security seals! I am
a profession buyer and know what I am talking about. As long as there are suckers, there will be fraud. There are just as many phony Rolex watches being sold out of car trunks etc as there were
twenty years ago. Only now its big equipment and auto parts, even name brand batteries.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Should have qualified that last remark a bit. China has been making decent student microscopes,
amateur telescopes, binoculars, magnifiers and survey scopes for quite awhile now - but that's a
single huge plant outside Xian which employs 30,000 people. They subcontract for quite a few companies including Nikon and Peak - but not for camera lenses or high-end applications. These things are made to specification. There are numerous other companies who either build modern
dedicated factories in China, but most equip etc coming in legitimately is VASTLY substandard compared to EU, US, or Japanese mfg goods. Counterfeiting is way worse quality, false labeled
(sometimes well done, sometimes so conspicuously wacky that it amazes me someone could be
fooled by it). Mountainloads of fake stuff comes into LA for redistribution. Auto parts counterfeiting
along is probably a multi-billion dollar enterprise. It's common to mix it in with token amouts of genuine product to conceal the scam.

 

[semi-ambivalent]

The fake filters don't really come from China. They come from a fake China which was secretly manufactured in Nigeria.

With growing anger over wages, working conditions and the ongoing collapse of the shadow banks, the Chinese people have had enough of a corrupt government. "Fake China"? You said more there than you might think.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I'm extenuating my own diatribe ... but remember, within the generally mess of it all, there are still
some very reputable cottage industries or small mfgs in China. Chamonix, Shen-Hao, and certain other custom view cameras seem generally well-designed. These are small companies catering to a
very limited market. And I'm not anti-Chinese! A close family friend established the business school
at the University of Beijing, and my own wife studied there a year to finish her degree in Chinese
Literature (the first of three degrees). If there weren't so many crooks here, there wouldn't be so
many crooks there supplying us. Just like the drug problem here - supply and demand.

 

[Discoman]

sweet, now I finally have filters of a quality to match that of my holga.
how is this NOT good news?
All joking aside, if companies in china started making quality filters i would buy theirs, especially if they were just as good or nearly as good and at a low enough price.
At this time though, I have a set of old filters which work perfectly, included a camera bag, and cost me $5 at a garage sale. Something like nearly 30 different Cokin filters and a complete set of those cutout things.
IMHO, the ebst deals seem to still be finding used stuff at the bay of e or the list of craig.

 

[benjiboy]

The Chinese aren't going to be satisfied with the cheap end of the market for long as the Japanese weren't once they got their foot in the door of Western markets, how long before they are producing quality luxury goods, and making them smaller, more reliable, lighter and cheaper ?, and what's even more concerning is many of our Western governments including the U.S.A are already massively in financial debt to the Peoples Republic Of China they don't have to go to war with us in these days of globalism, just call in their debts to destroy our Western economies.