INON Not Shipping to US Dealers ?????

[Nemrod]

I think one issue here is cultural. Inon is a small company, they don't seem to be North America oriented. Inon America made itself the middleman that many dealers never used. Inon decided it did not want a middleman in North America for some reason undisclosed. The products continue to be available. The cultural issue may be that Inon simply does not care that much for working within the United States due to all of the legal, import, carbon taxes, import legalities TART, and on and on and simply decided to retract itself to a more minor player with in the United States via established dealers, not a middleman. Many foreign companies, not just Inon, simply choose not to do business in the United States, FIAT, Renault, Gull, oh, forget that, I don't have time to type all the companies that do not do business in the USA due to our restrictive policies and legal crap.

The Sea and Sea looks like a good strobe, it would have been my second choice.

It still remains that dealers who never sourced through Inon America are still retailing Inon products in the USA, those who don't oh well, I go somewhere else.

I would not look for Inon to explain anything, make any special webpage announcement for North America or anything other than what they are doing now, if you want their product you can buy it, if you don't you can go elsewhere---hmmm--there is no elsewhere because nobody but Inon makes the unique products they do.

Another fact, without a well known long time distributor and dealer the below pic would not be possible, some of these items were just purchased and just arrived this week. These products largely have no substitute without moving up to a dSLR.

My homemade Canon to Inon to Ikelite tray adapter:

Now the cameras interchange on the Ikelite tray without disassembly or carrying another tray.

You want wide angle, I got your wide angle right here.

N

 

[RonFrank]

I think one issue here is cultural. Inon is a small company, they don't seem to be North America oriented.

I would not look for Inon to explain anything, make any special webpage announcement for North America or anything other than what they are doing now, if you want their product you can buy it, if you don't you can go elsewhere---hmmm--there is no elsewhere because nobody but Inon makes the unique products they do.

N

I think the main issue has nothing to do with culture, and is totally based on the economy. If Inon wants to continue to do business in the USA, they BETTER start issuing some statement towards that mission.

Inon shut down Inon America, and handled that very poorly. They basically cut them off, and the American division. was not even able to complete repairs on products they had in house slated for repair. Their English translation site is *under construction* and has been so for months. That is not a good sign.

I'm thinking Inon is in trouble based on their actions. Those who choose to continue to purchase products from Inon, that is their decision. Personally, I would not invest anything in their product line until such time as there is better support for Inon products in the US.

It would be interesting to research the current profitability of Inon. My bet is they are struggling to keep the doors open, even in Japan. The fact that they continue to supply some US dealers is a good sign. However without looking closer at Inon as a company, their actions certainly put their future into question.

 

[alcina]

ROFLMAO - a "fan girl" Love it!

 

[diver 85]

The email I received from a well-known dealer is as follows: "We are out of all Inon products since Japan has halted shipping to America. Every dealer in the USA is in the same position."

Based on this and the letter from Inon America, it does appear Inon in Japan is trying to reach out all the way to the end-user, thus eliminating the entire distribution/dealer network in the USA. How stupid is that???

Sounds like 'think Pearl Harbor'????????

 

[Nemrod]

If you guys are going to go Japan-O-phobic better dump those Canons, Nikons, Sonys and just about everything else because we in the USA decided years ago we did not want to produce durable goods and prefer to flip houses and burgers and just whine.

Inon Americas was not a division, they were a middle man that Inon decided to no longer tolerate.

N, I got your wide angle right here

 

[RonFrank]

Nikon, Canon, etc. ALL have dedicated USA based operations that promote, service, wholesale, and sell their equipment. You can purchase Nikon/Canon camera in hundreds of locations in every major city in the US. They have the same types of operations throughout the world.

We are not talking about companies like Nikon/Canon (HUGE) we are discussing Inon (Tiny). There was likely less than 100 stores in the entire US where one could purchase Inon equipment, and that was before they shut down Inon USA.

If you have factual information about the health of Inon, please provide it. If Nikon shut down their USA division, I'd have the same concerns about them.

 

[Nemrod]

I did.

N

 

[John_B]

Nem, I originally passed on the UW dSLR route because it was just too expensive. I have to admit that I'm seriously beginning to rethink that.

I appreciate that most UW photography is macro. I'd probably want to shoot macro occasionally too, but the reason I'm getting into UW photography is specifically for WA and over/under shots. What can I say, its an "art thing". :cool2:

Unfortunately I think that you understand WA better than a many of the dealers and most of the manufacturers (both housings *and* cameras).

I agree that this thread seemed to take a sudden (and unwelcome, IMO) anti-Japanese lurch. That was not my intent. I'm just trying to find out if I'm making a mistake buying a bunch of INON gear at a time when they seem to be folding back support for those of us in the US. I read no Japanese and I know nobody who does.

Back on topic, my current approach was going to be:

A590IS (or A570IS?) + WP-DC12 housing + INON AD Mount Base DC12 (Converts WP-DC12 to INON bayonet mount) + INON UFL-165AD (WA "fisheye" lens).

Then if I was happy with that I would add the INON W36 Set (Optical Cable/Cap set for firing a strobe) and the INON S-2000 Strobe (or maybe the D-2000? or ???) and probably the INON UCL-165AD (Close-up Lens) for the odd macro shot.

I'm only going with that Canon camera and housing combination because nothing else seems to be easily compatible for a true WA lens. As you've already figured out the true WA lens only works with AD mounts, and not with the 28AD mounts for the Canon SD/ELPH line. If this was a programming problem I would jump in with both feet, but I don't have the DIY skills to do the kind of mods you've made. That leaves me in the INON camp or ???

I'd be interested in your thoughts.

 

[annasea]

<snip>
A590IS (or A570IS?) + WP-DC12 housing + INON AD Mount Base DC12 (Converts WP-DC12 to INON bayonet mount) + INON UFL-165AD (WA "fisheye" lens).<snip>

As a fellow Canon user (A720) who is planning on upgrading her Canon housing to an Ikelite and adding a strobe, I hope you don't mind me jumping in here while we both wait for Nemrod.

Why is it you're considering the Canon housing with a converter rather than an Ikelite housing, for example? Are Ikelite housings only compatible with Ikelite WA lenses? And any other lens only compatible with a housing of the same manufacturer for that matter? (I'm not planning on an WA lens at this time, but this is good information and maybe one day I can afford to change my mind.)

 

[Nemrod]

John, I am a book worm, I learn by reading everything and then as a science trained person I then experiment to develop conclusions. Occasionally I am wrong, mostly not.

If you want a dSLR then certainly that would be a versatile do anything camera. The Tokina fisheye lens goes as low as 10mm and provides up to a full 180 degree FOV with dome ports and that on a DX format! I just don't want to go that route right now for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that my system is more portable and still even with the additional accessories considerably less money than a dSLR system. Of course, it will not take National Geographic quality pics either, lol. I just want fun photographs from a portable and relatively inexpensive system.

John, the Canon 590 will not fit into the DC-12 housing, only the discontinued 570 will. That is why I linked you to the Ikelite page. The Ikelite housing for the 590 will not accept the AD mount lenses but it will accept the 67mm threaded lenses.

Underwater Housing for Canon A580iS & A590iS Cameras

I am also thinking highly of these units:

Underwater Housing for Fuji F60fd Digital Camera

Underwater Housing for Fuji Finepix F50fd Camera

Both of the Fuji units also have manual control and both Ikelite housings for them will per Ikelite accept both Inon AD and 67mm threaded Inon/Epoque/Ikelite lenses with the specific Ikelite adapter.

I know this is confusing but it really is not difficult. Yes, I realize that some of the places that you might call actually do not know as much as they think. They throw around words like wide angle without defining what it is for example. They also often don't understand what wide angle lenses are used for or how to take advantage of their typically huge depth of field and close focus or the ability to get close to reduce water column. I have been specifically told certain things I am currently doing will not work--they were wrong and they were wrong because they don't read, measure, experiment and ultimately understand. Repeating something over and over as is so often done does not make a fact, defining, measuring, experimenting to a general set of conclusions does result in the production of a FACT.

N