Japan Camera Grades

By Yu Kanke · Japan Camera Grades · Last verified 2026-10-28

Japanese Used Camera Grades, Translated

What A, AB, B and "junk" actually mean at Kitamura, Fujiya, Map Camera and RE Camera — and why the same letter does not mean the same thing.

Last verified: 2026-10-28. Sources are the official condition pages of each shop (listed at the bottom).

The one thing to understand first

Japanese used camera shops publish their own condition scales. There is no industry standard. The letters look familiar — A, AB, B — but they are shop-specific labels, not a shared ladder.

That matters because a listing from Shop X and a listing from Shop Y with "A" on both can be two different grades of merchandise. If you buy by letter, you are buying by assumption.

Below are the four scales most overseas buyers encounter, taken from each shop's own published definitions.

The four scales, side by side

ShopGradesLadder (best → worst)
Kitamura (ネット中古)6AA 新品同様 / A 美品 / AB 良品 / B 並品 / C やや難あり / D 故障品（ジャンク）
Fujiya Camera8未使用・未開封 / A / AB+ / AB / AB- / B / 現状品 / コレクション
RE Camera7S 未使用 / A 極美品 / B 美品 / C 良品 / D 並品 / E お買い得（訳あり） / J ジャンク
Map Camera5（記号なし）新同品 / 美品 / 良品 / 並品 / 難有品・ジャンク品

Read the middle column twice. "A" appears in three different positions on three different ladders.

Trap 1: "A" is not one grade

So "A" at Fujiya is closer to "AA" at Kitamura, and "A" at RE is a stricter label than "A" at Kitamura. Buying "A" from three shops and expecting one standard is how mixed pallets end up uneven.

Trap 2: "B" can mean near-opposite things

A buyer who learns "B" on one shop's scale and applies it to another will be off by three grades.

Trap 3: "AB" is a Kitamura word, not a universal one

Kitamura uses AB for 良品. Fujiya uses AB as a band with three sub-grades (AB+, AB, AB-), where AB means "standard used with scratches and paint loss". RE Camera does not use AB at all. The string "AB" tells you which shop you are reading, not how good the item is.

What "junk" actually covers

Junk (ジャンク) is the label overseas buyers most often misread, because it covers two very different kinds of merchandise:

  1. Dead or damaged — does not operate, sold for parts. Kitamura's D 故障品 and Fujiya's コレクション sit here.
  2. Working with a stated flaw — RE Camera's E お買い得（訳あり）and Map Camera's 難有品・ジャンク品 cover "some defect or functional limitation", not necessarily dead stock. RE explicitly says such items can still be usable if the use case fits.

The practical consequence: "junk" is a disclosure category, not a quality score. Always read the comment field, not the label.

Warranty is attached to the grade, not to the shop's reputation

This is the part that changes the economics for resellers:

Two identical-looking "B" items can therefore carry different risk depending on which shop and which vintage category they came from.

How to read a Japanese listing in 60 seconds

  1. Ignore the letter first. Find the shop's own condition page (linked below) and locate the label on that shop's ladder.
  2. Read the comment field. Japanese shops put the real information there: haze, fungus, balsam separation, shutter count, battery degradation, missing accessories. Map Camera, for example, states it notes fungus and haze (カビ・クモリ) explicitly.
  3. Check what is excluded from warranty. 現状品 / コレクション / ジャンク are usually outside it.
  4. Check accessories. "付属品" is itemised at the good shops; a missing battery or cap changes landed cost.
  5. Check the shop's return window, not just the grade. That is your real protection.

Five questions to send the seller

Copy-paste, in Japanese, before you commit to a lot:


1. レンズ内にカビ・クモリ・バルサム切れはありますか。
2. シャッター回数は分かりますか（デジタル一眼の場合）。
3. 付属品は写真のものがすべてですか。
4. 中古保証の対象ですか。対象外の場合、その理由は何ですか。
5. 海外発送（EMS/DHL）での実績はありますか。送料の見積りは可能ですか。

Which grade to buy, by purpose

Sources (official condition pages)

Grades are set by each shop and can change. Verify on the live listing before purchase. This page is a translation and comparison of published definitions, not advice to buy any specific item.