Buying Cameras

[annemarie]

Does anyone know a good place to buy cameras - my dad is a budding photographer and wants the digital version of the his current Canon camera - retails £999 in UK - $899 in USA - quite a saving - we plan to go shopping in a few places (obviously I am a female!!!)but do they have camera shops?

thanks

[annemarie]

sorry that sounds a bit daft - I do realise that there will be camera shops in US[:I]!! just wondered where the best ones are?

thank you

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by annemarie
Does anyone know a good place to buy cameras - my dad is a budding photographer and wants the digital version of the his current Canon camera - retails £999 in UK - $899 in USA - quite a saving - we plan to go shopping in a few places (obviously I am a female!!!)but do they have camera shops?

thanks

[/quote]

Hi,

There are loads - and I mean loads of camera shops!

My husband has bought several and he found Wolf Camera at Beltz Outlet very good.

Julie R

[annemarie]

Thanks Julie - is the Beltz Outlet same as Belz? (as you can guess I'm a newbie (!) with only 6 sleeps to go!!

thanks

[Fozzie]

Hi, just for info I bought a camera this week from Camera192 on US192 (near Walmart at Marker 14), it is a Canon DV camera that retails in the UK at £599, cost $599 here - quite a saving, but there are lots of places selling at simiar prices.

Some recent experience, in points to look out for :-

Canon have different model names for cameras in Europe/USA i.e. an Elura50 in the US is an MV6i, well worth looking at the Canon web site so you can work out what it is called in the US. - The European models are available but typically the same price as UK, the main difference being that in the UK we use PAL signalling while in the US it is NTSC - most modern TV's, Videos etc.. in the UK support NTSC, and computer editing suites allow it to be changed quite easily from one version to the other, but worthwhile being aware.

Final point, be clear about what it is that you want, and how much you are prepared to pay - as the 'cheap' outlets will try and bundle lots of things to increase the price.

Hope that helps
[8D]
Fozzie

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by annemarie
Thanks Julie - is the Beltz Outlet same as Belz? (as you can guess I'm a newbie (!) with only 6 sleeps to go!!

thanks
[/quote]

Sorry yes, my spelling is awful!

[Nostromo]

Camreas are a lot cheaper in the US and it is tempting, but you have to check the warranty situation carefully and make sure that you are covered in the UK. Many UK dealers offer a second year's free cover and you can confront them anytime if something goes wrong. What you don't want is your US purchased camera to cause problems 2 weeks after you return to the UK and find that the local dealer's don't cover the repair. This is certainly true of a lot of 'cheaper' equipment purchased in the Far East.

[mikewj]

You're best buying a camera from one of the large, nationwide outlets like Ritz Cameras (Florida Mall), Wolf Cameras - same company as Ritz Cameras (Belz and Sand Lake Road) or Best Buy (Orange Blossom Trail). These are reputable dealers who offer international warranties on the cameras they sell.

The shops on I-drive and 192 often advertise that they have the camera you want at a ridiculously low price but then try to either charge you more, or persuade you to buy something completely different.

Quite often, they wont have what you want, but will promise to get one for you before you return home. They wont, but it'll keep you going back and give them the opportunity to sell you something else.

Also, while they might advertise themselves as the "official Canon outlet" they invariably aren't and just get their cameras from the usual wholesalers.

I've experienced some of this when looking for a camera for a friend a couple of years ago, and was told about how they run their business by the guy who runs Ritz Cameras in Key West.

[jotter]

Be aware if you are buying an expensive camera in the us you will be exceeding your allowance for tax free shopping currently £145 per person and you should declare anything above that to customs on your return to the uk. Didn't know this myself until I seen a news item on saturday and because of the pound/dollar rate a lot of people are returning from the states exceeding this and are having to pay additional tax if caught.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Nostromo
Camreas are a lot cheaper in the US and it is tempting, but you have to check the warranty situation carefully and make sure that you are covered in the UK. Many UK dealers offer a second year's free cover and you can confront them anytime if something goes wrong. What you don't want is your US purchased camera to cause problems 2 weeks after you return to the UK and find that the local dealer's don't cover the repair. This is certainly true of a lot of 'cheaper' equipment purchased in the Far East.
[/quote]

Most of the well known makes have world wide warranties, we have bought Nikon, Sony and JVC, all OK.

Julie R

[Floridalover]

BestBuy are really good. Remember any charging equipment will come supplied with a US plug. Not a big deal but bear it in mind you'll need to buy a US to UK adaptor so you can use it back at home. Particularly cheap are memory cards and accesories so make sure you stock up and its worthwhile asking if they will offer discount on buying 3 or more items. I got an extra 10% off my memory cards when I bought 3 at the same time.

[annemarie]

Thanks for all the hints and tips - much appreciated - re the import tax - does anyone roughly what we would pay on a $899 (dollar) camera.

cheers

[blott]

You'd normally pay VAT (17.5%) and import duty but I don't know how much that would be I'm afraid. You could try the Customs and Excise website at http://www.customs.gov.uk though.

[phaedra]

Rough guide is to add 20% to 25% to the price, I bought a Minolta 7Hi for £650 from Cameta Cameras in New York in Dec 2001 when they were over £1000 here!.

Since then prices are not that much different, shopping around the larger net sites can find some good prices here as well, the new 8Mp Minolta A2 is about $999 (£570) in B&H, Ritz etc. but can be got here for £539. Same with memory cards and rechargeable batteries, I've never found a price in the USA that was cheaper than 7dayshop or Crucial here in the UK.

Some things are cheaper though, last trip I picked up a Sigma flash gun from B&H for about £112, cheapest UK price was £175.

If it's the Canon Digital Rebel (or EOS 300D here in the UK)it's currently about £725 for the body and £835 with the Canon EF-S 18-55 lens.

[Rhosyn]

Hi Beryl here
not up on cameras but I'm thinking about treating myself to a new diggie video camera as mine is so large and outdated by a life time, anybody got any information or experience on this as I will mainly be using it in the U.K. [:o)]

[wilfy]

having just dug out my old minolta 35mm, and this thread got me to wondering if minolta do a digital body for my minolta lenses, (i have wide-angle up to 600mm) Lo and behold, they do, a dynax-7 digital, so if i can find one when we're next out at our place, i may be tempted.

After all that rambling, anyone else done similar, ie taken their 35mm camera lenses and mated to a new digital body?

Update: :(, just found that the minolta-body will not be on-sale till august.

[phaedra]

Wilfy, the Dynax-7 digital isn't released yet, it's due for sale in Autumn. It will take the standard Minolta AF series lenses.

Details here http://www.minoltaeurope.com/pe/photographic_equipment.html

[wilfy]

:(:(:(