Should DD buy digital before or in Florida

[AussieAnn]

We will be in Florida for Dec 2004 - DD needs to purchase a digital camera. What would you advise her to do? Buy before she goes or wait till she gets there? [?] If she needs to wait is there any particular shop she should go to for a good deal? Many thanks

[chrisj]

I know here in the UK, if you look around you can get some real bargains at the moment, seems
that prices are dropping in our favour for once.

its worth doing a search on the net anyway, just to see whats around

[Matt]

Aussie Ann, I bought a Kodak digital camera on my trip in February. Picked it up in Wal-Mart and saved a bunch on buying it here (did some shopping around before and after).

The only thing that was cheaper here was the Printing station.

Matt

[zerotone]

We are also looking into upgrading our digital camera. Have found we can save approx £50 on the model we want if we wait until we go to Orlando in August. Model Olympus Camedia 765, looked at Sears on website.

Jane

[pieman790]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:[i]The only thing that was cheaper here was the Printing station.

Matt
[/quote]

Be careful with digital printing over in the USA. I had 150 pictures done in Walmart, 5x7 photo's using the 1 hour service and they wanted to charge me $220. I didnt pay that but it took me 3 hours to get the matter sorted. In the end it cost me $70 which wasnt that cheap but better than the $220 they were going to charge. 6x4 is the standard over there and any thing else cost the earth. They never bother to tell me nor was there any sign up with prices for the 5x7.

[IanW]

Do you have to pay tax at customs if you buy valuable items in USA? Would this rule out any saving? When I purchased a camera in Gran Canaria I was told if I didn't pay tax at customs, at any time in the future if the serial number was recorded eg following burglary or warrenty repair, it would show up that tax wasn't paid. Does anyone know if this is true?
Ian

[CarolAnn]

Good tip about the printing! Gawd! I'd ahve a heart attack!

[phaedra]

You need to look around a bit more :D

Sears price is $449.95 which @ 1.77 = £254 (plus sales tax if bought in Florida)

Pixmania price £244 including 2 year guarantee

Internetcamerasdirect £268 including,

Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 Starter Edition software
next working day delivery worth £9
mini-tripod worth £8
20 digital prints
UP TO £100 OFF photos to canvas

[SteveW]

Found a great shop on the 192 at Marker 11 (going North)... Can't remember the name but they were very friendly and helpful and were prepared to barter if you had cash.... and I'm talking serious barter.

Things were seriously cheaper than back here.

[Nostromo]

There are some dodgy shops in the USA that look respectable on the outside, but one has to be careful, particularly with the so-called "International Warranty". I know of at least two cases where UK visitors bought electronic goods in the USA where the dealer swore the warranty was valid in Europe. In fact, it was not and in one case the camcorder broke down and needed expensive repairs.

Another thing that I wondered is the UK Customs limits. How is it possible to bring in a $500+ digital camera to the UK without paying Customs Duty, which may then negate the very reason for buying it abroad?

I assume that Aussie rules regarding Customs are similar to those in the UK.

[Silver Dollar]

i bought a ridiculously cheap digital camera at Walmart the other day and instead of taking them to be printed, I just upload the pictures on a daily basis to my laptop and I'll print them myself when I get home on photo quality paper!

[phaedra]

Anything over the £145 limit is liable for import duty and/or vat.

The other thing you need to watch with camcorders is the fact that USA models are Ntsc colour format, if you plan to transfer tapes to full size Vhs then you have a problem, the only way to "convert" is to use the digital output (MiniDV uses IEEE1394 Firewire) into a PC and record it using something like Pinnacle Studio 9 or Ulead Video Studio 8 which can convert to the UK Pal system for you and then transfer the file onto DVD, SVCD, VCD. Transferring to Vhs needs an interface between the PC and the recorder to convert from digital to analogue, either a built-in card or a stand alone box like the Pinnacle Dazzle range.

[darul]

The best way to buy a digital camera is in the states...... what you can do (as I did) was before you go search the internet for deals on digital cameras (us sites), then when you go to florida you can order the camera and have it fedEX to you for next day delivery and because the best deals seem to be form new york or new jersey, when you do by out of state they won't charge you sales tax, so you'll safe tons of money. Here's how much I saved: (feb 2003)
Minolta dimage 7hi : UK RRP =£1000 could find around £780
I found a store in new jersey selling it for $680 which was about £430 then, and it cost $20 for next day delivery. They did require a fax of my passport and creditcard but that was easy as you can just pop in to Staples or Kinkos and they will send it for you. With the current weak dollar you'd be mad not to buy in the states, mine would have only came to about £360, secondhand ones are selling for more than that on ebay. As for customs, all I say is every TAKES a camera with them on holiday.

hope this helped[msnsmile2]

darul