Where do you buy your equipment?

[James Fee]

I was just thinking about this. Do you use a local camera store, shop on the internet, big box retail or some combo of the above?

I'm lucky enough to work down the street from a great local camera store, Tempe Camera (http://www.tempecamera.com/) and try to buy most of my equipment from them (unless of course the price is way off). I like being able to go and talk to people, rent a camera before buying it or just plain "chew the fat" with them about digital photography. I don't seem to get that from the college student at Best Buy. ;)

[Andy Manea]

I buy wherever I find the cheapest price. I don't need any "help" from anybody who wants to sell me something (since I assume that they are all LIARS anyway :wink: ) but rather do my research on my own and then track down the cheapest price, be it online or something like BestBuy.
Nobody over here would let you RENT a camera, that's a really interesting idea, though.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Local photo stores for me. Spoilt for choice here, and good service and prices are possible.

[Suhit Gupta]

Mine is a convoluted process - I tend to go and read news/reviews online on the type of camera that I am interested in. Then I go to a local camera store to see the cameras that particularly appealed to me. I live right next to B&H Photo Video (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/) as well as J&R (http://www.jandr.com/), and between the two of them I can pretty much find most electronics. Once I like a camera, I go back online and make sure that reviews for that camera are actually very good and then shop online heavily for the cheapest price. Since I live in NYC, I have to pay an additional 8.5% in tax so buying it online typically works out to be cheaper.

Suhit

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Arghh, B&H is wasted on you!!! :P

[Jason Dunn]

I have almost no choice but to buy online - local stores just don't have the selection I want, even with relatively mainstream. Big retailers like Future Shop here in Canada are often 6+ months behind the times in product selection.

Best Buy is better, and there's one opening up here in Calgary soon. Woo hoo! :D

[Bob12]

I buy most of my equipment from a local camera store.

[James Fee]

I have almost no choice but to buy online - local stores just don't have the selection I want, even with relatively mainstream. Big retailers like Future Shop here in Canada are often 6+ months behind the times in product selection.

Best Buy is better, and there's one opening up here in Calgary soon. Woo hoo! :D
Thank god for the internet then, huh Jason? ;)

[bjornkeizers]

I buy wherever I find the cheapest price. I don't need any "help" from anybody who wants to sell me something (since I assume that they are all LIARS anyway :wink: )

Same here. Goes for all my purchases - not just camera. Walking in the store and buying something is the last step in a lengthy process. I carefully research my purchases so I don't need some dumbass store guy telling me why I should buy that way too expensive, overpriced POS Sony instead of the Ixus I asked for in the first place...

When I walk into a store, I know *exactly* what I want, and nobody can change that. I usually buy at a local B&M like Dixons, BCC or MediaMarkt - most stores have a great selection of cameras at an excellent price.

[Andy Manea]

I usually buy at a local B&M like Dixons, BCC or MediaMarkt - most stores have a great selection of cameras at an excellent price.
I LOVE MediaMarkt! Where are you, in the Netherlands?

[bjornkeizers]

I LOVE MediaMarkt! Where are you, in the Netherlands?

I am, yes. :-) I live in Enschede, which is in the east of the Netherlands, very close to the border.

We recently got a MediaMarkt here in Enschede and one in Hengelo - they're very popular because they're really cheap with almost everything. Plus, the store people leave you be and don't bother you when you're playing with the cameras or PDA's :D Only downside is, it's always crowded at the store! You'd think they were giving the stuff away :D

[Andy Manea]

MediaMarkt opened up a store in Poland and it ended in a horrible stampede, because too many people wanted to buy, and there was not enough of everything. Incredible. Not too crowded over here.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the topic :oops:

[Suhit Gupta]

Is MediaMarkt the equivalent of Best Buy in the US? i.e. computers, TV/VCR/DVD, etc. etc. all electronics stuff.

Suhit

[Andy Manea]

Suhit, yeah, it's like BestBuy and CompUSA together in a huge store (on two floors), which, BTW, we both don't have in Europe. Just that in Mediamarkt you can try out more (like, the Pocket PCs are not "behind bars" but you can actually take them in your hands and play with them), and the selection in computer related items seems bigger.

[Suhit Gupta]

Suhit, yeah, it's like BestBuy and CompUSA together in a huge store (on two floors), which, BTW, we both don't have in Europe. Just that in Mediamarkt you can try out more (like, the Pocket PCs are not "behind bars" but you can actually take them in your hands and play with them), and the selection in computer related items seems bigger.
Interesting. Are the prices competitive?

Suhit

[igroknful]

I do my research online then I go to Best Buy, CompUSA or Frye's for some hands on, then I buy it on line. I like onecall.com and newegg.com. I don't like buying at the electronics in brick and mortars. The salesmen figure they know more than I do after all I'm just an airhead female (with an engineering degree) and all that stuff with the buttons and lights is just too much for poor me.

[Andy Manea]

Interesting. Are the prices competitive?

Suhit

Competitive as in good? Yeah, very, the camera stores usually have outdated things for a lot higher prices than at Mediamarkt & Co. When I was looking for a portable storage device (I still haven't decided which one to buy *sigh* - they offered me they could order one (the only one available through them) for 350 EUROS, but then they said it does not work if not hooked up to the computer - what the f!
Or:Once I need a fast print of a digital picture. I went to the same store and some girl who works there was sitting at the printer (or what ever those monsters are called). All they would have needed to do was to take the card and make a print, but they decided it should cost me 70 cents because I wanted it right away. At Mediamarkt I do my own prints right away for 25 cents. They wanted almost three times the price for the exact same thing.
I have many many more examples like this. Those smaller stores will go bankrupt soon if they continue to ignore the world around them. Just because customers had nowhere else to go ten years ago does not mean they have to be "loyal" now! :evil:

[Andy Manea]

I do my research online then I go to Best Buy, CompUSA or Frye's for some hands on, then I buy it on line. I like onecall.com and newegg.com. I don't like buying at the electronics in brick and mortars. The salesmen figure they know more than I do after all I'm just an airhead female (with an engineering degree) and all that stuff with the buttons and lights is just too much for poor me.

I hear you, sister! That's why I get the info before the purchase as well. Ever noticed how aggressive guys working in electronics departments get when you correct them because they talk complete trash?

Another online store I sometimes use is ecost.com. Mainly for memory cards.

[igroknful]

Yes, I have noticed that. What's really amazing is when they don't know what they're talking about and I correct them. They get defensive and insist they're right.

[bjornkeizers]

I hear you, sister! That's why I get the info before the purchase as well. Ever noticed how aggressive guys working in electronics departments get when you correct them because they talk complete trash?


Indeed. For me, buying something is the final step in a lengthy process. I do'my research online, then when I walk in a store, I know *exactly* what I want. Store clerks aren't experts; they just like to make you think they are. And I really don't need the advice of someone who earns a commision when selling me an overpriced piece of kit.

I usually buy my cameras and such at a B&M, usually dixons or mediamarkt, even if it's slightly more expensive. I'm impatient, and when I know what I want, I want it right now :D I don't like to wait two months for my backordered camera to finally clear customs of some god forsaken south american banana republic...

[Andy Manea]

I usually buy my cameras and such at a B&M, usually dixons or mediamarkt, even if it's slightly more expensive. I'm impatient, and when I know what I want, I want it right now :D I don't like to wait two months for my backordered camera to finally clear customs of some god forsaken south american banana republic...
That reminds me of my camera. It took me forever to decide which one I wanted and I ordered it 4 ( F O U R !! ) times at online stores. I never got it, and when I called to inquire they said that if I would purchase accessories I would move up on the waiting list - figure this!! I ended up buying it on Ebay - best buy I ever made :) took me about 6 months, though, and I only brought up the patience because I wanted this camera and no other one and it was unavailable in stores.

[lmbrrt]

I have almost no choice but to buy online - local stores just don't have the selection I want, even with relatively mainstream. Big retailers like Future Shop here in Canada are often 6+ months behind the times in product selection.

Best Buy is better, and there's one opening up here in Calgary soon. Woo hoo! :D

Jason, How about Vistek. I don't know about the Calgary store but the TO store seems to have the most up-to-date selection that I have seen in Canada and the staff knows what they are talking about (you can't say that about FS or BB)
This is the location details from the Vistek website
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
1231 10th Ave. SW.
T3C 0J3
(Click here for directions)
(403) 244-0333

Monday thru Friday
8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. MT

Saturday
9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. MT

[ryuspeed]

I usually read reviews online and then buy from my local camera store, in this case Samy's Camera in Los Angeles. The prices are cheaper online but the guys at the store answer questions that I have and are generally pretty knowledgeble. I think that as I get more into the whole photography thing I will start buyin online as I will know what I'm getting into.

[Littleshmee]

Okay, your comments about salespeople hurt me deeply... :lol: okay, just joking there, but seriously... I sell cameras at Blacks, and we DON'T make commission and, for the most part, we DO know what we're talking about, and you wouldn't believe the ignorance of the average customer.

That said, I personally never want to be "sold to"... and the extended warrenty is crap.