Photography show @ NEC

I didn't think I actually had to explain this as if you were 6 years old... but it appears I do: If anyone DID go into a shop to try a camera, and didn't have the mental capacity to actually ask how much it is before deciding to then leave the shop and order online, and pointlessly wait 48 hours for the same product, then they are an idiot.

You needed it explaining.

Would you like another cat?
 
Gentlemen please, you have both made your points very clearly and are unlikely to agree. Please can we get back to the point of this thread. I take it you will be going David as it will give you plenty of opportunity to play ;)
 
So if I got a Sigmonster (I have a gap in my lens gear about there) that would :
1. Make me the big Dick.
2. Also mean that I'd fit in.

I'm so tempted... lol
 
I agree with thinking it morally wrong to waste a shop's time evaluating a product whilst being certain to buy online BUT, where I would not hesitate to buy locally until quite recently, the price difference between a shop's and online is now far too great to ignore.
I have recently asked for a discount and offered immediate cash payment at my local camera store and they will not move from the RRP. My recent purchase of two lenses from Digitalrev cost £813 giving me a massive 'saving' of £385 from the local store's retail price (and delivery was 5 days).
I ran businesses myself and know what it costs to open the shop door on a Monday morning, it's the local authorities continually increasing their commercial rates and all the seriously expensive to comply with beaurocracy that is thrown at businesses that is killing the High Street.
I am sure it is the service/repair/studio side of the business that keeps most camera stores going rather than their sales.
 
I've registered.

I usually take in a few of the presentations from key speakers - sometimes you learn loads, other times it's just little snippets. I'll have a browse at the deals but it'll probably be something like a new brolly or a background roll that I end up walking away with... I can't be bothered to queue with all the gear molesters when it comes to stands like Cameraworld etc.

Rankin and McNally should be good talks but I expect they'll be standing-room-only.

really hopping the massage people are there again - best stand at Focus IMO :)
 
Focus, last year? had a chat with forum member gfwilliams showing his image off, and Perou. The year before had a chat with Andy Rouse and watched his presentation - very good speaker.
Mouched around the photo displays of students, RPS etc.
Looked at kit I didn't need, some I might need, had a hands on play with stuff I was thinking of buying. Last year I bought a lens and a few other odds that are easy to pick up at shows like this.

What I don't need is the £5 parking and expensive food from the franchises.
 
Daryl said:
I do go to the store..Calumet or T4 in Witney... I see, I hold i buy!! Can not be arsed waiting for stuff to arrive in the post and just to save £50 or £100 quid? Nah!!! I support the stores I like internet can whistle!!!!!
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I saved over £1k on a single photographic transaction online last month.

No brainer.
 
I suggest its far more worthwhile going to an event like Focus to check out bags, tripods and tripod heads, where the tiniest little detail can make an item work for you or not. In my opinion once you get to know a camera body or lens maker, you can more or less buy on spec alone.
 
So after reading all the bitching I'm a bit unclear. As a newbie is it worth a visit to the nec or will i be disappointed. Regardless of food, drink, parking, and 'my lens is bigger then yours' folk
 
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Bobby uk said:
So after reading all the bitching I'm a bit unclear. As a newbie is it worth a visit to the nec or will i be disappointed. Regardless of food, drink, parking, and 'my lens is bigger then yours' folk
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To be fair with the new show no one can answer that, we don't know how it will be compared to the old Focus On Imaging show. I used Focus to plan my purchasing over the next year, work out what would work for me, get inspiration from new products that I wouldn't have known about (niche stuff, not the kind of thing the mags would pick up on) and also to catch up with industry contacts. I have no reason to believe the new show will be any different for that kind of thing.
 
McCurry's talk will likely be brilliant. Phenomenal career. Only £13, too!

Don't tell anyone, but the Phase One stand usually has the best talks for advertising and commercial photographers... :)
 
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dinorock said:
tp meet :banana: :jaffa: me he he
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Exactly, in fact focus last year did give opportunity to meet up with a fellow photographer and friend as he was going to it, but I met him afterwards :LOL:
 
last time we met was standing outside a hall in blackpool waiting for someone to let us in :LOL:
 
Not bothering this year. Was there for work.

Rammed with sightseers, no-one able to answer any technical questions, lots of random people carrying huge lenses and taking bad photos of barely clothed models.

We wanted to test the sharpness of an expensive lens, but they had no method of objectively showing it.
 
st599 said:
We wanted to test the sharpness of an expensive lens, but they had no method of objectively showing it.
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Is that a reasonable expectation?

Testing a lens for sharpness requires a test subject, something to hold the target, space to set up your tripod at a range of distances, a means of checking alignment so that you're shooting straight on, and of course good, even target illumination. That would require dedicated space on the stand (at ~£250 per sq metre) and a dedicated member of staff to "supervise" you (ie ensure you don't run off with the lens). I can't see how that would make business sense for the exhibitor.

Not intending to pick on you specifically. But if any other people were thinking about whether this sort of thing might be possible at the show, hopefully it will help to manage expectations.
 
StewartR said:
Is that a reasonable expectation?

Testing a lens for sharpness requires a test subject, something to hold the target, space to set up your tripod at a range of distances, a means of checking alignment so that you're shooting straight on, and of course good, even target illumination. That would require dedicated space on the stand (at ~£250 per sq metre) and a dedicated member of staff to "supervise" you (ie ensure you don't run off with the lens). I can't see how that would make business sense for the exhibitor.

Not intending to pick on you specifically. But if any other people were thinking about whether this sort of thing might be possible at the show, hopefully it will help to manage expectations.
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Depends on your visitor's buying power as to whether it makes economic sense. They wouldn't even let us take the lens away to test.
 
st599 said:
Depends on your visitor's buying power as to whether it makes economic sense. They wouldn't even let us take the lens away to test.
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Are you suggesting you were buying many units? If so the manufacturers will be happy to liaise with you to get a proper try in reasonable conditions.

As to not letting you take away the lens, again if you're buying many as you suggest they'll let you borrow one, otherwise how wise do you think it would be to let people wander off around the NEC with a lens?
 
Well, I'm afraid I won't be able to attend as I'll be in Singapore on those dates. :)
 
st599 said:
They wouldn't even let us take the lens away to test.
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Again, what do you expect? They'll just give an expensive lens to a complete stranger to "take away", and hope you bring it back?
 
markmullen said:
Are you suggesting you were buying many units? If so the manufacturers will be happy to liaise with you to get a proper try in reasonable conditions.

As to not letting you take away the lens, again if you're buying many as you suggest they'll let you borrow one, otherwise how wise do you think it would be to let people wander off around the NEC with a lens?
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Perhaps it was the "royal we". :whistle:
 
markmullen said:
Are you suggesting you were buying many units? If so the manufacturers will be happy to liaise with you to get a proper try in reasonable conditions.

As to not letting you take away the lens, again if you're buying many as you suggest they'll let you borrow one, otherwise how wise do you think it would be to let people wander off around the NEC with a lens?
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At the time I was contracting for a firm that required over £1M worth of purchases for it's European operations.
 
st599 said:
At the time I was contracting for a firm that required over £1M worth of purchases for it's European operations.
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You wanted to place an order for a million quids worth of lenses and thought the best way to get some information was to go to a trade show and deal with the hired in exhibition staff at the stand, in amongst the private billies with their 500mm lenses?

Whenever I've been involved with multi-million pound acquisitions it has been a fairly longwinded process with tender documents, product appraisals, supplier appraisals etc, not just rock up at a trade stand with a cheque book.
 
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Mag1cp2x said:
I ran businesses myself and know what it costs to open the shop door on a Monday morning, it's the local authorities continually increasing their commercial rates ...
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Business rates aren't set by the LA, only collected by them, and are based on the rateable value of the property (set by the Valuation Office Agency) and the business rates multiplier (set by central government). Rateable values reflect the rental value of the property (regardless of whether it is owner-occupied or rented out), and as such are subject to market forces.
 
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