Buying equipment in the US

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Dougie
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I will be taking a trip to Vegas in a few weeks and wondered if I would save myself some £ on GND filters when I'm there. It's something I've had in mind to buy anyway, what do you think? I'm also not sure what make or densities to buy so any advice would be good. I'll have around £100 to spend. I'm using a D60 and 18-50 kit lens at the moment if that helps.
 
The last time was in USA (I spent a week in Vegas a couple of months back) the exchange rate was so bad it was not worth buying much, some lenses actually worked out cheaper here, after US sales tax was added.
Things have improved slightly, but my concern is your destination, there really aren't that many camera shops there (when you exclude the expensive tourist traps). B&C camera is one which I've bought a few things in, I noticed they had some Cokin filters but you'd be best phoning them to check what they have, they are on east sahara.
There is also another shop on east sahara, about a mile or two from B&C.
Don't spend all your time chasing the non-existent bargains, just relax and enjoy the strip, plenty of photo opportunities in the hotels, but don't take photos in the casinos (security had a word with me ;) )
 
The last time was in USA (I spent a week in Vegas a couple of months back) the exchange rate was so bad it was not worth buying much, some lenses actually worked out cheaper here, after US sales tax was added.

Assuming you're not staying in New York, doing mail order from B&H means no tax. :)
 
Aye, it helps to know somebody living close to where you're going to be staying. :)
 
I hired the 800mm L ($10K) from lensrentals when I was in the US, they didn't want to ship to a hotel because of the amount of stuff which goes missing. They shipped to a UPS location instead, so that is something to consider too.
Get B&H to ship from NY to a Vegas UPS store and pick it up from there. That is what I will be doing next time. B&H prices were MUCH better than any of the local camera stores.
 
I don't know if it's still the case but I remember many years ago that I was able to claim back Canadian sales tax for all items purchased as I wasn't a resident. It was a simple case of filling out a form and sending all receipts to the Canadian embassy in the UK. Worth looking into I suppose.
The exchange rate is around $1.48 at the moment which is better than it has been for a while there. I'll way it up when I get there I suppose. Cheers for the replies so far.:thumbs:
 
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