Where do you buy gear?

Matt

Matt

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I was looking in an old camera shop today looking for stuff, but im concerned about buying used lenses and equipment, so it got me thinking about what others do, where do you get your gear from?
 
I buy all my cameras from reputable dealers - i.e. Park Cameras.
It might cost a little more but the service offered makes it worth it.

All of my lenses have been bought from an e-bay shop based in Hong-Kong (Digital Rev). They offer a world wide warranty or full cost replacement and postage back to them. I have never had to use this service because the lenses have been the best quality.
All future lens purchases will be from Digital Rev
 
Back before I found internet shopping I used Jessops mail order mostly but that was long ago. My most recent purchases have been either through eBay or from 7dayshop.com.
eBay is getting expensive these days, I can almost always find what I want for the same or less elsewhere. I would never buy anything significant locally as the prices can be shocking.
 
I've only ever bought cameras and lenses from high street retailers to date.

The ability to try the gear and get a feel for it and compare it to other products is worth the little extra on it's own.
And to make it an even nicer experience, I recently managed to buy a faulty L series lens :eek: I took it back to the shop and got a replacent with no questions or bother of sending it back in the post.
 
What you need to do is find someone who has a decent camera they never use and then buy it from them :wink:

If not I get just about everything on-line. E-bay has some very cheap new gear. There is an obvious risk but I weigh that against the savings. If it is just a few quid then i'll go to the high street if it is tens of pounds or more then I have no worries about buying on-line.

Which camera shop Matt? was thinking of looking for some second hand filters. At least you can visually see if they are in good condition.
 
I bought almost all of my nikon gear used and never had a problem. I think as long as you buy from a dealer you are OK as they will check it all very thoroughly before buying it in.
 
Where do you buy gear?
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From Fungus, he has a huge lock-up of the stuff!!!!
weed1.gif


Ohhh you mean Camera gear ... Sorry
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:LOL: :LOL:
 
*snigger* i was trying not to say anything like that Kris!

Steve there is one in maidstone, go up from argos, turn left and its along there, also the little photography shop in west malling, imaginatively titled West Malling Photographic.....old guy in there looks like Richard Harris preparing to be in Harry Potter, lots of gear but lack of Canon EF gear yesterday.....he does have filters etc though
 
When I had the Fuji S2 The lenses all came from Hongkong (HKsupplies).
When I moved over to Canon The Fuji/Nikon kit was sold at a profit,
Which meant after buying all the replacement kit I had a free 12 months of photography.

Most of my current kit is UK sourced from Warehouse express

I've also had the Odd item from 7Day, but haven't used them since it took nearly 4 weeks for some lenses to arrive.
 
"From Fungus, he has a huge lock-up of the stuff!!!!

Ohhh you mean Camera gear ... Sorry "

Tisk, Tisk, I hope your not saying what I think your saying, hmmm
jewel
 
Most of my equipment has come from Jessops but massively reduced in cost due to price matching. I will not pay much over the odds for anything but do value a local return point should any of it develop faults. For that I am willing to pay slightly more than Ebay prices but not the usual high street extortions. I have some equipment from 7 day shop due to price and some from Ebay also but this has mainly been smaller accessories like batteries. I have also bought equipment from Warehouse Express and found their service to be excellent although their prices can be almost comparable to high street stores for some items.
 
My equipment has come from all over the place, but after recent experiences I will go along with Steve's recommendation to buy locally if at all possible. It may be my imagination, but quality control problems seem to be on the increase, and there is a huge advantage in being able to swap something at a local store. It's been said before, but remember that www.cameras2u.com is part of the Jessops Group, and Jessops will almost always match their prices.

I buy photo paper and inkjet cartridges from 7dayshop, and memory cards from either a US-based eBay supplier or www.photo-scotland.co.uk who I have discovered recently. They seem very competitive and mail out the same day.
 
You're not wrong silkstone, the first thing to go as prices fall is quality control. It's the same throughout industry, we expect to be able to pay the cheapest price but the difference has to be made up somewhere.
 
SDK^ said:
I buy all my cameras from reputable dealers - i.e. Park Cameras.
It might cost a little more but the service offered makes it worth it.

All of my lenses have been bought from an e-bay shop based in Hong-Kong (Digital Rev). They offer a world wide warranty or full cost replacement and postage back to them. I have never had to use this service because the lenses have been the best quality.
All future lens purchases will be from Digital Rev
Click to expand...

I know someone who got a faulty lens from Digital Rev. It took about 3 months to get a replacement from them.
 
Today, Jessops, went in looking for the 50mm macro, and came out with something else which wasn't really planned :eek:ops:
 
Well, in this side of the world, I try to shop at B&H, and in my last travel to Toronto I buy my S70 in Henry's.

Here in México we have some stores, but they are too expensive all of them, I prefer to buy in a vacation or to buy via internet and have it shipped to some friends in the US and they send it to me or I go.

Cheers!
 
IanC_UK said:
So what did you end up with then ?
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Let's just say I don't have any 10D backfocus issues any more ;)
 
LOL I wish, nah, was looking through the lenses and a 20D just started to call my name, was spooky :shock:
 
Most of my stuff has come from KP Professional in Cambridge. The only exceptions being Jessops for my 50mm MkII (with vouchers given to me as a leaving present!), Digital First for the 28-135 IS (only people who had one in stock!) and AJ Purdy for my 17-40f4L (on a Canon special day). :)
 
dod said:
LOL I wish, nah, was looking through the lenses and a 20D just started to call my name, was spooky :shock:
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Considering the potential problems you might have had getting your 10D calibrated properly, it probably wasn't a bad move. What do you think of the 20D so far?
 
CT said:
Considering the potential problems you might have had getting your 10D calibrated properly, it probably wasn't a bad move. What do you think of the 20D so far?
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Mixed feeings to be honest, the 10D was slightly larger and seemed to fit my hand better. It was also heavier and felt a lot more robust. Even things like the sound of the shutter on the 10 were more solid, more reassuring, the 20 sounds quite fragile compared with it. The pop up flash looks flimsy compared with the chunky one on the 10. My immediate reaction is that the 10 was better built, although that's probably not the case.

As far as handling is concerned it's very much a Canon, you can more or less pick it up and use it with a very low learning curve. Everything is where you're expecting it to be. QUite a few different menu settings which I'll need to get to grips with though. Because it's lighter it does affect the balance with longer lenses which I'll need to adjust to.

Can't really comment on image quality as I've only taken about a dozen snaps to check through my lenses for focus (yep, paranoid ;))

Incidentally I spoke to the canon repair outlet in Glasgow, they said that the problem with the 10 could be a number of things and costs varied between about £50 and £200, given my luck lately it would probably have been the latter so I'm pretty sure it's the right decision for me. However if mine had been 100% I'm not convinced I'd have gone ahead with the upgrade. The 10D is a great camera and for 90% of situations I'm pretty sure you couldn't tell the difference in output.
 
Incidentally I spoke to the canon repair outlet in Glasgow, they said that the problem with the 10 could be a number of things and costs varied between about £50 and £200, given my luck lately it would probably have been the latter so I'm pretty sure it's the right decision for me. However if mine had been 100% I'm not convinced I'd have gone ahead with the upgrade. The 10D is a great camera and for 90% of situations I'm pretty sure you couldn't tell the difference in output.
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A J Johnstone?
 
feeson said:
A J Johnstone?
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That sounds right, the links at work, the address on the Canon web site anyway. The guy was helpful but very reluctant to indicate prices. Don't blame him really
 
dod said:
CT said:
Considering the potential problems you might have had getting your 10D calibrated properly, it probably wasn't a bad move. What do you think of the 20D so far?
Click to expand...

Mixed feeings to be honest, the 10D was slightly larger and seemed to fit my hand better. It was also heavier and felt a lot more robust. Even things like the sound of the shutter on the 10 were more solid, more reassuring, the 20 sounds quite fragile compared with it. The pop up flash looks flimsy compared with the chunky one on the 10. My immediate reaction is that the 10 was better built, although that's probably not the case.

As far as handling is concerned it's very much a Canon, you can more or less pick it up and use it with a very low learning curve. Everything is where you're expecting it to be. QUite a few different menu settings which I'll need to get to grips with though. Because it's lighter it does affect the balance with longer lenses which I'll need to adjust to.

Can't really comment on image quality as I've only taken about a dozen snaps to check through my lenses for focus (yep, paranoid ;))
Click to expand...

From what I've seen and heard, the build quality of the 10D is probably slightly better than the 20D. It's not just the general solidity, but also some of the details - e.g. on the 10D the metalwork inside the battery compartment door is held in place by small screws, whereas the 20D uses plastic lugs. Having said that, the differences probably don't matter in practice. Technically the 20D is better, of course, although other people have mentioned the noise of the shutter/mirror which seems to be much louder than on the 20D.

I'm sure you'll be very happy with the 20D - it's certainly what I'd choose if I were buying now. :)
 
dod said:
That sounds right, the links at work, the address on the Canon web site anyway. The guy was helpful but very reluctant to indicate prices. Don't blame him really
Click to expand...

Lets just say I was really not happy with the service I got and what I was told was going to happen to one of my cameras did not plus am now very worried about a job they did for me, you may have made the best move.
 
feeson said:
Lets just say I was really not happy with the service I got and what I was told was going to happen to one of my cameras did not plus am now very worried about a job they did for me, you may have made the best move.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, thanks for the heads up, always nice to get individuals experiences
 
feeson said:
dod said:
That sounds right, the links at work, the address on the Canon web site anyway. The guy was helpful but very reluctant to indicate prices. Don't blame him really
Click to expand...

Lets just say I was really not happy with the service I got and what I was told was going to happen to one of my cameras did not plus am now very worried about a job they did for me, you may have made the best move.
Click to expand...


Further to that - the repair they made did fail, so I opened the camera up myself saw the problem and replaced the faulty part (a return spring of all things) and now the camera seems to be 100% they did not replace the spring only reset it, however they did replace all the seals and give a full clean and calibration, so I'm only half mad :wink:
 
I can get any Canon gear through the company, trade price and no VAT!

I work as a printer engineer for a company that is also a Canon dealer. :icon_cool
 
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